The article below from the Wall Street Journal essentially says that people’s priorities and connection to work have changed as a result of two years of the  pandemic.

 

It then goes on to identify 6 personality types that now make up the majority of the workforce. The article  explains that if you want to retain these employees, you need to understand what motivates them and manage them accordingly.

The 6 workplace personality types identified are not a result of the pandemic. They have always existed. Great managers know this and have always wanted to understand their employees motivations so that they could manage them effectively to meet both the company’s and employee’s goals. 

 

There have always been employees who are super “ambitious” and want to know what they need to do to get that next promotion or bonus. Great managers understand this motivation and manage accordingly.

 

There have always been employees who “work to live.” They do the bare minimum to get by at work and you can set your clock by them. They don’t come in a minute before 9am and you will catch their dust at 5pm. Great managers understand this motivation and manage accordingly.

 

There have always been “double duty” employees. These are employees who are caregivers and essentially have a second job when they leave work handling responsibilities at home. The article suggests that managers should work with these employees to accommodate their caregiving which is often temporary. Temporary?  Although technically correct, having a child in your household for at least 18 years doesn’t feel temporary. Juggling caregiving responsibilities with a career is extremely stressful. Great managers understand this pressure and manage accordingly.

 

There have always been “desperate to connect” employees. Theses folks often live alone and the workplace may be providing their only real source of human interaction. They need team lunches, happy hours and break room chats to remain happy and engaged. Great managers understand this motivation and manage accordingly.

 

There have always been “zest-for-lifers.” These employees don’t need to work. All their financial needs are covered. They like to work to exchange ideas and stay connected to people. Great managers understand this motivation and manage accordingly.

 

There have always been “disoriented new hires.”  These company newbies are trying to figure out the company culture, how things work and where they fit in. Onboarding and the feelings of disconnectedness a new hire may experience have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Many new hires have had a completely virtual experience with their new company. Great managers need to work overtime making new employees feel welcome – particularly in a virtual workplace.

 

By Dorie Clark / WSJ

 

It used to be obvious what your employees wanted out of work. Pre-pandemic, most of us accepted that almost every white-collar professional’s goal was to get promoted and move up the corporate ladder as quickly as possible.

Not anymore.

Just as we all started to become “life-hack ninjas” during the pandemic who could effortlessly Zoom, Slack, and tweet from our bedrooms at the same time, for many professionals, our needs and priorities shifted.

The pandemic prompted a widespread re-evaluation of our lives. One study reported that 54% of Americans are currently re-examining their life priorities—including 20% who started doing so directly as a result of the pandemic. The situation is similar in the U.K. More than three-quarters of Britons said they were considering major life changes, from moving to quitting their jobs to ending relationships.

Increasingly, that re-evaluation means that work is taking a back seat. A 2021 Pew Research study showed that only 17% of adults now cite their job or career as a source of meaning—down 7 percentage points from four years earlier.

As a result of their Covid ruminations, many employees—even those in their prime working and earning years—may no longer share the same ambition and mentality around advancement that we took for granted pre-pandemic. And based on their different pandemic experiences (some overloaded with family responsibilities, while others spent way too much time alone), employees now have different social and emotional needs at work.

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