Linnaea Newman

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the lower birth rates during the 1960s-70s will create a 6 million person shortage in the American work force by 2008, and a 40 million person shortage by the year 2015.  Add to that the number of retiring baby boomers, and we are in the middle of a labor deficit, with every company vying for the same potential employees. 

The people available to fill the void are the GenX and GenY workers, who are as different from the baby boomer generation as we are from our parent’s generation. 

1999 American work force

13% Veteran Generation

48% Baby Boomers

23% Generation X

16% Generation Y

In the past seven years, the numbers in the first two categories have continued to decline due to death and retirement, while the last two categories have increased.  In order to grow successfully into the future, we must widen our managerial skills.

GenX and GenY are proficient computer users. Consequently, an organization’s web site is a particularly important recruitment tool for younger workers. Make sure the employment characteristics that matter most to them - such as mentoring and skill-building opportunities - are featured prominently.

As Generations X and Y move into the workforce, they’ll pose real challenges for plantscaping managers. Some of the current patterns will have to change, like scheduling, for example. "Cutting-edge organizations build flexibility into schedules in incredibly creative ways," says Sharon Jordan-Evans, a retention expert and executive coach in Woodland Hills, CA.. "It’s hard work but this is the only way you’ll hang onto GenXers and manage them effectively."

In the past, the plantscaping organization has run on the backs of dedicated people willing to work extra hours, and put clients’ needs above their own. "We don’t really know what level of resources it takes to run a plant maintenance service," Jordan-Evans says. "In the past, technicians worked extra hours and managers worked 60-hour weeks. They enabled a dysfunctional system to limp along. We cannot expect this to continue."

She adds, "The key to managing GenX and GenY is to ask them what matters to them, and really listen to their responses. Even more, it’s time to engage them in helping to figure out solutions. Before long, it is going to be their organization."

Check out the related article on the Leadership Capital Group www.legsearch.com/news/cio01.htm

      "If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it."

~Andy Rooney, American journalist, correspondent, writer and producer b. January 14, 1919.

It may come as a surprise to some that poor Mr. Scrooge wasn’t so much a bad man, as much as an unhappy one, with a lifelong case of the Holiday Blues.  For many people, the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is the most unhappy time of the year. Everyone, including themselves, expects to feel a level of joyousness that may have escaped them.

The December holidays are over, the beautiful displays we’ve built over the past few months are in "demolition" mode, and those of us who have worked so hard to make the holiday decor go up without a hitch are left wondering, "Is that all there is?"  The Post Holiday Blues are here.

Somehow, it’s not as exciting to take down all the decorations, wrap and protect them, organize and store them away as it was to create the seasonal displays.  And after all that we’re left feeling as if we never got a chance to enjoy the season ourselves.

What to do???  Make it fun!!!  As the "tear-down" crew finishes dismantling Christmas, start asking how they would like to celebrate the end of another successful holiday season.  Post season parties are often more fun than seasonal ones because the pressure is off, and all the challenges and obstacles become funny stories after the fact.

• Have a breakfast party before work, including fruit, pastries, and beverages to celebrate the end of "tear-down." Starting the day with laughter makes the whole day go better, and burns some of those extra holiday calories, besides.
• Come up with categories for awards: Best Horror Story, Most Magnificent Display, Best Time Saving Idea, The Job Least Likely to Be Repeated, and any other topics the players can come up with to keep it light and process the events with laughter.  Prizes can be a choice between perennial favorites like a massage, manicure or pedicure, and dinner for two at a local restaurant.  If the prizes are from vendors that are also clients, they become a double gift.  If warranted, a trip to TPIE to see our plants at their best could be the Grand Prize. 
• Get a "gag gift" for everyone, based on an amusing or significant event that happened to each individual during the season.
• A sincere and heartfelt "Thank you" to each and every employee (see "Just Say Thanks" on Dec. 15, 2006) will be the best preparation for a successful and profitable 2007 holiday season, not to mention all the months in between!

"Success is not the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success.  If you do what you love, you will be successful."

—Herman Cain

My husband and I adopted a child for a  "Lunch with Santa" party this week, and had a great time shopping for a special toy within the preset $20 limit.  We finally found a $19.99 radio controlled truck for the young boy who had been paired with us, and looked forward to giving it to him after the hotel luncheon that we were also signed up to provide.  What struck me most about "Blake" was that after receiving the catered lunch and time with Santa, Christmas cookies, candy canes, AND a radio controlled truck WITH batteries, he never said "thank you" for any of it.  I wrote it off as being due to his tender age, as he ran off with his mother (the Event Planner of the Holiday Inn we were using for the occassion).  Then Mom came back to ask us for an additional attachment for the truck, and SHE never said "thank you" either. 

It started me thinking about an item I had read in USA Today years ago, and never forgot:  that most people prefer sincere appreciation for a job well done to a monetary reward.  I had to agree.  I would have much prefered a "thank you" from either Blake or his mother to a refund for the truck and lunches.

The holiday season can be grueling to our employees as they scramble to cover short work weeks, tempermental poinsettias, and bad weather, so the very least we can give them is a sincere "Thank You" for a job well done.  To make it especially valuable to the recipient,

1.  Make it specific.  Mention the actual task performed, "I appreciate the way you keep your work vehicle clean and organized during this hectic time." rather than using an all encompassing, "Good Job!"

2.  Make it personal.  Notice the contributions each person makes to the overall results of the team, "Your innovative method of scheduling holiday installations allowed us to complete them all on time with no overtime hours required.  Thanks for enabling us all to be home with our families for the holidays."

3.  Make it immediate.  Don’t wait for a special occassion or the next annual review to appreciate an employee, because the behavior you praise is reinforced, and will, therefore, be repeated.  "Thanks for showing up on time each and every day.  That lets us know we can count on you to get your work done." 

Remember how good it feels to hear someone say "thank you" for a special effort?  Then, find lots of ways to use it on others, because  efforts reinforced with appreciation are the ones that will be repeated.  The reverse is also true.

As a "Baby Boomer" myself, I finally realized that the Generation X’ers we hire into our businesses run on a completely different type of motivation than do their more numerous, and competitive, predecessors. How do you keep those employees in their 30’s and 40’s coming to work each day?

1. Let them know that you are committed to helping them achieve their goals within the context of the company’s goals. Don’t mention climbing the corporate ladder or paying their dues. Too many X’ers have seen their parents lose their jobs after years of ladder climbing and dues-paying.
2. Let them know that you will provide as much training as possible to help them develop new skills while they are there. Allow them some input into what training they will receive.
3. Tell them you will challenge their creativity, then keep your promise by giving them a challenging assignment or problem to solve.
4. Provide opportunities for them to work in spirited team situations, but with opportunities for individual achievement and recognition.
5. Make the work environment fun and informal. Introduce them to others and encourage the development of workplace friendships.
6. Allow them to experience a daily sense of tangible achievement.
7. Give them opportunities to reinvent themselves within the organization by learning new skills, moving cross-functionally, redesigning their jobs, reporting to a different mentor, working different hours, or working from a new location.
8. Open a dialogue with them on their first day about how you want to keep them and how you are willing to work with them to make that happen.
9. Look for opportunities to engage them in short-term, goal-oriented projects.
10. When X’ers say they want to leave, give them the option of continuing to contribute as a part-timer, flex-timer, telecommuter, periodic temp or consultant.

Adapted from KEEPING THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS: 24 Ways to Hang on to Your Most Valuable Talent by F. Leigh Branham (AMACOM; October 2000).

F. LEIGH BRANHAM (Kansas City, KS) is vice president and director of professional services for Right Management Consultants, one of the world’s leading firms in human resources consulting.

 CalScape 2006 was held October 11-13 in the beautiful (and sunny) Palm Springs Convention Center, while the northern Midwest and Eastern states received their first significant snowfall(s).  Although I hated to miss the first measurable snow, what I learned and did at CalScape were worth considerably more than the time and money I spent to be there.

1.  The keynote speaker, Patricia Fripp, alone was more than worth the price of admission. 

Yes, I’ve heard her before, and yet I can’t tell you how valuable it was for me and my business to hear her this year.  First of all, she has lived what she teaches, and can put hard numbers to her advice.  Secondly, she is constantly reinventing herself so she instructs along a continuum, as she continues to develop.  Most importantly, I am different from when I heard her last, and even if she had given the same talk (which she didn’t), I got to hear what I most needed to learn this year, and it’s much less painful to learn in an encapsulated form than through the painful experiential process.

2.  If you want to know what kind of company/employees/clients you deserve, look at the ones you’ve got. 

There are no accidents, and our companies reflect our development, both good and bad.  Can’t find or keep  "good" people?  What kind of person/boss are you?  Do customers keep shopping around for a better price?  Maybe we’ve failed to provide them the value they require, or inquired how they prefer that we provide it.  If the reflection we see is painful, that is our indication that it’s time to change.

3.  We are firmly into the age of modern technology, and those of us who do not yet have a web presence will lose more money than we would have spent to create a web site. 

Don’t know how to do it, and have no time to learn?  Perfect!  Neither did I, but here I am, right in the middle of the information age.  Click on BrightCite under "Resources" on my home page, and find out how easy it can be to create your own interactive web site.  Your increased sales are their own reward.

We have a great industry, and I couldn’t be prouder of the award winning companies at CalScape that make our industry look good.  They raise the bar, make me stand a little prouder, and make me want to do a little more to give back to the industry that has provided me my livlihood for the past 30 years.

PIA Cares is just one way that many of our industry’s leaders give generously of their time and materials to beautify with plants those non-profit organizations that have NO budget for what we do.  Providing the beautiful plants to places that could never afford them makes plants seem like less of a luxury, and more of a necessity.  Everybody wins.

There will be more snowfalls throughout this season, but there will never be another CalScape 2006, and I for one am grateful that I did not miss it.