By Jim Annis, CEO

Sitting around the management table, we are all in agreement about the following factors that will influence the workplace in 2017; however, we are not all in agreement about how they will reveal themselves. Time will tell. Starting a dialogue is a great place to start. Let’s begin …

Millennialization of the workplace

This is the single most prominent issue. How are we adapting? Forty percent of our management team falls into this generation. We consider ourselves fairly progressive in this aspect. How have we adjusted to their wants, needs and desires? We have allowed more casual dress (I, however, still come to work in a suit and tie). There is a more relaxed style of communication and through different methods like texting. When a project is identified as a priority, we have more of an open exchange about a project before it starts, as well as constant communication during the process. In decades past, this culture shift is in contrast to work dumping, “Here is a binder of everything I did this month,” and then the employee would drop said binder on supervisor’s desk. We’re a better team because we adjust quality as we collaborate while the work is being done versus a post mortem process improvement.

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