Steve Rothberg over at collegerecruiter.com provides one of the clearest posts I have read regarding Gen Y and their job-hopping ways.  This is Steve’s area of expertise and this post lays it out in simple terms.  An excerpt (emphasis mine):

Gen X’ers like me who attended college two decades ago received our education for far less money than Gen Y’ers are paying. I paid $3,500 for tuition my last year in school. If the cost of that tuition were to double every seven years, that means that today’s student in that same program would pay $28,000. That’s disgusting. I graduated with about $20,000 in student loan debt. A Gen Y’er following in my footsteps would graduate with $160,000 in student loan debt. Folks, this generation is being swallowed by the debt that we’re allowing out-of-control higher education institutions to inflict. Gen Y job hops not because they want to and not because they don’t realize the problems that it creates for their employers and for themselves, but because they have to.

Read the whole thing.

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In the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise made the phrase “Show me the money” famous. In fact, the phrase has become an American icon in several ways.

Eleven years later, it appears candidates are saying “Show me the time.” Time off for family, friends and fun.

According to a recent survey by the Association of Executive Search Consultants, 85% of recruiters have seen candidates reject a job offer because it wouldn’t include enough work-life balance. And 90% of recruiters say work-life balance considerations are more important now than they were five years ago.

Information from other levels of employment – not just the executive levels – suggest exactly the same trend.

Recent assessment information also suggests this trend is gaining momentum in a BIG way. In addition to time considerations, we also see non-monetary compensation and incentives becoming more and more important – and specifically sought after by the most talented candidates.

It appears to be a good time to dust off the old compensation and incentive plans. Just in “time” to ensure attention from the most highly-talented candidates.

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From CareerJournal.com comes an important article revealing a new trend – Gourmet Coffee Becomes An Unwelcome Office Perk:

Of people who drink coffee at work, the percentage that drink the in-house brew dropped to 52% last year from 64% in 2003, according to the National Coffee Association, an industry group.

I love that they have surveys for coffee consumption at the office. Is there any topic that isn’t subject to a survey? Nonetheless, I take my coffee seriously and am heartened by this new trend:

Many employers are also investing in single-serve machines that make everything from coffee and specialty espresso drinks to hot chocolate and allow employees to brew one fresh cup at a time…”It’s made coffee a topic of conversation,” says John Montgomery, a group program manager on the company’s Redmond, Wash., campus — especially among the “coffee snobs,” or those who attend coffee tastings. “I learned a huge amount about coffee.”

The Rock Star will tell you I am a coffee snob and proud of it. He, however, is not a coffee snob. I once saw him reheat day-old Folgers in the microwave and enjoy it! I leave you with an excellent quote from an uber-coffee snob (of course he works in the sales dept.):

“I prefer to go to the Starbucks for the bourgeois snobbery,” says Michael Corbett, a sales assistant at New York-based Modern Publishing, a division of Unisystems Inc., who visits the coffee shop down the block from his office regularly.

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Gen Y or Millennial candidates take a different approach to their job search.  If you weren’t sure of this or have yet to experience it, I give you the Pioneer Press’ The choosy generation:

They want to work for companies that offer nice salaries and clear career paths for advancement. But many are pushing for more. Work isn’t their life, they’re saying before they even begin working, and they’re searching for employers who offer flexible work schedules that allow them to maintain their personal pursuits. “Me time” is vital. So is volunteering in the community €” on company time.

We can attest to this trend as we have seen it first-hand.  This generation does take a bit of an entitlement mentality to their job search as the article explains.  However, this generation does offer some amazing talent that was simply not available in our generations.  Their wired ability leaps to mind.  This generation is the first to grow up with computers and the Internet and it shows in their abilities.  Yet, to land many of the talented ones, companies do need to take a new approach.  For instance:

“That comes in the form of significant vacation entitlements, in the form of imaginative alternative work programs which allow people to take leaves of absence, to work part-time, to job-share,” said Kernan.

The firm that is willing to consider these things will be ahead of the companies that require their employees to work a lock-step eight-hour workday, he said. “We are constantly looking at and tweaking all of our work-life related programs.”

That quote is from the 56 year-old managing partner of the Twin Cities’ branch of Pricewaterhouse Coopers.  Oh how times have changed.  One last point from the excellent article is the younger generation’s expectation to work with the management team.  Gen Y sees the company hierarchy in a relatively horizontal manner and expect the culture to reflect that view.

Today more than ever before, Slavitt is likely to field questions from job candidates about their potential level of exposure to company executives. “At a company with 5,500 people they would not be at all surprised to meet with me and others on the executive team and get that level of exposure,” Slavitt said.

Read the whole article.

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This is a timely topic considering we are in the midst of a blizzard up here in the Twin Cities. I personally have a short commute, but this topic is a big deal for the thousands on the road this morning stuck in stop and go traffic. The 2006 Commuter Impact Survey from the TransitCenter, Inc. looks at commuting issues from both an employer and employee viewpoint. We have touched on this topic in previous posts (Energy Prices And Recruitment, Telecommuting Town?).

There were some interesting findings in this survey that I wanted to pass along form this 18 page white paper. First, 76% of the employers who responded think their employees are either very or extremely concerned with the rising fuel and commuting costs. Second, only 43% of the employers offer flex time and 27% offer telecommuting as a means to offset these rising costs. I am still amazed at how few companies provide their employees with a telecommuting option. Many surveys reveal that companies are concerned with the effect commuting costs will have on their recruiting efforts. Yet, only 20% of the companies surveyed are planning any initiatives to impact these issues.

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Last week I put up a second post, What Candidates Look For In A Job on a webinar conducted by Monster and DDI. In that post I highlighted the disconnect between what the candidate is looking for and what the employer believes they are looking for. Age is a factor in the responses and I promised to share that information with you. So here you go, the top 4 reasons by age group in order of importance:

Less than 20 Years Old
A creative/fun workplace culture.
A compatible work group/team.
A good manager/boss.
Opportunities to learn and grow.

21 to 30 Years Old
Opportunities to learn and grow.
Opportunity to advance.
An organization you can be proud to work for.
A good manager/boss.

31 to 40 Years Old
Opportunities to learn and grow.
Opportunity to advance.
A good manager/boss.
An organization you can be proud to work for.

41 to 50 Years Old
Opportunities to learn and grow.
A good manager/boss.
An organization you can be proud to work for.
Opportunity to advance.

Greater than 50 Years Old
A good manager/boss.
An organization you can be proud to work for.
A compatible work group/team.
Opportunities to learn and grow.

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Salary.com put this article out earlier this month. It is a lengthy article written to employees in regards to 2007 areas of compensation, but there are some points to keep in mind not only as you are hiring staff this year but in retaining your current team. These points are complementary to one of our earlier posts on the top reasons why candidates take a job.

If you haven’t read this post, let me highlight the top 4 things candidates are looking for in jobs: A good manager/boss, opportunity to advance, opportunities to learn/grow and balance between work and personal life. Salary.com’s article aligns with 3 of the 4 points from that post. If you are not already doing these things, may I suggest that you start thinking how you can incorporate them into your hiring practice this year?

The first trend they see is the increase in performance-based bonuses. Salaries will not increase significantly this year as the market continues to tighten but bonuses based for performance will.

In the area of advancement, they are seeing leadership development no longer being just an executive perk. Instead, leadership training will be provided to the middle manager giving him or her the ability to develop the additional skills needed to advance.

Another trend is that external and internal training programs are on the rise. This approach gives employees the opportunity to learn and grow within the company. Our economy is a knowledge-based one and without these training programs, companies will no longer be able to be competitive in their market.

Finally, one trend is the ability to work a more flexible schedule or to work entirely from home. With the technological advances – VoIP’s, VPN’s, PDA’s – and all the other acronyms can give your employees the same abilities as if they were sitting in your office.

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A few months ago I posted on Why Salespeople Leave which discussed the disconnect between how a company compensates their salespeople and what the salespeople view as a reward. Last week I attended a webinar jointly presented by Monster and DDI and was amazed at the disconnect they found in their research between what employers think candidates desire in a position and reality. Employers, or more specifically hiring managers, listed these items as the top 4 reasons why a candidate takes a position:

1. A good manager/boss.
2. Opportunity to advance.
3. Opportunities to learn and grow.
4. Balance between work and personal life.

However, here is how the candidates responded in the survey:

1. Opportunities to learn and grow.
2. Interesting work.
3. A good manager/boss.
4. An organization you can be proud to work for.

Now you might be saying that the hiring managers had 2 out of the 4 correct which isn’t bad. True, but what I found amazing was where the other 2 ranked with candidates. “Opportunity to advance” came in at #5 and “balance between work and personal life came” in next-to-last at #9. On the other side, “an organization you can be proud to work for” landed at #8 on the manager’s list. Why is this important? Remember that a candidates base their employment decision on this criteria:

• Need
• Motivation
• Compensation
• Trust
• Urgency
• Format

If you are not aligned with their top 4 reasons, you are not going to be aligned to their motivation. This misalignment makes your chances of them accepting your offer far more difficult. My suggestion – start off your hiring process by selling them on your company and the position by talking about their opportunities to grow/learn, the type of work they will be doing, the manager they will be working for and what makes your organization unique/different.

You know the one question that kept going through my mind during this presentation was do these findings vary based on the demographics of the candidates? According to the study, there is a variance by age classification. It is late on a Friday so that topic will have to wait for another post.

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Manage Smarter offers Understanding the 20-Something Workforce. I have to confess, in our business we do not have frequent interaction with 20 some year olds. Here are excerpts of the author’s suggestions:

1. Make their first day unforgettable.
Twenty-somethings thrive on instant gratification. “They’re used to taking a lot of data in at one time and making a choice,” Dorsey says. While this is a great asset in business, it unfortunately means a company has little time to make an positive impression.

2. Don’t rely on a competitive salary to keep talent.
“It’s a big realization, but money does not always build loyalty,” Dorsey says. Twenty-somethings’ parents, often Baby Boomers themselves, wanted their children to have an easier life than they had. As a result, twenty-somethings often don’t feel the same pressure to achieve personal and financial independence as their parents did.

3. Adjust to their high expectations.
Many twenty-somethings have extremely high career expectations, and Dorsey says “many believe that if they got good grades in college, they can be an executive in as little as two years.” This misconception results in many Gen-Yers’ discouragement, and they soon feel trapped in the limiting 9-to-5 mindset.

4. Create stimulating rewards.
Since twenty-somethings seek meaning in everything they do, simply handing out gift cards periodically for doing a good job isn’t very inspiring. This goes back to the idea of being emotionally invested, so make your rewards something special.

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A timely article from CNNMoney.com – ‘Presenteeism’ infects businesses. Timely in that some super bug has made it’s way through Select Metrix which has knocked yours truly down this week. For some background on this phenomenon:

“presenteeism,” or going to work when sick, is a persistent problem at more than half of U.S. workplaces and costs U.S. business a whopping $180 billion a year, research shows.

Think of it as the opposite of absenteeism.

Let’s cut to the chase on the whole issue:

As often as two-thirds of the time, sick people go to work because they feel they have too much work to do, according to the CCH study.

And later:

“With corporate downsizings of the past creating a leaner workforce, employees often feel they have to show up for work, whether it’s out of guilt over staying home or concerns over job security,” Gorovsky said.

The incredible increase in productivity does have some downside (though presenteeism seems fairly minor).

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