How to Build Your Youngest Employees' Skills
Work environments and employers are being introduced to the younger generation, Generation Z. In order to set this generation up for success, training and developing the expectations should be done with Generation Z in mind. Read this blog post to learn more.
Organizations committing to preparing their workforce with the skills they'll need for the future will want to keep the training and development expectations of Generation Z in mind.
Customized learning is something members of Generation Z expect from their employers, according to Jennifer Sanders, head of marketing, operations and administration for Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) Inc.'s digital student solutions segment. BNED is the parent company of Barnes & Noble College, a retail and learning company in Basking Ridge, N.J., that operates 769 campus bookstores and school-branded e-commerce sites.
A 2019 LinkedIn survey of more than 2,000 members of the generation born between 1995 and 2010 found that 43 percent want a "fully self-directed and independent approach to learning," while only 20 percent of 400 learning and development professionals surveyed said they plan to offer this level of personalized learning.
Sanders, who works with interns from Generation Z, spoke with SHRM Online about the kind of training and development this generation—whose oldest members are 24 years old—want from employers.
SHRM Online: Members of Generation Z are accustomed to having everything personalized. How can an employer adapt its training accordingly? Are we talking an emphasis on mentoring, for example?
Jennifer Sanders: Gen Z is a practical and entrepreneurial generation, and this means that members of this generation are generally independent self-starters. While these are great attributes, there are some workplace skills that are difficult to learn on your own, which is why I strongly believe in mentoring and one-on-one training when it comes to Gen Z employees.
Taking the time to sit with Gen Z employees to teach them about workplace nuances can benefit both employee and employer. For example, when onboarding our social media interns, I invest the time to talk about the voice of our brand, our social media channels, and actively solicit their ideas and feedback on how to better capture the interest of Gen Z audiences. Personalized training takes time and patience, but I have found this investment yields great returns with the employees and how they can really make a difference in the work they contribute.
SHRM Online: A recent Barnes & Noble report on Gen Z found that 51 percent of survey respondents said they learn best by being hands-on. Does this mean employers should place more of an emphasis on apprenticeships and team projects?
Sanders: From our research, we know that hands-on experience and using interactive devices is how Gen Z learns best. Based on this, I'd encourage employers to place an increased emphasis on learning and development programs that allow Gen Z employees to work together as they learn new skills or tasks. Because they learn best by doing, employers should consider live training courses led by managers or peers that incorporate small group activities throughout—a move that allows employees to get more direct, hands-on experience with new tasks than traditional classroom or online instruction allows for.
SHRM Online: That same report noted the importance of tools such as podcasts, gamification, online videos, for high school and college students. Looking to the workplace, what types of tools are likely to resonate for members of this generation?
Sanders: Gen Z employees are already engaging with interactive tools prior to entering the workplace so we have an obligation to adapt as we onboard these types of employees. We expect on-demand learning platforms to be a core way to engage Gen Z employees in the workplace. Specifically, platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Slack, GroupMe and pre-recorded videos produced by colleagues and managers are tactics organizations might consider integrating into their training and L&D programs.
SHRM Online: How can employers help employees of this generation develop soft skills, such as answering a phone and dealing with clients and customers?
Sanders: Organizations can help this generation develop soft skills by offering opportunities for job shadowing. Upon entering the workforce, young employees can observe their colleagues interacting with customers or even in internal meetings as part of the onboarding process.
Mentoring and personalized training take time, but the benefits are worth it. We've seen this with our interns time and time again. If you give them the opportunity to hear you on a call with a client or sit with them to explain what makes an effective e-mail, they will pay attention. You'll see them pick up on these soft skills fairly quickly and before long, these skill sets become second nature.
SOURCE: Gurchiek, K. (24 February 2020) "How to Build Your Youngest Employees' Skills" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/how-to-build-your-youngest-employees-skills.aspx
States Offer Privacy Protections To Young Adults On Their Parents’ Health Plan
Michelle Andrews gives insight on how the ACA is impacting HIPPA and privacy for young adults. See her article below.
Original Post from Kaisher Health News on June 28, 2016.
The health law opened the door for millions of young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26. But there’s a downside to remaining on the family plan. Chances are that mom or dad, as policyholder, will get a notice from the insurer every time the grown-up kid gets medical care, a breach of privacy that many young people may find unwelcome.
With this in mind, in recent years a handful of states have adopted laws or regulations that make it easier for dependents to keep medical communications confidential.
The privacy issue has long been recognized as important, particularly in the case of a woman who might fear reprisal if, for example, her husband learned she was using birth control against his wishes. But now the needs of adult children are also getting attention.
“There’s a longstanding awareness that disclosures by insurers could create dangers for individuals,” said Abigail English, director of the advocacy group Center for Adolescent Health and the Law, who has examined these laws. “But there was an added impetus to concerns about the confidentiality of insurance information with the dramatic increase in the number of young adults staying on their parents’ plan until age 26” under the health law.
Federal law does offer some protections, but they are incomplete, privacy advocates say. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a key federal privacy law that established rules for when insurers, doctors, hospitals and others may disclose individuals’ personal health information. It contains a privacy rule that allows people to request that their providers or health plan restrict the disclosure of information about their health or treatment. They can ask that their insurer not send the ubiquitous “explanation of benefits” form describing care received or denied to their parents, for example. But an insurer isn’t obligated to honor that request.
In addition, HIPAA’s privacy rule says that people can ask that their health plan communicate with them at an alternate location or using a method other than the one it usually employs. Someone might ask that EOBs be sent by email rather than by mail, for example, or to a different address than that of the policyholder. The insurer has to accommodate those requests if the person says that disclosing the information would endanger them.
A number of states, including California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Maryland, have taken steps to clarify and strengthen the health insurance confidentiality protections in HIPAA or ensure their implementation.
In California, for example, all insurers have to honor a request by members that their information not be shared with a policyholder if they are receiving sensitive services such as reproductive health or drug treatment or if the patient believes that sharing the health information could lead to harm or harassment.
“There was concern that the lack of detail in HIPAA inhibited its use,” said Rebecca Gudeman, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, a California nonprofit group that helps provide resources to attorneys and groups representing the legal interests of poor children. She noted that HIPAA doesn’t define endangerment, for example, and doesn’t include details about how to implement confidentiality requests.
Concerns by young people that their parents may find out about their medical care leads some to forgo the care altogether, while others go to free or low-cost clinics for reproductive and sexual health services, for example, and skip using their insurance. In 2014, 14 percent of people who received family planning services funded under the federal government’s Title X program for low-income individuals had private health insurance coverage, according to the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.
Even though most states don’t require it, some insurers may accommodate confidentiality requests, said Dania Palanker, senior counsel for health and reproductive rights at the National Women’s Law Center, a research and advocacy group.
“Inquire whether there will be information sent and whether there’s a way to have it sent elsewhere,” Palanker said. “It may be possible that the insurer has a process even if state doesn’t have a law.”
Insurers’ perspective on these types of rules vary. In California, after some initial concerns about how the law would be administered, insurers in the state worked with advocates on the bill, Gudeman said. “I give them a lot of credit,” she said.
Restricting access to EOBs can be challenging to administer, said Clare Krusing, a spokesperson for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group. A health plan may mask or filter out a diagnosis or service code on the EOB, but provider credentials or pharmacy information may still hint at the services provided.
There’s also good reason in many instances for insurers and policyholders to know the details about when a policy is used, experts say. Policyholders also may have difficulty tracking cost-sharing details such as how much remains on the deductible for their plan.
In addition, “if a consumer receives a filtered or masked EOB, he or she has no way of knowing whether their account has been compromised or used as part of fraudulent activity,” Krusing said.
Read the full article and learn more at: https://khn.org/news/states-offer-privacy-protections-to-young-adults-on-their-parents-health-plan/
Source:
Adnrews, M. (2016, June 27). States offer privacy protections to young adults on their parents’ health plan [Web log post] Retrieved from https://khn.org/news/states-offer-privacy-protections-to-young-adults-on-their-parents-health-plan/
