Workflow: dealing with generation gap

LEADERSHIP organisation Change2020 says workplaces will need to manage intergenerational conflict.

Change2020 director Kerryn Fewster

LEADERSHIP organisation Change2020 says workplaces will need to adapt to changing styles of management and learn how to manage intergenerational conflict as more generation Y workers take on senior leadership roles.

Change2020 director Kerryn Fewster says with a tough federal budget and older workers staying longer before entering retirement, organisations should prepare for increased conflict between older and younger workers.

“There is potential for intergenerational conflict due to different leadership styles and expectations of work culture,” Fewster says.

“However, there are ways to prepare and to make the most of the qualities all generations have to offer.”

Change2020’s research shows generation Y employees are three times as likely to rate ‘‘pleasant and friendly’’ as the most important quality in a leader, while baby boomers are twice as likely to rate ‘‘uncompromising’’ as the most important characteristic.

Fewster says while some industries, such as construction, energy, legal or education, tend to value older workers and their experience, others, such as retail, catering and hospitality, travel, technology and marketing, do not value them enough.

“Conflict in the workplace can be incredibly damaging to staff morale and productivity, so people must start preparing now for how to bridge the gap between the generations,” Fewster says.

Global challenges

HIGHLY regarded US sociologist Charles Lemert, of Yale University, says Australia needs to adapt to an increasingly global trade environment.

Lemert, who is the University of South Australia’s first Vice-Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow, says while globalisation presents opportunities for increased trade, it creates disadvantages for traditional employment industries such as manufacturing.

Globalisation is damaging for some countries with industries where labour costs are high and economies of scale difficult to achieve, Lemert says, particularly with major corporations such as Holden, Ford and Toyota withdrawing from Australia.

He says major corporations should take responsibility for their workers by diversifying as technologies change, as companies such as General Electric and Sony have.

“Why aren’t Ford, Holden and Toyota saying ‘wait a minute, isn’t there a way we can use the highly paid and well-trained workers make something?’ When you have a labour force willing to work, then these are people who can produce all kinds of products,” Lemert says.

With relatively high minimum wages, Lemert says the Australian workforce faces different challenges to that of the US, where service industry staff earn less and economies of scale are greater.

While unemployment rates are similar — 6.4 per cent in Australia in July and 6.1 per cent in the US — there are more people in the US no longer looking for work and not counted in official figures.

“There are people who argue globally that there aren’t enough jobs to employ more than 25 to 30 per cent of the population and that will get worse,” Lemert says.

Lay down the law

THE Crown Leadership International Group will be running a workplace law masterclass in Sydney on August 26, covering issues including enterprise agreements, occupational health and safety regulations, unfair dismissal, protecting companies against adverse actions, employee poaching and addressing bullying, discrimination and harassment.

The organisation is calling on human resources practitioners, employment law advisers, business owners, presidents, directors and employee relations professionals to attend.

The course will cover terms of employment contracts, express and implied terms, application of the Fair Work Act, specific clauses pertaining to employees, restrictive covenants, non-compete clauses and non-solicitation clauses.

crownleadership.com.

Holistic takeover

US company TeleTech has acquired business consultancy rogenSi.

Chief executive Mark Felix says the acquisition will create a partnership that will enable rogenSi to grow its international consulting and provide clients with a more holistic offering.

He says the combined business will build on rogenSi’s consulting approach.