HRviews

Each week I try to spend some time reading my fav magazines (Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Simple Life [sic]), on paper of course (still in love with the paper based ones) and the 2 magic figures appear on almost every other page: 2.0.  Everything turns out to be 2.0 now that Web 2.0 is truly taking over our lives. So from here, I have started exploring the ramifications this evolution could have in the workplace and the behavioural change this will bring. Clearly the young guys coming into the organization bring the new spirit with them, and some obvious behaviours come across as the norm. So this would be your typical Employee 2.0:

- prefers flexible work arrangements: does not need an office necessarily or a landline
- opts for content that is always available online and tools that are automated
- doesn’t like reading newspapers or magazines (like I do), prefers them over the internet
- prefers on-demand content; don’t waste their time with fluff
- the internet is seen as the new hangout place (Facebook  & Twitter)

So this is great, it sounds very good and it works hand in hand with what technology is offering us nowadays. However, how do you manage the Employee 2.0?  We are still trying to figure out how to manage the ‘traditional’ employee…so this would be quite a jump.

It is a new breed: an active, educated, informed and super motivated person.  The smart thing to do, as an employer, would be to truly get what this type of person is all about and empower them in the right way to obtain the best outcomes of their work. Probably the word ‘manage’ might not even be part of the game anymore as partnering and excelling at what you do will most likely take over.

Just some thoughts…I’ll go enjoy my Easter now.

Happy Easter everyone!