Success Performance Solutions

Major Sponsor of
2008 Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania

Welcome to the September 3, 2008 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1.  View Life Through A Gen Y Lens - Class of 2012 Mindset List

Significant events in our lives shape our values. Ask your grandparent or great-grandparent about the most significant life changing childhood event in their life and they will very likely tell you about Pearl Harbor.  Baby Boomers will relive exactly where they were when JFK was assassinated or when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Gen Xers remember the explosion of the Challenger while   Gen Ys reminisce about the attacks on September 11.

Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college.

The class of 2012 is the newest group of students entering college for the first time this fall. They were generally born in 1990. These young adults have grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm.  Technology is so much of every day life that colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are "wired" and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will never experience waiting in line to call your parents for money or girlfriend for a date since they have seldom known a pay phone during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.

It is a multicultural, politically correct and "green" generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.  

This year's Mindset List highlights 60 cultural events. Below are my top 10 favorites. 

• For the Class of 2012, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.
• They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
• Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
• WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
• Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
• IBM has never made typewriters.
• The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.
• Lenin's name has never been on a major city in Russia. 
• They never heard an attendant ask "Want me to check under the hood?"
• 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.

View the complete list for the Class of 2012 Mindset List here.

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

Subscribe to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog and receive skilled worker shortage updates like this:

Age-dependency relates the number of individuals that are likely to be "dependent" on the support of others for their daily living - youths and the elderly - to the number of those individuals who are capable of providing such support. In many states, age dependency is rising at two speeds:fast or faster. This has serious implications for future economic growth, tax revenues, and support services (health, education, transportation).  

States by Highest Dependency Ratio

• Florida - 66.6
• Arizona- 66.5
• Utah - 65.9
• South Dakota - 63.9
• Pennsylvania - 62.3

States by Lowest Dependency Ratio

• New Hampshire - 55.5
• Colorado - 55.4
• Washington - 55.1
• Vermont - 54.3
• Washington - 54.3

How will changes in dependency ratios affect your business?  How will it affect your state's taxing policies?  How will that affect your customers and ability to recruit and retain employees?  Will changing dependency ratios be a threat or opportunity?

Purchase the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 books (soft and hard cover versions) at PerfectLaborStorm.com.

New Perfect Labor Storm videos added. Watch now!

3.  Fall Webinar and CriteriaOne Certification Schedule

Webinars

September 10, 4:00 PM - Screening Assessments: How to read Clues and SELECT
October 14, 10:00 AM - Selection Assessments: Basics of Prevue and ASSESS
November 12, 4:00 PM - Behavior and Values: Reading DISC and BVM 

All times Eastern time  

Space is limited. Call 800.803.4303 to reserve your seat today.

NEW! 

CriteriaOne Certification - Last opportunity in 2008!

November 5-7, 2008 Lancaster, PA

Save $500 - register before September 20.

Click here for more details or call 800.803.4303

4.  Firms Fight Generation Gap

Central Penn Business Journal, Aug 22, 2008   

When different generations meet in the workplace, the encounters can easily create attitude wars. The conflict is a result of differing values, cultures and lifestyles that characterize each of four separate age groups, several staff-development consultants said.

Battles over work ethics, language differences or greeting styles can interrupt the atmosphere and productivity of a staff whose ages range from early 20s to mid-60s. The key to creating positive relationships is increasing awareness, understanding and acceptance, they said.

"Companies want us to change attitudes," said Ira Wolfe, president of Success Performance Solutions of East Hempfield Township, but the change must be in expectations of one another.   

Read more about generation gaps.     

Free Generation IQ Quiz - Test your knowledge about the generations.   

Generational Style Assessment - Understand generational differences and identify ways to "flex" your own behavior.

5. Geeks, Geezers and Googlization

When Old and Young Workers Collide
 

Schedule Your 2008-2009 Presentation Today!
 

We live in interesting times, indeed. Four generations are co-mingling in the workplace, each bringing with them different managerial approaches and working styles. Capitalizing on each generation's strengths is a must. Minimizing generational clash-points is a necessity. Finding common ground is critical. How do you keep Veteran workers, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials all engaged, motivated, and on the job?  

During this presentation, participants will learn from workforce management expert/author Ira S. Wolfe about workforce trends that are changing the way employers will do business followed by a lively and interactive discussion about the newest challenge facing managers: managing the four generations in the workplace.  

Topics to be discussed:

• Learn how workforce trends will change the way you do business
• Why "walkers" will outnumber "strollers" in years to come
• What's up with the "incredible shrinking workforce"?
• Exploring differences between the four generations at work
• Keys to Managing "Clashpoints" in a Multi-Generational Workforce

Call 717-291-4640 or click here to schedule Ira S Wolfe for your 2008-2009 meetings and conferences

6. Speaking Schedule: Ira S Wolfe

2008:

September 8 - Electrical Generation Systems Association - "The Perfect Labor Storm"

September 25 - Human Resource Professionals of Central PA's Fall Conference, Perfect Labor Storm  

November 4-5 - "Geeks, Geezers and Googlization" - Vistage, Lakeland (FL)  

January 2009 - International Builders Show, Las Vegas  

March 2009 - Manufacturers Resource Center, Bethlehem (PA)  

Watch and listen to Ira speaking about the Perfect Labor Storm

Call 717.291.4640 to schedule Ira for your next meeting or conference.

7. Perfect Labor Storm 2.0:

Workforce Trends That Will Change the Way You Do Business   

View Table of Contents  

Of every 10 workers in your organization now, three will retire over the next 10 years. Out of that same 10, three others are looking for new jobs even as you read this. And if you've hired younger "20-somethings," expect them to stay no longer than 18 months, on average, before moving on. What should you do?  

Start by reading the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0.   Workforce trends WILL change the way you do business!

Hard Cover: $29.99

Soft Cover: $19.99

e-Book(downloadable): $14.99

8. Quotes from Hire Authorities

"In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous."
Robert Ingersoll

Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success Performance Solutions. Copyright 2008 Ira S Wolfe."  We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission