Balancing Youth and Experience in Your Staff

To develop the best possible work teams, leaders need to balance younger workers with more experienced ones. Younger workers can bring new ideas, enthusiasm, and recent knowledge to the department, but they aren't always ready for high-stakes professional workplaces. Experienced staff can temper the mistakes of excited newbies and provide guidance to direct their energetic efforts. Obtaining the right balance in your organization starts with the right hiring strategy.

According to an article on Workforce.com, an Adecco survey indicates that over half of hiring managers don't plan to invest in recent college graduates in the next year. According to experts, it's not that companies don't need educated employees, but businesses are looking to hire experienced workers; hiring managers simply don't want to be bothered with team members who aren't ready for a professional environment. One hiring strategy that allows businesses to acclimate younger workers without long-term commitment is offering internships. An internship allows a company to try out a new worker, and the intern gets a feel for the job and the work environment. At the end of an internship, you can decide whether or not to hire the young worker.

Often, experienced workers and new staff form their own cliques, a situation that can hurt team morale and productivity. Balancing your workforce between energetic youth and knowledgeable long-term team members involves developing relationships between staff members. Start with your hiring practices for the best result; pair your inexperienced workers with a mentor for the first few weeks. Choose individuals who can convey excitement, knowledge, and positive values to new team members. Mentors should be charged with introducing new staff to others, answering questions about processes, and showing new workers around the office.

Balancing your workforce will require setting clear expectations for all team members. Experienced workers can feel threatened by young employees with big credentials. A belief that the new hire is being groomed to take over management functions can cause a breakdown in teamwork and communication. At the same time, if new hires believe all the opportunities will automatically fall to experienced workers, they may feel little incentive to stick around and do a good job. Recruiting reps and hiring managers should never overpromise when speaking to applicants. You should also ensure that all employees in your organization understand their positions and that you have a consistent procedure in place for promotions. For more information about solid hiring and employee management practices, visit the human resources community at Nexxt.

Diversification is important in any workplace. When you bring together a staff of multiple backgrounds and ages, your team is better able to address problems, design creative solutions, and engage all customers. Diversity doesn't always come easily, though, and it takes work from leadership to create a balanced team of both experienced workers and enthusiastic newbies.

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