By Lindsey Rowland
lrowland@wbcowqel.com
The Bucyrus High School Little Theatre was packed on Wednesday with community representatives who long to make Crawford County a better place to live.
The event was the Crawford Conversation and on Wednesday, all eyes were on Sandy Mazur, President of the Franchise Division of Spherion. The topic of her presentation was a survey entitled the Emerging Workforce Study, an endeavor that Spherion began in 1997. The goal of the study is to take a look at trends in the workplace and to try to educate local communities about the changing thinking of the local workforce.
According to Mazur, Gen X and Gen Y employees are quickly replacing the more traditional Baby Boomers in the workplace. This results in new ideas about how the workplace should function in such realms as engagement, work/life balance, and, of course, social media.
“Your online reputation is so important,” Mazur said. “Being mobile optimized is so important because people are on their digital devices all the time, and so you want to have that for retention.”
Mazur states that it all comes down to employers making sure that they understand their workers and to then build programs and policies and procedures around their specific strengths and values.
Mazur, in depth, explained the difference between traditional and emergent employers, and encouraged employers in the area to move toward being more emergent, more open to the times and excited about new ideas and ways of doing things. By doing this, employers can ensure that they are more able to relate to employees all across the board.
In order to become more emergent as an employer, Mazur encouraged four points: attracting and retaining employees, engaging and retaining those same employees, succession and talent planning, and creating brand advocates.
In summation, Mazur encouraged the group to work to make sure employees live, learn, play, and click together; that there should be a value placed on learning what works best for the employees that one has, and to walk the talk of taking care of them.
Beth DeLaney is the Owner and President of Spherion Mid-Ohio, which is a franchise that serves 10 counties, and Bucyrus is included in the reach of the organization. DeLaney was responsible for securing Mazur as the speaker for the day.
“One of the reasons we support Crawford 20/20 financially and emotionally…We really believe that bringing Sandy here, her presentation, which is a national presentation, can be heard by clients, people in work force, just to help radiate that their problems are real,” DeLaney said of the program, “but they need to understand the difference between how employers interact with employees is really the key, and I think that this presentation really brings everything to light.”
For more information on the activities of Crawford 20/20 Vision, email info@crawford2020.com, or stop by the office at 117 E. Mansfield Street in Bucyrus.