This was from Jan 2008---Boy has the landscape changed!
2008: Top five trends for managing Gen Y
1. Compensation: Compensating Gen Y is not solely about money.
Eighteen to 30 year-olds are characterized by the desire to receive
training, take on new challenges, expand their capabilities and as a
result, advance to new, more highly compensated roles. The focus for
these individuals is less about the compensation and more about the
advancement, the improved capabilities and the recognition of
achievement marked by a new position. Offering Gen Y employees a raise
while keeping all other factors the same will not have the same impact
as giving them new challenges. In fact, in many cases a raise alone
could backfire and cause the Gen Y employee to seek job satisfaction
elsewhere.
2. Communication style: Gen Y employees speak a different
language, so hiring and department managers need to practice a new
style of communicating. Gen Y employees respond to humor, passion and
the truth: don't even think of "spinning" a message with this
audience. As Gen Y employees increasingly dominate the workforce,
people who work with them should also realize how important direct and
timely feedback, frequent encouragement and recognition of efforts are
to 18-30 year olds. While this may feel like pampering to some, the
outcome is a set of employees who are engaged and motivated to show
their best work.
3. Management training: Employers will invest heavily in
management training - not just for the Gen Y set, but also for
Generation X and the Boomers who manage them. Employers are
re-designing their organizational practices and culture to accommodate
these changes. From training to goal-setting and performance reviews,
employers are urged to re-evaluate their standard procedures: reviews
should become more frequent (focused on quarterly steps as opposed to
annual advancement), reward and incentive programs should be
re-examined and other elements of organizational design will need to
be reconfigured. Though this process may be very time-consuming, it
will better reward and motivate Gen Y employees.
4. Lifestyle benefits: Employers are making extra effort to meet
Gen Y's needs by treating these team members as a special class of
employees. Employers are bringing them together for meetings and
training sessions by combining entertainment and learning. This
creates the feeling of community so desired by Gen Y while also
emphasizing an investment in individual performance. Employers are
also getting more creative in the work/life balance arena by offering
perks, such as one-month sabbaticals after five years of service. This
recognizes Gen Y's strengths and offers them time to explore civic
interests and volunteerism in a supported setting. It also reiterates
the commitment to community that is so inherent in 18-30 year-olds.
This may also help to offset the perpetual job-hopping which
frustrates so many employers, providing the above criteria are met.
5. Distributed work environments: The office will no longer be the
hub it once was. Working remotely will become standard, leveraging
technology and virtual relationships. Gen Y is at the core of this
trend because for them, meeting and interacting online is just as
comfortable and "real" as face-to-face meetings (unlike Gen X and
Boomers who see a clear difference between online and in-person
experiences). Eighteen to 30 year-olds have grown up with online
social lives, classrooms and entertainment, making the virtual world a
natural extension of their personal experiences. This will benefit
companies greatly as the need for global teamwork and flexible work
hours continues.
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