1. Managing a multi-generational
workforce in a customer service
environment.
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Adecco Staffing, USA – HRCI Webinar Series
09 | 10 | 14

2. Panelists
•
Bruce Tulgan
• Advisor to business leaders all over the world
• Sought-after keynote speaker and seminar leader
• Founder and CEO of RainmakerThinking, Inc., a management
research and training firm, as well as RainmakerThinking
Training, an on-line training company
• Author of numerous books. His new book, “The 27 Challenges
Managers Face: Step-By-Step Solutions to (Nearly) All of Your
Management Problems” will be released by JosseyBass/Wiley in
September
• Can be reached at brucet@rainmakerthinking.com
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3. Panelists
•
3
Wendy Slayton
SVP, HR at Adecco Group NA
• More than 18 years experience in HR leadership in professional
services industries
• Leads Adecco’s HR Business Partner team
• Drives talent strategy for several Adecco business units in the
U.S.

4. Panelists
•
Kristen Leverone
SVP, Global Talent Development Practice Leader
Lee Hecht Harrison
• 15+ years experience in career development, change
management and project management
• Consults with businesses on their talent development process
• Develops and implements solutions to help organizations
develop, engage, retain and redeploy their workforce to drive
business results
• Leads strategic client engagements, develops new products and
services, and provides thought leadership in career development
and change management
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5. Panelists
•
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Lauren Griffin
SVP, Adecco Staffing, USA
• Manages a multi-generational team, ultimately responsible for
500 colleagues with diverse demographics
• Works in a heavily customer-focused environment
• Trains employees on service excellence

6. •
6
Generational shift in the workplace

7. Multi-Generational Workforce: A snapshot
•
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Pre-Boomers (born prior to 1946) – all but gone from the from the workforce
Boomers – first wave is turning 70 and reinventing retirement; youngest are
climbing their 50s and 60s
Gen X – now the “prime age” workforce; the original rule-breaking “new
economy” free agents
Gen Y – oldest of them are nearing 40, youngest are in late 20s
Gen Z – today’s teens and twenty-somethings; second wave of Millennials

8. Webinar Poll: Which generation are you?
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Baby Boomer 33% (157)
Generation X 38% (185)
Generation Y/Z 29% (138)
Other 0% (2)

9. What shapes generations?
Forces of change
Accidents of history
Steady transformation of the workforce and workplace –
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Numbers, attitudes, norms, expectations and behaviors
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10. •
10
What is shaping the newest generation?
Major historical forces, including:
• Globalization
• Technology
• Institutions in a state of constant flux
• Information tidal wave
• Immediacy and the accelerating pace of change
• Growing diversity and acceptance of difference
• The end of job security
• New career paths

11. •
11
Young workforce in customer service.

12. Young employees spend a lot of time dealing with actual customers.
Young workers are disproportionately represented in frontline service roles
because these roles are often the lower-tier positions.
Why?
Most organizations seeking to scale their operations in any significant way will
tend to put a young (and therefore relatively inexpensive) workforce out front.
•
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Customer service workforce

13. 10 Common Complaints
Customer service delivered by young employees:
1. They are unavailable
2. They are sometimes present, but not working; they are talking with each other, on the
•
phone or are otherwise unavailable
3. They are sometimes available, but are rude, rushed or indifferent
4. They are sometimes engaged and polite, but unknowledgeable
5. They sometimes provide customers with misinformation or conflicting information
6. They are sometimes too slow
7. They sometimes make mistakes
8. They sometimes unnecessarily complicate transactions
9. They are sometimes unable to solve small problems
10. They are sometimes unable to deal effectively with customer complaints
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14. •
14
Meet “Generation Z.”

15. The debate
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Demographers, sociologists, historians:
Generation Y’s “Millennials” 1978-2000
vs
RainmakerThinking:
Generation Y 1978-1989 – first wave of Millennials
Generation Z 1990-1999 – second wave of Millennials
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16. Generation Y (1978-1989)
• Childhood during peace and
prosperity of the 1990s
• Now in second or sometimes even
third stage of their career
• First stage of their careers was during
the worst part of the global economic
crisis
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Generation Z (1990-1999)
• Childhood during the “war on
terrorism” and economic uncertainty
• Bumping up against “career delayed”
Gen Yers
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Gen Y vs Gen Z – The differences

17. The “new” new young workforce
Generation Z – the second wave of Millennials
•
• Born during or after 1990
• 16-24 years old today
• Already nearly 12% of the North American workforce
• 16% of the workforce by 2015
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18. Webinar Poll: What do you see as Gen Z’s greatest challenge?
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Less prepared for the workforce 29% (143)
Lack professionalism 37% (183)
Weaker soft skills 33% (164)

19. Gen Z’s strengths & challenges
Strengths
• Social media savvy
• Quick technical learners
• Digital natives
• Not afraid to share their thoughts
• Not intimidated by hierarchy
• Used to flexible work/life balance
•
Challenges
• Less prepared for workforce than past
generations
• Lack true professionalism
• Weaker soft skills
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20. •
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Bringing out the best in today’s
young workforce

21. A different approach
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Mainstream advice
Praise and reward
Create thank you programs
Transform the workplace to be more fun
RainmakerThinking advice
Commit to high-maintenance management
Make the expectations and rules clear
Guide, direct and support them every step of the way

22. Dealing with over-parenting
• Parents’ involvement is no longer tapering off after education, but continuing
into careers
• You hired the employee, not the parents
• Sink or swim?
• Step into the void – take over the tutoring aspects of parenting
• Give them respect
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Teachers are no longer alone

23. In loco parentis management
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1. Care about your young employees
2. Don’t pretend to be their best friend
3. Give them boundaries and structure
4. Help them keep score
5. Negotiate special rewards in very small increments

24. •
24
Successfully managing a multi-generational
workforce

25. Generational strengths
Boomers
• Empathetic
• Competitive
• Reliable
• Experienced
• Good work ethic
• Favor relationships,
loyalty and teamwork
• Patient
•
Gen X
• Hard workers
• Independent
• Resourceful
• Favor merit-based
rewards over tenure
Gen Y
• Most educated
• Global
• Appreciate diversity
• Digital natives
• Multi-taskers
• Willingness to work with
all levels of workers
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When generations can balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses, you
have a well-rounded workforce. Establish mentor partnerships both ways.

26. Webinar Poll: What do you see as Gen Z’s best strength?
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Education 8% (34)
Digital natives 61% (262)
Globally minded 16% (71)
Multi-tasking 15% (65)

27. Inclusive leadership
• Be aware of generational tendencies, but remember every individual is
different
• Avoid making assumptions about people based on their generation
• Will lead to more engaged employees
• Avoid legal pitfalls
•
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28. •
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Helping Gen Yers and Zers provide
great customer service.

29. Gen Yers and Gen Zers think like customers.
•
…but many of them have little or no experience on
the other side of the transaction
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They can relate

30. • Companies pay employees. This is the ultimate source of an employer’s
authority – the source of every employee’s obligations at work to everyone
• Everyone is a customer: coworkers, boss, subordinates and actual customers
•
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Employment is a multi-faceted relationship

31. • Frontline is overstaffing, leading to a lack of urgency
• Frontline is understaffed, leading to a lack of coverage
• No one has taught young employees the basics or convinced them to care
about great customer service
•
31
Why customer complaints arise

32. • It will make them more valuable to any future roles at any organization
• Has a huge impact on their ability to enjoy work
• Investing effort early on ultimately saves everyone a lot of time and energy
• Offers a valuable opportunity to network with customers
• One way to get financial and nonfinancial rewards on your team is delivering
great service to customers
•
- Best assignments, best shifts, best learning opportunities, exposure to
decision makers, days off, cash, gift certificates and promotional
giveaways
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Show them the value of the skill

33. Webinar Poll: Is your company investing in training programs?
•
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Yes, formal programs 42% (176)
Yes, one-off programs 29% (124)
No, but planning to 12% (50)
No 17% (74)

34. Training and development
Initial training:
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Understanding the pre-conceived notions their customers may have
Managing customer expectations
Tips on encouraging patience in customers while still training
Develop training programs targeted toward heading off common complaints
Invite top reps to be mentors to new-colleagues
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35. Questions?
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Adecco Staffing, USA – CPE Webinar Series
09 | 10 | 14