2. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT | 201 EXPECTATIONS
1
Lindsay Hutter
US Director, Change & Internal Communications
lindsay.hutter@hillandknowlton.com
201 NOW TRENDING
1: Smart organizations will look beyond tweaks and seize the
Employer/employee relationships will continue to undergo moment as one to reinvent their employee engagement model to
challenge and change like never before. Economic pressures are address new workplace and societal realities. A starting place is
not abating, and so will continue to put some very difficult the way companies inform and engage employees about the
questions in front of companies about their overall cost models need for change. Fresh approaches to inviting employees to
and their labor costs. contribute to the design as well as the execution of change will
create a sustainable employer/employee relationship model for a
At the same time businesses are facing these pressures, a growing more challenged economy, which seems to be what the future
percentage of their workforce—namely, the millennials—will holds. Old approaches of cutting budgets and waiting for the
continue to be less content than ever to accept salary freezes and economy to turn will only entrench an old way of employee
benefits reductions and be more expectant of career advance- engagement into company cultures and leave businesses
ments far more quickly than their parents and grandparents. As ill-prepared for the future and uninspiring for their employees.
the third-generation successors to the “sacrifice for country and
company” servicemen and servicewomen of WWII, millennials will It’s also vital that companies address millennials’ growing desire
continue to demonstrate an uninhibited pursuit of creating their for transparency. Companies will need to be more open about
own career ladders and seek to impose an entirely new set of change to avoid delivering an unintended invitation to their
expectations on today’s employers. In addition, the millennials’ younger workers to seek out the truth they feel is missing in
large appetite for transparency—more than double the need of company messaging.
other generations—will continue to grow.
In the race for young talent and especially young talent that’s
less expensive than “old talent,” companies will have to be careful
CORPORATE IMPLICATIONS not to be too solicitous of millennials nor too quick to lose the
The most fundamental implication of these trends is that a wisdom of older talent. Multiple generations in the workplace are
one-size-fits-all model cannot carry the weight of responding challenging to manage and lead. But for companies that take
to markedly different generations in the workplace. What that time to think of this diversity as a symphony and lead these
means practically is that organizations will need to address their generations like a maestro who recognizes each instrument’s gifts,
employees the same way they do their customers—recognizing the rewards will make work more fascinating and the company’s
that there are different needs, career desires and motivators performance more successful.
across their employee populations and thoughtfully and collab-
oratively evolving to a model that serves the company’s mission
and talent needs. Lindsay Hutter, based in Washington, DC, is the senior
strategist and relationship manager for H&K’s change and internal
communications practice.
