Menu:
The Changing Value Of Development: Generation Xers and Their Managers See It Differently
by Marisa Urgo
Librarians place a high value on professional training and development, but that value is redefined with every new generation. Right now, there are competing perspectives: many managers see professional development as an unnecessary expense, while their employees, especially their Generation X employees, see it as an essential part of their career development. Generation Xers aren't automatically settling into library jobs for life. If managers want to recruit and retain this new generation of professionals, they need to reconsider their attitudes toward professional development. It needs to evolve into a strategic tool used to recruit and retain the best skilled professionals.
Generation Xers see professional development as a source for improving the kinds of skills they need to remain marketable. Many entered the professional workforce in the early 1990s when jobs were scarce and many libraries were closed or significantly cut back. They know that no job is guaranteed for life, and so many look for job opportunities that will give them a chance to develop marketable skills. These are the kinds of skills that will help them remain "employable." For some, this is so important that they will leave a job for another that offers better opportunities to learn and grow.
Professional development isn't just important for workplace survival; it's part of a greater change going on in the workplace. The lifetime job has been replaced by a career without any strict definitions. For the Generation X information professional, this "boundaryless career" has taken on immediacy and relevancy. When asked what they thought they would be doing, many of the Generation Xers I interviewed for my book, Developing Information Leaders: Harnessing the Talents of Generation X, had other things in mind than working in libraries. They still saw themselves working with information, they just didn't see libraries in their futures. No matter how much they liked their current job, they saw themselves doing drastically different work in the future. For them, library work was just one step to greater opportunities, not the only job they will ever have. Those greater opportunities demand professional development.
The question begs to be asked: Why would a manager bother to provide professional development opportunities to employees who are just going to leave anyway? The answer is simple: Professional development opportunities motivate employees to stay. Odd, isn't it? Preparing your employees to leave actually motivates many to stay. Management researchers have discussed this paradox for at least a decade now. Companies that are seen as investing in and caring for their employees earn a kind of employee loyalty. It doesn't guarantee a lifelong employee, but it does reduce turnover. Managers can only hope to reduce turnover; they can't manage it away.
Excellent professional development packages are also a good recruitment selling point. This marks an important change in the library profession over the past decade: competition. The information revolution has made it possible for librarians to work in just about any setting, not just libraries. Managers need to understand that young professionals have many more work options opened to them than even ten years ago. And many are seeking out these jobs because they offer better benefits.
Managers need to reconsider how they manage professional development opportunities in their workplace. Quite often, paid conference attendance and other "expensive" opportunities are only given to upper management, or meted out to a select few every year. Quite often, when budgets are cut, professional development opportunities are the first things to go. Professional development is important to everyone in the library. Without it, many employees are more willing to find it elsewhere. Development can no longer be seen as an expense or a perk; it needs to be integrated into the work environment. In my book, I discuss several different ways that this can be done.
Most of these opportunities demand an investment of time and money, but mostly time. Librarians actually have an advantage over those employed in many other types of jobs, because libraries are filled with information. Learning is an integral part of that environment. Managers can offer dynamic professional positions and recruit skilled professionals for those jobs, but they need to emphasize the learning aspects of the work.
However it's done, it's important to realize that two different generation of librarians view the same idea through their own experiences and needs. For some library managers it's considered a perk, for others it's a budgetary luxury. For Generation X employees, it's an essential part of their career development. Without it, they need to move on and find a job that provides it. In an tight labor market, library managers need to integrate professional development into every job in order to recruit and retain the best.
Marisa Urgo is the Knowledge Manager at the Office of Minority Health Resource Center. She is the author of Developing Information Leaders: Harnessing the Talents of Generation X (Bowker-Sauer, 2000).