Are You a Gen-X Friendly Employer?

A recent study by the Center for Work-Life Policy provides some significant insight into the mind of Generation-X employees that can help employers to take advantage of the talent in this important segment of the workforce. Knowing and understanding the motivations and frustrations of Gen-Xers is important for employees who want to capture and keep top talent, especially with a coming shortage of skilled workers when baby boomers eventually retire.

 

Motivating Generation X

The Center for Work Life Policy study, called The X Factor: Tapping into the Strengths of the 33 to 46 Year old Generation indicated a number of key facts that employers should know about the important talent pool of Gen-Xers:

 

• Almost 1/3 of higher earning Gen-X employees work more than 60 hours per week. Many have strong career ambitions driving them to put in these long hours. In fact, 75 percent of women and 72 percent of men described themselves as “ambitious.”
• As many as 43 percent of women and 32 percent of men in this generation have opted out of having kids. Of these childless individuals, a full 60 percent of women and 36 percent of men indicated in the study that they believed their employers viewed their personal commitments as less important than the personal commitments of colleagues who are parenting children.
• 41 percent of Generation-X employees report feeling as if they aren’t advancing quickly enough in their jobs. This is due in part to a lack of promotion opportunity because baby boomers are not retiring quickly enough.
• 49 percent of employees in the study reported feeling stalled in their careers
• 43 percent of Gen-X workers reported that their student loan debt was one important consideration in which job they selected. 74 percent reported that their credit card debt was a driving force.

Takeaway Tips

These statistics indicate a few key things about how employers can maximize the pool of Gen-X talent. It is clear that these employees want to work and place a high premium on their jobs. As such, you can foster this drive and encourage great employee work ethic and performance by simply working to address the concerns shared by most in the study.

While you may not be able to promote employees due to baby boomers not retiring quickly enough, you may provide lateral opportunities for expanding job responsibility or provide other forms of ensuring employees know they are valued and that their careers are going somewhere. You may also wish to think about exploring some type of student loan repayment programs or incentives to score and keep top talent, and about making a conscious effort to ensure that those with and without children are treated the same in terms of flexibility and respect for personal commitments.