A 29-year old man and a 68 year old are paired together to learn from each other. How much could they possibly have in common? At Randstad USA’s Manhattan office, such employee pairings are common. Randstad Holding NV, a Dutch company, has used this pairing idea since its founding over 40 years ago. The founder’s motto was “Nobody should be alone.” The original intent was to boost productivity by having sales agents share one job and trade off job responsibilities. Today, these partners in the home office have an arrangement where one is in the office one week while the other one is out making sales calls, then the next week, they switch. Randstad executives figured that if they shared a job with someone whose own success depended on theirs, they were certain to get all the nurturing they required.” The company looks for people who will work well with others by conducting extensive interviews and requiring job applicants to shadow a sales agent for half a day. “Everything about our organization is based on the team and group.” One of the most interesting elements of Randstad’s program is that neither person is “the boss.”
1. What topics of individual behavior do you see in this case? Explain.
2. What types of issues might a Gen Y employee and an older, more-experienced employee face? How could two people in such a close-knit work arrangement deal with those issues? That is, how could both make the adjustment easier?