Expert Insight Into Generation Y

02/28/07

Turn on Your Teens and Twentysomethings
A well-meaning Baby Boomer manager, trying to teach a twenty-year-old warehouse clerk with magenta hair about the importance of proper work appearance, says, “Hey Ivan, your hair color doesn’t match your outfit today,” and laughs.

But Ivan either misses the point or does his best to get the better of the interchange—he comes in the next day in an outfit that does match his hair color.

Let’s all welcome Generation Y into the workforce. Gen Yers, those born from 1978 to 1984, according to consultant RainmakerThinking, Inc., can be challenging. You’ve been hiring them for some time now as part-timers working your retail counters, stocking groceries, or running errands. Now they’re graduating from college and will be trooping through your recruitment office for the next few years. What are they like? What are they good at? How do you motivate them?

According to one of RainmakerThinking’s generational experts, Dr. Carolyn A. Martin, Gen Y has a lot of talent and productive energy to offer your organization. But you may have to readjust your worldview and managerial practices to get to it.

Independent and Tech-Savvy
“The best Gen Yers,” says Martin, “are independent and techno-savvy. They are entrepreneurial, and they like responsibility and immediate feedback. Even better, they thrive on challenging work.”

Another characteristic of Gen Y is a sense of immediacy. They have no interest in company career ladders or paying their dues before they assume responsibility or have some fun. Says Martin, “They want to know, ‘What value can I add today? What can I learn today? What will you offer me today? How will I be rewarded today?’”

Motivation You Can Tap
And they won’t duck responsibility. Martin relates the story of an eighteen-year-old sales clerk whose bosses never gave her the chance to prove herself. “She said, ‘I felt the need to grow and to be trusted with more responsibility because I knew I could do it, but some never gave me the chance.’ ” “Now that,” adds Martin, “is motivation you can tap!”

She points to one big pothole to avoid in dealing with Gen Yers: Don’t try to parent them. “Be careful,” she says, “not to treat them as teenagers or interns, but as colleagues who have talent to add to the workplace.” That means don’t be condescending, don’t yell at them, and don’t shut them out when they ask a lot of questions.

Martin suggests one potent way to treat them as adults and take advantage of their technical proficiency at the same time: Challenge them to come up with technological solutions to perennial problems like scheduling or tracking inventory.

Tips for Handling Gen Y
While not all Gen Yers are the same, there are methods HR people and managers can generally use to motivate and retain them, as well as improve their productivity:

1. Tell Gen Yers the result you want in clear and certain terms, but let them figure out how to achieve it. Yet be there for support if they need it.

2. Give Gen Yers opportunities to collaborate. While they value independence, they also are used to team play. “Don’t be surprised,” says Martin, “if they ask for help from whatever source they think might be useful.”

3. Coach Gen Yers on time-management skills. Martin says they’ll especially need help breaking larger projects into manageable pieces and meeting deadlines.

4. Understand that Gen Yers love change. Provide them opportunities to learn new things, participate in new projects, and be creative. “If such opportunities don’t exist in your organization,” says Martin, “they’ll find them elsewhere.”

5. Build relationships with Gen Yers. Listen to them, respect them, show you care. How? Take them out to lunch, go for a walk, have coffee together. When appropriate, mentor them. Martin: “They want managers who can help them improve.”

6. Provide constant, constructive feedback. “Don’t wait for performance evaluations to tell Yers what they are doing wrong,” maintains Martin. “Tell them how to improve today.” Likewise, don’t wait to praise. Do it as soon as you can after the praiseworthy event.