Challenges Facing 21st Century Human Resource Managers
working class of baby-boomers which has been working and which is starting to reach retirement now is very different from the evolving and future generation-xer workers. Baby-boomers have always been loyal to their company while generation-xers are loyal to their skills. A baby-boomer would be very proud to say that he/she worked for the same company for thirty years. A generation-xer is loyal to themself and they will move from job to job, wherever they see a better opportunity to enhance their skills or move up the corporate ladder. They are not as interested in investing in the company’s pension plan. They will invest in mutual funds on their own. For this reason, it is more important now than ever, for human resource managers to provide incentives to retain good employees. There is a lot of competition for skilled employees and in order to keep people, human resource departments need to be aware of the values for the current workforce. The benefits/compensation package that kept baby-boomers in an organization for many years may not be as appealing for generation-xers.
Managing human resources in the twenty-first century may be the most challenging aspect of running an organization. The world and the way organizations conduct business has changed dramatically and continues to change rapidly. Managers should keep in mind that today’s workers are very different from previous workforces. Today’s workforce is filled with people of different cultures, races, and genders that have different values. In addition, competition is greater and human resource managers must strive to acquire and retain the best quality of worker by providing both compensation and non-compensation components that are attractive to the employee.
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