Saturday Real Talk

What Is Happening to the Workforce?

Disclaimer:
This is based on my own experiences, observations, and conversations with people close to me who work in different industries. I am not saying this applies to every young worker, every seasoned worker, or every workplace. There are good and bad workers in every generation.

But this is something I have been thinking about more and more as I get closer to retirement.

I keep looking at the workforce and asking:

What is happening?

I see more young people with little to no previous work experience being hired directly into professional work environments.

I am not talking about them being promoted too quickly.

I am talking about them coming into professional positions without much working knowledge to begin with.

That is different.

When I was growing up, many of us had already worked before we ever entered what we considered a professional job.

We babysat.

We helped neighbors.

We cleaned.

We worked in stores.

We did jobs where somebody was teaching us how to work before we ever thought about having a career.

When I first started working at Sonia’s Flowershop, I did not walk in and immediately start making flower arrangements and taking customer orders.

I cleaned buckets.

I prepped flowers.

I prepped containers.

I learned how things were supposed to be done.

Then I was taught floral arrangements.

Then I learned how to take orders over the phone and in person.

There were steps.

And someone explained the why behind those steps.

That part is important to me.

I wasn’t just being told what to do.

I was learning how the business worked.

Why flowers were prepped a certain way.

Why containers needed to be ready.

Why certain questions needed to be asked when taking an order.

Why details mattered.

Why customer service mattered.

Why presentation mattered.

We didn’t just learn the job. We learned the steps, and somebody took the time to explain why those steps mattered.

And it wasn’t only at the flower shop.

Every job I have had always had seasoned staff on duty who helped guide and develop the newer staff.

There was somebody there who knew the job.

Somebody you could ask.

Somebody who could tell you when something didn’t make sense.

Somebody who could show you the correct way to do it.

Somebody who had already made mistakes and learned from them.

Eventually, I became that person.

I became the seasoned employee helping to guide and develop newer staff.

And when I was in a position to choose a preceptor, I paid attention to who I selected.

Because everybody who knows how to do a job does not necessarily know how to teach somebody else how to do it.

A good preceptor needs patience.

They need to understand the job.

They need to be able to explain why something is done a certain way.

They need to allow the new person to ask questions without making them feel stupid for asking.

That is development.

What I question today is whether workplaces are losing some of that.

I sometimes see young people entering professional environments while still learning basic workplace skills at the same time.

How to communicate professionally.

How to problem solve.

How to take direction.

How to work with different personalities.

How to recognize when you don’t know something.

How to ask the right person instead of asking four other people who may not know either.

How to understand that asking for clarification is not a weakness.

Those are working skills too.

And I wonder if we are expecting young employees to learn how to work while they are also trying to learn the actual position.

That is a lot.

Especially when there are fewer seasoned employees around to guide them.

I also see leadership getting younger.

Again, I am not saying a young person cannot be a good leader.

That is not my point.

My question is:

Who is developing them?

Who is teaching them how to manage people with different personalities and different levels of experience?

Who is teaching them how to communicate with somebody who has been working longer than they have been alive?

Who is teaching them how to make decisions, handle conflict, admit when they don’t know something, and build trust?

Those things do not automatically come with a title.

And they definitely do not come from completing a training module.

Sometimes I sense a lot of winging it.

People are hired into positions and then seem to be figuring the position out while already doing it.

And this is not based only on what I see in my own workplace.

I have had conversations with people close to me who work in other industries, and we have discussed some of the same things.

Changes happening constantly.

Younger employees coming in with little work experience.

Seasoned staff leaving.

People trying to figure out processes as they go.

And leadership that may also still be developing.

That concerns me.

Not because I think my generation knows everything.

We don’t.

Not because I think young people are incapable.

They aren’t.

But because I believe there should be balance.

There is value in having seasoned people in the workplace.

There is value in having somebody who has been around long enough to understand more than what is written in a policy.

Somebody who understands what usually happens when something goes wrong.

Somebody who can see the bigger picture.

Somebody who understands people.

Somebody who has learned when to speak and when to listen.

Somebody who knows when to ask for help.

Somebody who can say:

“This is how we do it, and this is why.”

That matters.

At the same time, I also see fewer beginner-level opportunities for teenagers than what existed when I was young.

Many of the jobs that once helped young people learn how to work are now being filled by adults.

And more older adults are also continuing to work longer because they need the income.

Some seasoned workers are pushed out of mainstream positions and end up taking jobs that once would have been considered beginner jobs for teenagers.

So now we have young people needing opportunities to develop work skills and older people needing opportunities to keep working.

And somewhere in the middle, I think we are losing something.

I don’t think the answer is pushing older people out faster.

And I don’t think the answer is refusing young people opportunities.

I think the answer is development.

Real development.

Bring young people in.

Teach them.

Pair them with seasoned staff.

Let them ask questions.

Explain the why.

Give them time to develop confidence.

Give them time to make mistakes and learn from them.

And value the seasoned employee who is helping to build that next generation.

Because experience has value.

Working knowledge has value.

Life experience has value.

And knowing how to guide somebody else has value.

As I get closer to retirement, I think about this more.

Eventually, people like me will leave the workforce.

That is how life works.

But I hope workplaces understand what they are losing when seasoned employees leave.

Because you can replace a position.

You can hire another person.

You can assign another title.

But you cannot instantly replace years of working knowledge.

And maybe that is what I have been questioning all along.

Who is teaching the people coming behind us?

And are we giving them enough time, guidance, and experience to really learn how to work?

That is something I think is worth talking about.

Real Talk.

From Flava in Her Tower 🌻