The Changing Workforce and Culture for the Bank of the Future

Gone are those days when people used to stick to a single organization and retire from it when the time came! The mindsets of millennials are different from their previous generations and with the boom in digital media, we are witnessing a different set of workforce culture in this decade.

Part time culture is yet to be fully recognized in the developing nations owing to cultural differences and the need to support a family unlike westerners. For e.g., college students, retired professionals, women joining work post maternity, etc. Companies have started realizing the importance of such a workforce and have started to welcome them. More and more college students are trying to get into part time jobs both for exposure and for monetary benefits. Women returning from a maternity break look to take this route in general to slowly ease into the work culture. Retired professionals are interested in sharing their experience and contribute in a meaningful way to the society by helping in administrative work or by becoming a part of advisory committees and earning money in the process.

Contract employees are one set of employees who are hired for their specific skill sets for a specific pay. They may either work for their parent company or get to work in a different company if their parent company gets the contract to work for a different one. If they happen to work in the parent company, then they merge into the workforce of that company and there is hardly any difference among the employees. However, if they have to work in a different company they might get treated differently.

Full time employees are associated with the company. They have been employed and enjoy better benefits, be it monetary/policy wise, compared to the other two types mentioned above.

This diversified workforce is becoming increasingly common now. One of the main reasons for it is the characteristics of the current workforce, mainly millennials who are more exploratory in nature, tech-savvy and open to switching jobs and changing companies.

Human resource professionals would need to take care of this diversified set of employees and their different needs. Each one has different motivational needs and these need to be compensated monetarily differently. However, if all of them are treated at par or with minimal differences then there would be a healthy workforce culture and companies can reap enormous benefits from what each set of workforce can offer.

Since there is a constant change in technologies, one is always forced to equip oneself in the best possible manner. If companies can offer a wide gamut of learning atmosphere, namely class room training sessions, desk learning through online courses or videos, then employees can tap into these and grow their knowledge which will in turn lead to better productivity.

Everyone needs to be recognized and companies can look to offer scholarships or nominate high performers for prestigious conferences for all of them, thereby boosting morale of the employees equally and also develop healthy competition among them.

Communication channels are to be open/transparent and companies should look to integrate the other types into full time workforce smoothly in the case of high performers.