PIHRA Scope - Spring 2008 - (Page 14) HR CONCEPTS continued is also a two-way street. The manager makes judgments about the employee. The employee makes judgments about the organization, the management team, the job and the work itself. Both make important decisions about where the employee will go and how he or she will get there. Training, work assignments, opportunities and experiences all play an important role during this career stage. The employee decides whether or not to pursue additional employer-supported formal education. The employer decides whether to offer tuition reimbursement, study time and other support systems. The employee decides whether to take on additional work or opportunities (i.e., joining a committee, volunteering in a community project, etc.). The manager decides whether to advocate for the employee by facilitating introductions and opportunities or to just leave the employee’s development to chance. An HR program with a strategic focus designs and implements career development programs for all three groups. It finds ways to challenge the seemingly complacent employee to use his or her knowledge, perspective and experience to continue to contribute. It looks for ways to maximize the energy of the employee seeking new challenges and opportunities that may help the organization to maintain the investment that it has made in him or her. Most importantly, it fi nds ways to maximize the commitment, interest Most importantly, the HR program finds ways to maximize the commitment, interest and energy of the employee that is focused on staying and continuing to be a committed member of the team. talk about working well into their 90s just to be sure they are able to buy groceries, much less gasoline and other necessities. One thing is sure. HR will play a key role in helping these late career employees plan the ending phase of their career. It will help the organization to manage the process of finding the appropriate role for them in the workplace. Some organizations, for example, have found that Generation Y employees (born after 1980) pair well with Sandwich Generation workers (born between 1946 and 1964) who can serve as their mentors and advocates. These employees in the late stage of their careers have a special level of knowledge, perspective, experience and work ethic that can be of great value to newer workers. HR can help these late career employees to be valued members of the organization. CAREER DEVELOPMENT AS AN HR ENDEAVOR Career development is built on a foundation of two important HR programs—career planning and career development. These programs are very different and very similar at the same time. They have a common goal. They both seek to put the right people, in the right jobs, to work on the right things, in the right way. Career planning is focused on the individual. The individual makes decisions about who they are, who they want to be and what they are willing to do to get there. A nurses aide, for example, might decide to become a registered nurse. The aide must plan, perhaps with some help from HR or others, the steps he or she will take that lead to graduation from an RN program. HR can use a variety of techniques to encourage employees to consider, explore and pursue personal career decisions. The effort is likely to generate organizational loyalty, committed workers and a ready reserve of potential candidates for future promotional opportunities. In one organization, HR simply co- STAGE FOUR: THE MIDDLE Ten, 15, 20, maybe 25 years into a career, an employee looks into a mirror and takes stock of what has happened and what will happen in his or her work life. They make key decisions about where they are, where they want to go and how they will get there. Some, faced with financial and other obligations, feel stuck in a situation that has no options. They hope to hang on long enough to reach retirement. Others decide to start all over in a new profession. Their eyes glitter with optimism, hope and opportunity. And in between the two extremes is a group that decides their original path is still the right path. They are anxious for the next opportunity in their field. They enjoy the challenge of their chosen profession and intend to continue in it. 14 PIHRAScope Spring 2008 and energy of the employee that is focused on staying and continuing to be a committed member of the team. STAGE FIVE: MOVING TOWARD RETIREMENT The final stage of an employee’s career may be the one we know the least about and will learn the most about in the next decade or two. The numbers are clear. A very large percentage of the workforce is entering this stage. But the bubble has burst for many of them. They started their careers believing that social security and a nice company retirement plan would be waiting for them in 2015. They now
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