TORONTO GLOBE & MAIL - Tuesday, November 24, 1998
MANAGING
The office: where people meet, work and party
A younger generation -- which has witnessed the weakening of the family unit and the neighbourhood -- is seeking support, advice and friendship in the workplace.
ROBERT BARNARD and JENNIFER WELSH Special to The Globe and Mail
A Montreal advertising agency recently hired a chef to prepare the staff's culinary selections throughout the day. On the television show Ally McBeal, the co-ed washroom is the most popular meeting place to discuss personal and professional issues. And pool tables are becoming standard fare in many companies -- sometimes doubling as boardroom tables.
What do these examples suggest? That the "social workplace" has moved far beyond the company Christmas party, golf day or the occasional beer after work. The Nexus generation -- the name we give to people born between the early sixties and late seventies -- is blurring the lines between working, living and playing.
In a recent survey, 18- to 34-year-old Canadians were asked, "What was the one thing you like most about your job?" "Meeting people" and "the people I work with" topped the list, ranking ahead of issues such as compensation.
Managers who want to retain the most talented Nexus employees should ensure that their workplace builds deep relationships and feels like a neighbourhood hangout. While companies may come and go, friends last forever.
To understand why the workplace has become both a home and a community for Nexus members, think back to the formative years of this generation. Two support systems crumbled -- the traditional nuclear family and the home-town community.
The family unit has changed significantly over the past two decades. By the age of 20, one-third of those who belong to the Nexus generation saw their parents break up. This trend, in combination with factors such as higher post-secondary education levels and economic turmoil, means that Nexus members are waiting far longer to get married -- 28 years of age, on average -- compared with preceding generations.
For those not ready for wedding bells, groups of friends now serve as family units, providing stability, mentoring and advice. The top television shows among Nexus viewers -- Ally McBeal, ER and The Practice -- demonstrate how the "family" show is moving out of the home and into the workplace.
Moreover, the old-style neighbourhood or home town is also a less prominent support structure for Nexus members. Many in the generation had to leave home to find a job or go to school. As part of the information age, many are also switching companies and cities in search of a better opportunity.
A colleague of one of this article's co-authors has lived in eight different apartments in the past five years, worked at two different companies and has changed his E-mail address three times. This mobility not only creates havoc for direct marketers, but also poses formidable challenges for fostering a sense of community. The one place to get to know people and develop friendships fast is at work.
There is also a portion of the Nexus generation that are still living at home. Members of this stay-at-home group need a new place to establish connections as their school friends scatter (and their parents wonder when they are going to leave).
While work has become the hub of a community for Nexus people, many managers are inadvertently thwarting social instincts in the name of client service or re-engineering.
In some professional service firms, for example, the concept of "hotelling" requires workers to book office space and computers in advance, because there are fewer workstations than employees. In turn, employees are asked to work at home or at the client's office. These well-meaning programs can be misinterpreted by Nexus people as cost-reduction measures, rather than for employee or client well-being.
To retain Nexus employees, managers should work toward a higher quantity and quality of human interaction in the workplace. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Create an office café. Boardrooms, cafeterias and water coolers are no longer sufficient for employee interaction. If Nexus members like to frequent cafés after work, why not put a café inside your workplace? Toronto advertising agency Communiqué has done just that -- with great success. Some say it's where most of the work really gets done.
Work your corporate intranet. While some employers still categorize the Internet as "play," the majority of the Nexus generation sees E-mail and the World Wide Web as key tools in day-to-day work. Once you have provided employees with their own Web access, they can use your corporate intranet as a tool to network and build knowledge on a range of company-related issues.
Throw a "house" party. Many Nexus generation employees may be moving out of their "night club" years and are looking for a replacement. Nexus-run companies look for almost any excuse to have their own version of a house party. D-Code -- the company where the co-authors work -- recently cleared out the office, brought in the chips, beer and disc jockey, and cranked up the volume. Three hundred friends packed the space where six workers normally "live."
All this suggests that Nexus is a generation that is more likely to be loyal to the people it works with than the companies it works for. Don't fight it. Grab a cappuccino and discuss it.
Robert Barnard and Jennifer Welsh are partners in Toronto-based D-Code. The firm's book, Chips & Pop: Decoding the Nexus Generation, is published by Malcolm Lester Books.
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