In the age of the individual, everyone wants to have input & feel that it is valued. Whilst I go in & do the requirements of my day job everyday, I have numerous skills that are transferrable across the business, but no one would ever know. Furthermore, I see how many of the everyday challenges can be mitigated by changes at the top. However, without access to the top or an inviting environment in which to share those ideas generated, I do not feel valued in the workplace. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am not the only employee that feels this way. In fact, in a company with over 50,000 employees, I KNOW that I am not the only one that feels this way.

This is where IT can facilitate intellectual capitalization. With the likes of facebook & twitter, people love to share ideas & seem eager to do so the moment ideas arise. Incorporating a platform through which employees can share their ideas if & when they arise--irrespective if they are read or not by someone that can implement the idea, can generate an open, fulfilling environment where everyone feels that they have the ability to influence the business.

This is even more important when companies are facing challenges such as an economic downturn. As Execs are only human, they cannot be expected to know the right answer at all times but can only hope to do their best & make the right decision for that moment in time. But an open arena of communication between the problems that people face in the workplace & everyone else could foster a wealth of ideas & decrease the responsibility & stress of the execs to do so.

Innovative Benefits

There is a downturn in the economy, so the quick-fix cost-cutting option that most companies first turn to are a decrease to employee benefits. But companies often fail to analyze which benefits are most 'valuable' to employees before deciding which to cut & how.

Companies profit off economies of scale but fail to capitalize upon their ability to achieve the benefits of economies of scale. For example, I do not receive a company phone nor computer, but I am conscious that the company can provide me a phone & computer at a much lower price than I can go out & purchase one individually. I understand that there are tax implications involved if the company were to simply provide me a phone, but if they gave me an option to purchase a phone through the company at the price that the company receives, the benefit to me would be huge! In other words, the company would facilitate a higher disposable income for their employees, which I KNOW would feel like a major benefit to them. So, a company does not need to slash salaries, but rather facilitate ways in which employees can achieve the same or better standard of living from the same salary.

Business, Like Home, is Best Simplified

GenX: Working to Live More than Ever

General patterns in society impact upon the everyday thinking of generations more than we'd ever like to admit. A downturn in the economy brings together a generation as each face identical situations & feel an underlying bond through circumstance. Recently, this has been most apparent in the behaviours of GenX in the workplace or even out of the workplace, choosing unemployment over a meaningless job.

The importance of life is the underlying theme driving our minds. We have come to realize that life is short, it only happens once & moreover, there are no guarantees in life. Therefore, we strive to be true to ourselves, respecting ourselves & not settling for any less than we believe we deserve. Now, other generations may argue that we have a false sense of what we deserve, but that's always the risk of 'higher' education.

If we are to spend 80% of our lives in the workplace, we want to be doing something that makes us feel fulfilled & like we are contributing 'real' value to society. We have an awareness that supercedes the generations before us & will be superceded by generations after, but this increase of awareness guides our everyday decisions. We are conscious that what we do has consequences & effects on the world that our beyond our imagination. Living in a globalized world, this is more apparent than ever.

Whilst we realize that the 'perfect' jobs are few & far between, we still dream of achieving it.

Become the Idea Generator

Beng the idea generator of your organization—steal from the best practice setters. Many of these can come from internally, such as from other departments within your company or subsidiaries for example. Unfortunately, the future is not as exciting & innovative as we like to believe. The best ideas introduced into a company have been tried & tested elsewhere before...you just have to find them. Once you are able to spot a great concept, the next skill is how you introduce the idea into your organization.

Before you introduce it, make sure that you thought about it intricately within the context of your business. Bring it up casually once to start. Then begin to mention it more & more. And most of all, be sure to include the people that are responsible for facilitating change.

The Age of Individualism-The Decline of Corporate Pride

We experienced our parents reach all of their dreams & more. We had privilege upbringings as our parent’s luck

But they lived at a crucial time in the age of globalization—just at the opening point, the point where guaranteed efficiencies & subsequent profits were to be made. Additional effort wasn’t really required to realize the gains the levels of gains they did. Moreover, there was an apparent discrepancy in educational levels amongst people of various countries that no longer exists today. Westerners are fighting for their jobs alongside the entire world it seems. Competition has increased to a point where it no longer seems worth it to try, as the increase in competition means smaller gains all around. We’re fighting harder for a lot less.

Whilst we watched our parents gain everything, we have also watched them lose it all…or at least preparing to lose it all once lifetime guarantees, such as social security become irrelevant.

In the age of the individual, we have been trained to use our minds, to challenge existing ways of thinking & offer ideas that are uniquely ours. However, within a large organization where standardization is necessary to successfully manage a complex organization & provide the foundations for growth

Gen X in the Corporate World

Gen X in the Corporate World demonstrates the fundamental problem of corporations--they are too slow to react.

The best companies realize that their most important asset is their employees. But many fail to realize that each & every employee is just as important as the next. The focus on job titles inhibits companies to fully capitalize on their intellectual capital. Clear objective setting demotivates individuals from performing beyond the expectations. But primarily, this all comes down to reward. For example, expat & overseas packages have been on a decline with companies looking for expats willing to work on a local contract. They forget that the expat package originated from an awareness that these expats were making large life sacrifices for the company. Furthermore, benefits of employees that have been with the company more than 20-30 years are being taken away. People that have become accustomed to their work being valued at a certain level are now realizing that their work isn't as important to the company as they initially thought. Talk about Morale Kill!