The New Workforce: Five Sweeping Trends That Will Shape Your Company's Future [Hardcover]

Harriet Hankin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 081440829X | ISBN-13: 978-0814408292 | Publication Date: November 5, 2004

Major new trends such as increasing diversity, longer life expectancies, the Baby Boom "Echo," employees demanding greater trust and higher purpose in their work environment, and new household types including same-sex partners, and "Mr. Moms" are forcing organisations to reconsider their human resources strategies. The "New Workforce" outlines the implications of these crucial new developments, considering issues such as recruitment, retention, compensation, work schedules, benefits, retirement, and many others. It asks important questions including: what should the mandatory retirement age be? how flexible should companies be about schedules and off-site work made possible by technology? what new types of compensation should we consider? and what can we do to ensure good communication among five generations working together?

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Hankin deftly navigates the past and present characteristics of the north American workforce, while providing a glimpse into its future.”

-Retail News

Review

"""A must read for up-and-coming executives who will need to manage the future differently from their predecessors. It’s also an eye opener for current executives who want to prepare their companies for the future.""

-- Joanne O. Hutcheson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Delaware Investments

""The New Workforce identifies significant demographic changes in concise, easy-to-follow chapters. The pleasant surprise is the practical implementation tips and ideas included at the end of each section. Along the way, Hankin personalizes the text to make it fun and easy to read.""

--June Barry, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Citizens Bank

""Hankin's practical advice as to how these five sweeping trends will affect our recruiting and retention practices is a must-read. The specific examples, recommendations, and suggestions of how to deal with the ever-changing workforce create a workbook of ideas for managers who truly believe that people are their greatest assets.""

-- Michael J. Gerling, President and CEO, GDT, Inc.

""The New Workforce is an excellent analysis of the human forces that will affect companies in the near future and what they need to do now to prepare.""

-- Claire Raines, author of Connecting Generations and coauthor of Generations at Work

""Hankin provides a critical awareness of the multigenerational workforce in a succinct manner. Her candor pulls you in and allows you to relate to the information on a personal level, then easily transfer it to any work environment.""

-- Mary D. Baldwin, Vice President Human Resources, Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union

""Prescient, incisive, clear, and engaging, Harriet Hankin's The New Workforce belongs on the desk of any leader who seeks a well-grounded, practical understanding of what to expect and how to prepare for emerging societal trends destined to influence the life of any organization.""

-- Myles Martel, Ph.D., President, Martel & Associates; leadership communication advisor to Fortune 500 executives; and personal debate advisor to President Ronald Reagan"

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (November 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081440829X
• ISBN-13: 978-0814408292
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,530,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, Educational: Well worth your time., February 2, 2005

By 

Roger E. Herman (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Workforce: Five Sweeping Trends That Will Shape Your Company's Future (Hardcover)

Human resources executives are naturally concerned about what's coming. Part of their job is to prepare for future workforce and workplace needs and advise senior leaders regarding appropriate strategies. Those senior executives are also beginning to wake up and smell the trends. The smart ones are hungry for the insights that will empower them to lead their organizations boldly into the future.

Harriet Hankin, president of a benefits design consulting and administration firm in the Philadelphia area, brings corporate experience, an ownership role, and the perspective that comes from serving as an objective consultant to corporations. She's obviously done her research in order to present key trends and their impacts.

The book is organized into two sections: The Five Major Emerging Workforce Trends and The Impact of the Trends on Human Resources. Hankin selected five trends; as a futurist by profession, I see a number of others on the horizon. Selecting the more influential trends can always be challenged. This book addresses Longevity, More Varied Household Types, Generations, Diversity, and Trust, Respect, and Ethics.

The book is written in an almost conversational style, with stories and anecdotes that flavor the text and make the book even more readable. Hankin includes some information which, while it may not be right on target from a serious business perspective, broadens the reader's appreciation of the issues raised. The depth of the author's research comes out in the notes at the end of each chapter. Readers interested in gaining even more knowledge about a topic Hankin discusses will easily be able to follow her research path. Call-out boxes and charts fit well into the book design, enhancing the value for the reader.

In the second section, Hankin shares a treasure chest of ideas that employers may apply. There are enough ideas in these pages to keep a human resources staff busy for quite a while! Among the valuable features I appreciated is a list (on page 181) comparing the kinds of reward priorities that will be preferred by various generations.

A helpful appendix offers an outline for engaging employees in a future think tank experience to help prepare tomorrow's workforce. A comprehensive index makes it easy to find what you're looking for if, as I expect, you'll want to go back to this book for repeated readings and considerations.

As a qualifier, I am author of "Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People," a book on the coming shortage of skilled workers. The issues we concentrate on as workforce futurists, are well-addressed in "The New Workforce." If you're in management or human resources-or moving in that direction in your career, read this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Paradigmatics of the Multi-Generational Workforce, June 13, 2005

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Workforce: Five Sweeping Trends That Will Shape Your Company's Future (Hardcover)

As the subtitle correctly indicates, Hankin focuses her reader's attention on "five sweeping trends that will shape your future." She devotes a separate chapter to each (Chapters 1-5). I especially appreciate the "virtual timeline" she includes in Chapter 3 (pages 48-49) which lists several generations and indicates the key influences on each:

The Silent Generation (born 1922-1945): The Great Depression and the New Deal; World War II; the Holocaust; Hiroshima; radio and films.

The Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964): Vietnam War; assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy; placing a man on the Moon; Watergate; impact of the Cold War (e.g. bomb shelters); television; women's liberation; sexual revolution; environmental concerns (e.g. Green Party, Exxon Valdez).

Generation X (born 1965-1076): Demolition of the Berlin Wall; Challenger disaster; Clinton sex scandals; skyrocketing growth of the stock market and an abundant economy in the 1980s and 1990s; 24-hour, live news coverage; the dot-com economy; high-tech start-ups.

Baby Boom Echo (born 1977-2000): Oklahoma City bombing; Columbine High School massacre; Y2K; Internet, WWW, and e-business; September 11, 2001, terrorists attacks; corporate scandals (e.g. Enron); video games; instant messaging.

Then, in Part II, Hankin examines the impact of the five major emerging workforce trends on human resources. Specifically, the impact on HR policies and procedures, recruiting, compensation and benefits, and learning and training. Her proposed "Formula for the Future" stresses flexibility, respect, and "tons of communication." In an Appendix, Hankin provides a survey which will help decision-makers in all organizations (regardless of size or nature) to prepare themselves for "the new workforce." Hankin offers a brilliant analysis of how and why each generation has been influenced by its predecessors as well as by events within its own portion of the "virtual timeframe."

Of even greater interest and value to me is her analysis of the differences -- in terms of values, priorities, and preferences -- between and among members of various generations, differences which create both different challenges and different opportunities for them as well as for those who supervise them. Perhaps Hankin agrees with me that one cannot motivate another person but one can activate and nourish, perhaps even inspire self-motivation in others, as history's greatest leaders have. Obviously, mutual respect and trust must be earned. Also, everyone involved in a given enterprise should be flexible as well as united, especially when responding to a crisis. The healthiest human communities are those which have certain non-negotiable values. Everyone involved understands what conconstitutes inappropriate behavior, for example, and there is zero-tolerance of it. Hankin is dead-on when asserting that it is imperative to have an understanding of the generational differences between and among those who comprise "the new workforce."

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Leigh Branham's The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It's Too Late, Lois J. Zachary's Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization's Guide, Gary Harpst's Six Disciplines for Excellence, Bill Jensen's What is Your Life's Work?: Answer the BIG Question About What Really Matters...and Reawaken the Passion for What You Do, and Lynda Gratton's The Democratic Enterprise: Liberating Your Business with Freedom, Flexibility and Commitment.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, December 7, 2004

By 

Marvin - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Workforce: Five Sweeping Trends That Will Shape Your Company's Future (Hardcover)

This is a fantastic look into the future of the workforce and is a must read for anyone who owns a business or works in human resources or personnel departments. In fact, this is also worth reading by anyone who works in a mid-size to large company, since all companies will soon be forced to deal with the trends that the author identifies in this book and the information will undoubtedly be helpful to any employee. The book is a pleasure to read with both personal and professional anecdotes interspersed with the author's prescient thoughts on a subject in which she is an expert. Thoroughly enjoyable.