POWER June 2016 - 29

WORKFORCE
5. The digital future. Younger workers
are most familiar with online and interactive
education, but all workers can benefit from
advanced training technology with the right
approach. Courtesy: Honeywell
operators. So, too, are problem-solving
skills, and the thought processes involved
in analysis, comparison, interpretation, and
evaluation. All are central to the role of process
operators. "
But this is not to say that generators should
set up entirely different training tracks for
different generations.
" This is the crux of the issue that has
made the transition to the next generation
so difficult. It is enough to accept that
there are differences, but it is necessary to
evolve, " he noted. " The older worker needs
to adapt and learn new and better ways to
get the job done, safer and better. A culture
of continuous improvement must be aligned
with an evolution and adaption of appropriate
emerging technologies. "
tion, " he said. " In addition, enabling workers
to remotely monitor the operations of an isolated
location, for example, can help attract
and retain younger workers who want to live
in a metropolitan area versus near the plant. "
All that being said, there are older workers
who may have trouble with new technologies,
and managers should avoid making assumptions
about their experiences.
" There are workers who do not have PCs
at home, or if they do, someone else maintains
it for them, usually one of their children, "
Ashenbrenner said. " So introducing
mobile technology into fields like power
plants means that some of the employees are
first-time computer users. "
Training Options
Roffel stressed that different generations may
need different training approaches because
their educational experiences before arriving
on the job can be very different (Figure 5).
" Today's generation of young people entering
the industry have been conditioned by
their experiences with gaming, the Internet
and mobile devices, such as smartphones and
tablets, to expect a different type of learning
experience, " he noted. " They expect interactive
and engaging activities, to capture their
attention. They need immediate feedback as
a means to motivate, and they are well versed
in accepting training on demand. "
This isn't necessarily true with older generations,
however.
" We know from research studies that an
effective training program for both older
and next generation workers uses a variety
of techniques to improve the effectiveness
of training and in particular the higher order
skills needed by such workers. For example,
the ability to evaluate adequacy of information
and procedures upon which conclusions
and decisions are based, is key for process
June 2016 | POWER
Safety Matters
One issue that came up repeatedly was safety.
Younger, less-experienced workers need time
to adopt good mindsets and fully understand
an organization's safety culture, and they
may not immediately appreciate that " the
way we've always done it " is the rule for a
reason. " Safety procedures, culture, and processes
do not change regardless of the employee's
generation, " McDonnell said.
And yet, the understanding of what
makes a safe workplace continues to evolve
(see " New Thinking on Old Safety Issues "
in this issue and " Best Practices for Aligning
Safety Metrics, Incentives, and Performance "
in the February 2015 issue). Safety
professionals recognize that a willingness to
challenge established procedures can lead
to improvements in safety, and " new eyes "
can sometimes see risks that older ones have
overlooked. In training new workers to the
plant safety culture, care needs to be taken
not to usurp workers' responsibility to keep
themselves safe.
In addition, safety risks for older and
younger worker are often not the same.
" Younger workers tend to have more injuries
due to inexperience, underestimation
of risks, and unwillingness to ask questions, "
Ludwig said. " By contrast, older workers
tend to have more musculoskeletal and repetitive
stress injuries due to years of wear
and tear on their bodies. "
A recent Rockwell Automation white paper
stresses that generational issues need to
be taken into account in safety planning and
plant design.
" Older workers require physically lessstrenuous
interaction with machinery, including
reduced lifting, bending, twisting,
and repetitive actions. Younger and inexperienced
workers require more passive safety
systems to help mitigate risks in the event
of an inappropriate action, such as placing a
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hand or another body part in a hazardous position, "
it notes. " Hazard assessments should
take into account not only the traditional
hazards, but also ergonomic and usability issues
for a broad range of workers. Engineers
performing assessments, building functional
specifications and designing machinery need
to assess all potential operator and maintenance
technician movements as part of the
process. "
Changing Career Arcs
One challenge of managing the Millennial
generation is its reputation for wanting to
move up faster and move around more.
While this is a stereotype, it has some basis
in reality.
" This is true, and we do see it, " Ridout
said of AEP. " We try to have a variety of different
assignments for employees where they
can stay challenged with meaningful work.
We are fortunate that we are a large corporation,
and we always have internal job postings
to fill vacancies. Employees looking for
a change aren't held back, and if they are the
successful candidate for a job opening, they
can transfer to a new group to keep learning
something new. "
Sullivan reported much the same thing for
NRG.
" The main difference that we see is that
younger workers today are much more focused
on professional development. Once
they are assigned to a plant, it may be
some time before their talents are recognized
outside that setting, " he noted. " To
address this, we've established special
programs that team up young employees
with senior management. One example
is our Women in Power initiative. Since
women have historically been under-represented
in our business, we want to make
sure that they get good development opportunities
outside of their current roles.
Our program gives mentees direct access
to senior leadership from across the country.
This gives them exposure across our
fleet, increases their experience, and accelerates
their growth opportunities. "
While this requires a shift from traditional
practices of having the same workers staffing
a plant for decades to retain institutional
skills, it can still be a benefit to a company
that stays flexible.
" We don't look at this as turnover, even
though a certain department may lose a worker, "
Ridout noted. " That worker who transfers
is a valuable asset to AEP and is becoming
more valuable by learning a new job in a new
department and becoming well-rounded in
many facets of our organization. " ■
-Thomas W. Overton, JD is a POWER
associate editor.
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POWER June 2016

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