Jim Dunn is EVP and chief people and culture officer for Advocate Health, a highly integrated national not-for-profit healthcare system.
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Maybe it's just me, but has it gotten awfully complicated to have people over for dinner lately? I'm noticing that everybody has a dietary restriction or preference to accommodate. One of my favorite guests, my niece, is vegan, and she's never certain if a meal at someone else's home will meet her needs. This means she usually shows up with her own food. So if I invite her over, I stop at Trader Joe’s to get things I know she can eat. Since I’m at the store already, I pick up whichever variations best fit the other guests, too. After all, it’s not going to be a very eager (or full) dinner party if I don’t make an effort to feed everyone.
Providing enough options to satisfy everyone isn't an easy task, and it's not restricted to the dinner table. It happens in the workplace, too. If you want to remain desirable as an employer (or a host), you have to readily accommodate the people you're inviting to the table. That requires understanding how evolving generational values have changed the recruitment and retention processes. To win the talent war, organizations must appeal to a cultural ethos that may feel foreign. But if we don’t embrace it, we'll find ourselves dining alone.
If You Want To Give People What They Need, Try Giving Them What They Want
The psychological contract between employees and employers is changing, and priorities have shifted. The ideal of the work-life balance has been replaced with the life-work balance. Employees are no longer solely motivated by ascending the corporate ladder. Instead, they want to make enough money to live lives that are sustainable—or, ideally, aspirational. So if you want to hire and retain excellent people, you’ll need to embody real-world values and demonstrate genuine interest in helping them live the lives they want.
This is especially true in the benefits packages you offer. Today's workers are now more diverse than ever in terms of race, age, orientation and many other personal identifiers. Therefore, having a fixed menu of options no longer meets everyone's needs; they need the ability to go à la carte. Susan in IT, a mother of three, is going to want a substantively different package than Tim in operations, a recent college grad looking after his sick mother. She wants flexible hours that enable her to take her kids to school, while Tim needs the best retirement fund—and someone to explain the difference between a 401(k) and a Roth IRA—so he doesn’t have to fear for the future.
It's time to recognize that organizations should be aspirational models that help people envision greater horizons instead of limiting their current possibilities.
If You're Not Supporting All Employees, You're Supporting No One
When you look at the modern workforce, it's more diverse than ever in terms of race, age and many other personal identifiers. Though most organizations understand that a one-size-fits-all support system can't accommodate everyone, they may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of implementing a wider set of options. I agree that it can be challenging, but the only way to start is to just go ahead.
How we absorb culture shocks—be it at the dinner table or boardroom table—ultimately determines who shows up in any significant way. Employees and job seekers feel more positively about organizations that support the needs and goals of a diverse workforce. When organizations fail to accommodate a certain group or foster the potential of employees within that group, it sends a clear signal that they’re only prepared to support people whose values align with theirs. And who is eager to jump on board under those conditions?
If You Have Trouble Helping Your People, Ask Your People For Help
It doesn’t matter where we come from, what we bring to the workplace or what role we have. Those differences don’t have to divide us. Ultimately, we all sit down and eat together.
In a former role, my organization brought a recent college grad into the boardroom for a fresh perspective. As soon as she started talking, I saw the faces of the board change. While a third seemed to be thinking, “I’m not having this conversation with someone my daughter’s age,” most people’s faces said, “Tell me more.” Doing things differently is scary and sometimes embarrassing, but it's always necessary. We have to listen to what our people think, even if it's a budding young professional saying, “You have to dance on the internet for the good of the company.”
It takes making a cultural commitment to create a place where all belong. If everyone at my house is having burgers, my niece doesn’t need to be told she's “eating a patty that complies with vegan rules.” Her meal is a burger, too—just a different kind. When you think about things this way, the truth of the matter reveals itself: No one has to be seen as different because of their accommodation. Instead, cultural commitments showcase that differences are part of belonging. If we're able to adopt that mindset, then all generations, groups and dietary restrictions (yes, even vegans) can be accommodated and engaged in the community.
There are always going to be people who resent the fact that every single guest would probably want something different from the main offering. But time spent begrudging others their accommodations is much better spent pulling out chairs. In the workplace, the right recipes for compensation, benefits and culture have become table stakes to the people you're hoping to recruit. Without it, companies and individuals alike will find themselves eating alone.
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