Breaking hierarchical boundaries

LAHORE: Pakistan’s literacy rate is low, with only 10 percent or 2.1 million people educated as per global standards. However, by not empowering even the meagre number of literate persons, we are triggering a brain drain.

The stress faced by qualified professionals like doctors, engineers and IT experts in the last two decades of lopsided economic growth of the country induced them to seek work outside. This flight of human capital is more harmful than the flight of financial capital, as it denudes the nation of potential nation builders. Every doctor that leaves this country creates a hole that cannot be filled. Every IT expert that moves abroad reduces the potential of software exports from Pakistan.

Qualified engineers are helping further development in developed economies where they work. We in Pakistan execute most of the development projects through a semi-skilled workforce. This certainly impacts the quality of development.

Skilled people are drawn to places which offer challenges and opportunities. The main reasons to leave their country are the absence of security, better livelihood, absence of merit, and bad governance. Neighbouring India faced similar problems in the 1990s, but the reverse brain drain started a decade back. Now the number of qualified engineers leaving India is compensated to a large extent by the return of earlier immigrants in this field.

The change was triggered by accelerated growth, better governance and merit-based opportunities in India.

Pakistan has produced, in the past 25 years, a large pool of educated workers, who are in conflict with the older generation workers they work with. The need to build skills and competencies, and freedom and empowerment are the topmost priorities for the educated youth. They want recognition and appreciation as well. They need freedom on dress code, flex-time, and use of social media.

New breed of workers respect competencies and knowledge, but shun authority that simply comes with age or position. To their dismay, policies in the corporate sector are created by older generations, who do not understand the mind-set of the youth.

What is worrying is that the gap between the traditional decision makers and those impacted by these decisions is increasing and this is resulting in a mismatch.

Given the low literacy rate in Pakistan, this difference in generations looks more striking than in the developed economies as the new generation appreciates the benefits of liberalisation and globalisation, which the earlier generations oppose. Millions of children left behind by Pakistanis working abroad have graduated from the best Pakistani and foreign universities. They follow their fathers when they are ignored, while less competent and influential individuals are accommodated. These educated new generations of workers have seen better life and affluence than their earlier peers. Unlike the submissive older generation they are more independent, knowing well the global opportunities that await them if they are not treated well at home.

They are all the time on the look for better jobs. There is also a conflict between the home environment and the workplace; as the educated parents in Pakistan are far more open and consult their children while buying a house or new car or going on holidays.

However, at the workplace the older generation continues to operate in plant control and review mode.

The evolving preferences of the current generation in Pakistan pose perplexing challenges for organisations that want to engage and retain them. They should address the issues arising out of a multigenerational workforce to avoid a lower engagement rate, loss in productivity and a higher attrition rate. The situation if not taken care of could also lead to unrest among the workforce. This would nullify investment in human capital whose productivity would go much lower than its true potential. Organisations failing to take appropriate steps will lose out on the best talent and creativity. This will severely impact their competitiveness.

Firms should learn and encourage diversity in the workplace and emphasise the commonalities that bind all employees together and deemphasize the differences, especially in terms of age and experience.

The generational gap can be bridged through constant dialogue. We need to break hierarchical boundaries and involve all generations of employees in decision making.

Senior employees must be more open to making adjustments and changes since the workforce and the workplace will now be increasingly defined by younger employees.

It’s more a mind-set issue than chronological age. One needs to be open to accepting differences, whatever they may be.

The high ups in the companies must realise that the new generation is keen to know what they are doing, why they are doing it and what they would derive from the same. The new enlightened workforce desires for a variety of roles and functional areas in order to remain excited about work.