Life stage matters the most

Managing the multigenerational workforce is going to be a key challenge for HR practitioners. By 2020, HR will face the task of recruiting, engaging and retaining four or perhaps even five generations of employees. Unfortunately, 56 per cent organisations do not even consider generational differences while designing and implementing their total rewards strategies.

According to Aon Hewitt survey, The Fourth Dimension: Voice of Employees, Gen Y, Gen X and the baby boomers have very different preferences: Gen X allocates the highest importance to compensation, Gen Y to learning and development and work environment and baby boomers to benefits. Employees preferences vary on the basis of their life stage such as employees with dependent parents rank retirement and insurance as important benefits after flexibility. Women with children rank child care support and retirement as most important benefit.

The survey says organisations should work on getting insights into individuals based on their psychographic profile, life stage and attitudes to drive the right behaviour.

Distribution platforms: The battle for curation
As power shifts to consumers - who can programme their own content using technology and simple interfaces - curation moves out of the hands of professionals and into communities, platforms and algorithms. According to a Bain & Company global survey, which measures how people consume digital media - video, music, e-books and video games, there is a shift away from ownership enabled by 'always-on' networks. This trend has created a real danger of a 'tyranny of demand,' as indicated by the prevalence of franchises over original creation in increasingly risk-averse industries.

Nevertheless, the survey finds that media players offering the right content - that is, not only what consumers want today, but what will surprise them tomorrow - are likely to prevail. Winning strategies will be based on quality original content that stands out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. But they will also require deep, analytical insight into consumer behaviour. Blending these two worlds represents both the biggest challenge and the most promising opportunity media companies are facing today.

The survey says to survive, content publishers should build scale to maintain a differentiated access to talent and funding.