Coaching for SMEs can help keep your staff happy. Sales Improvement Services’ Tim Anderson will be heading a seminar on the subject at UCAV next month
It’s sometimes difficult for SMEs to recruit and retain staff when they have to compete with larger organisations who are able to offer higher wages and more incentives.
Traditionally these larger firms have been able to take the pick of the university graduates with competitive salaries and exciting benefits to woo the best talent no matter what their degree subject was.
And things may well be getting even tougher with the appearance, at college and, in the workforce, of the new Generation Z. This new generation, born in the mid/late 90s, have different motivations from their predecessors in Generation Y, (born between 1977 and 1994) according to a new survey.
Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm, and Randstad, the third-largest HR services and staffing company in the United States, conducted the first worldwide study to focus on the workplace preferences of both Generation Y (ages 21 to 32) and Generation Z (ages 16 to 20).
Key takeaways from the findings show:
- Gen Z has more of an entrepreneurial spirit – 17% of Gen Z vs. 11% of Gen Y wants to start a business and hire others.
- For Gen Z, it’s not about the money – only 28% of Gen Z said money would motivate them to work harder and stay with their employer longer, as opposed to 42% of Gen Y.
- Gen Z prefers face-to-face communication over technology – Gen Z grew up with technology, yet 53% percent prefer in-person communication over tools like instant messaging and video conferencing.
Entitled “Gen Y vs. Gen Z Workplace Expectations,” the study queried approximately 1,000 individuals from each generation across 10 countries: the United States, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
According to Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, the study reveals other attributes that distinguish Gen Z and Gen Y employees.
“Gen Z has a clear advantage over Gen Y because they appear to be more realistic instead of optimistic, are likely to be more career-minded, and can quickly adapt to new technology to work more effectively,” Schawbel said.
“Additionally, since Gen Z has seen how much Gen Y has struggled in the recession, they come to the workplace better prepared, less entitled and more equipped to succeed.”
One of the priorities for Generation Z is career advancement and personal development and here is where SMEs can do something to combat the larger enterprises taking all the best graduates.
Coaching for SMEs
But SMEs who can offer employees mentorship opportunities, personal coaching and skills workshops which develop their professional abilities and provide them with the skills they need to rise through the ranks within your business can mean your business can fight with the big corporate companies to employ quality graduates and other Generation Z member entering the workplace.
Companies that also take advantage of Generation Z’s entrepreneurial spirit will also be more likely to stay in front of the latest trends and be more competitive in their industry. Focus on providing opportunities for this new generation to integrate their entrepreneurial spirit into their job. Talk to them about their ideas for growth and their thoughts about where your business or company can go and this lets them know you value their contributions and their initiative.
Coaching for SMEs provided through the servvice of a professional coaching trainer – which adopts a different mind-set to the traditional “top down autocratic manager” style employed by many organisations – is an obvious route into recruiting from Generation Z.
Adopting a coaching culture from the top down helps all employees unlock their potential to maximise their own performance, it “helps them to learn” rather than teaches them.
With this in mind, Sales Improvement Services’ Tim Anderson will be presenting ideas to improve staff retention and recruitment at UCAV (University Campus Aylesbury Vale) on December 7th. This is an introduction event to allow businesses to find out more about how coaching can help and to make them aware of a course which Tim will be running at UCAV next year.
Aylesbury College has teamed up with Sales Improvement Services and University Campus Aylesbury Vale (UCAV) to offer the Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring programme aimed at senior business leaders and professional coaches who operate at strategic board level. The course runs at UCAV from January.
To register for this free event go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ucav-open-evening-and-business-recruitment-seminar-tickets-19509380081
