The situation has been particularly dire in the hospitality industry and among members of Generation Z, the 61 million Americans born after 1995. Two 利记sbo professors have been researching the issue and found some noteworthy answers. In a series of studies with 利记sbo students taking the course Human Resource Management, Associate Professor 马修·科尔 and Professor 帕特里夏·卡斯泰利 of 利记sbo’s College of Business and 信息技术 asked students two questions: “What should employers do to help new Gen Z employees feel engaged?” and “What should employers do to increase retention?”
Students were asked to look ahead to when they graduate college and begin looking for full-time jobs, and to rank job related items in terms of importance. 考虑因素包括薪水, 工作文化, 工作与生活的平衡, and clear task expectations while on the job. (对于完整的15个项目排名, 查看Castelli的文章, 科尔, and Doctor of 工商管理 graduate Yong Li at the 组织心理学杂志 .
对于开放式问题, students said they believe they will want to stay with an organization if the 工作文化 is aligned with issues important to them such as sustainability, 多样性, 和技术, and if job and task expectations are clearly communicated by their manager. Results of the rankings put receiving clear job and task expectations at the top of their wish list followed by compensation, 工作文化, 工作描述, 以及晋升的机会.
在结论中, 科尔 and Castelli suggest: “GenZ believes leadership style is extremely important so that their tasks and job roles are clearly defined. Results suggest employee engagement and retention in the GenZ workforce may be optimized through competitive salaries, 工作与生活的平衡, 创造积极的工作文化, and opportunity for employees to grow and advance within an organization.”
2021年初, Castelli and 科尔 looked at the role of leadership style in the hospitality industry. Hospitality has been particularly hard hit during the pandemic, first by unemployment—which peaked in the industry at nearly 40% in April 2020—then by hundreds of thousands of unfilled job openings.
As reported in a new manuscript that was expected to be submitted at the time of writing, Castelli and 科尔’s study of 233 employees recruited on social media found that “task-oriented leadership” helps employees build their skills from basic to complex and has a positive impact on retention. So does employee engagement defined in various studies as a persistent, positive state of mind about one’s work, 由积极的领导创造.
That goes against many current management trends, the professors noted.
“Many practitioners believe today’s leaders should be concerned more with issues of employee well-being and spirit and less with issues of task and structure,他们写道。. “Our results suggest employees who have task-oriented leaders will increase their intention to stay with the organization, 尤其是在酒店业, during times of labor shortage (as in the pandemic), and perhaps during the new distributive workforce that is emerging.
The professors recommended that in situations like the pandemic, managers leverage task-oriented practices such as establishing an emergency response task force to develop continuity plans, identifying safety rules and procedures, 制定应对策略. Managers should also ensure an atmosphere of trust by soliciting employee feedback and acting on it. “参与的员工越多, 他们就会越觉得有价值, 听, 和尊重,他们写道。. Leaders should also be accessible for regular meetings, 实行门户开放政策, 支持工作灵活性.
In the year since this study was completed, 卡斯泰利说, “The pandemic has changed the attitude of employees; many will not stay with the organization without an option of a hybrid or remote schedule. Long gone are the days of the traditional office environment. Ford recently announced their employees will continue remote with a hybrid plan in March 2022 and Amazon and Google will remain remote indefinitely. The pandemic has caused employees to value 工作与生活的平衡 now more than ever. Leaders must find innovative ways to ensure employees stay engaged while working remotely.