Fast Company has an entertaining article written by a CEO of a company that employs almost all Millennials. The article is well worth the read, but let me give you a taste of it: Lazy. Entitled. Fickle. Freighted with their own inscrutable agendas. These are the kinds of things people say about cats — and millennials. For today’s managers, the generation born after 1980 is a favorite punching bag. It’s not hard to see why, given that they’re the generation of Lindsay Lohan, Jersey Shore, and flip-flops as appropriate office footwear. I have been drawn in by these exact topics and I’m an Xer. But further on in the article… Read More
Continue ReadingTexting And Lightning
The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. -Mark Twain If you would, allow me to speculate a bit. I’ve been involved in volunteer activities with high school students over the past 2 years so I have become a reluctant texter (is that a word?). I learned quickly that their preferred method of communication is texting. I didn’t even have texting on my cell service when I started. I now have unlimited texting out of necessity. I tell you this in regards to a concern I see in this younger generation. I’ve read… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Employees Want
I am usually a bit cynical regarding these types of articles. My reasoning is this – each individual is unique in their motivations and rewards. Attempting to place employees into set categories regarding global characterizations is a stretch. Nonetheless, this article from Inc.com presents some excellent points and advice for employee engagement. I do not believe you can overstate this one: 5. Employees want flexibility. In addition to deciding how they work, the experts say employees also appreciate having a say over when they work. Gunther has, of course, set up a radically flexible schedule for his employees that might not work for every office. But, he says, it has… Read More
Continue ReadingFor Gen Y, Jobs Are Secondary
I’m beginning to think Gen Y is the most overanalyzed generation in…a generation. BusinessWeek.com offers up this article – Why Certain Cities Attract Gen Ys. The big city has a general appeal to the Millennials which is probably true for most young generations. However, Gen Y does face a difficult career path due to tenure. Here is a surprising graph (emphasis mine): The appeal of big cities stems from a simple economic fact: They offer thicker labor markets with more robust job opportunities across a wide number of fields. Getting ahead in your career today means more than picking the right first job. Corporate commitment has dwindled, tenure has grown… Read More
Continue ReadingThose Millennial Misfits
The Herman Trend Alert touches on the ever-popular Gen Y/Millennial trends and traits in their most recent email (sorry, no link). The perception of this generation still needs some improvement…drastic improvement (emphasis mine): Recently JobFox.com conducted a poll of recruiters with predictable results—Millennials were judged to be the least effective performers of the four generations now in our workplace. A paltry 20 percent of the responders characterized them as “generally great performers”. Compare this statistic to the 63 percent who said Baby Boomers (43 to 62 years old) were great performers and 58 percent who gave high marks to Gen Xers (29 to 42). True confession – I have a… Read More
Continue ReadingGeneration Y-Enthusiastic Or Spoiled?
There is always difficulty when you try to paint an entire generation with one broad stroke. This fact is prominently on display in two different articles from RecruitingTrends.com. The topic is Gen Y. Here is an excerpt from the first one (my emphasis): The millennials share a generational personality that is highly misunderstood by preceding generations, who often misinterpret their motivation as impatience and their enthusiasm as narcissism. Employers who manage millennials need to understand their generational footprint in order to keep this tech-savvy, plugged-in group of employees engaged in their work. Here is an excerpt from the second one (my emphasis): So how do you supervise, lead, and approach… Read More
Continue ReadingTalkin’ Gen X, Gen Y
BusinessWeek.com provides a good article for adjusting your communication for Gen X and Gen Y employees. I can’t speak to the Gen Y suggestions, but I find the Gen X piece to be spot on. A sample: TECHNOLOGY Generation X: Keep it up-to-date and motivating. Music at work, BlackBerrys, IM, and fast computers will help Gen X stay productive. Generation Y: Encourage suggestions and don’t fear change. Gen Y is more comfortable with technology than any other group. Learn from them and stay on the cutting edge. COLLABORATION Generation X: Limit in-person meetings. Offer alternatives like conference calls, video, and Web conferencing when collaboration is truly needed. For face-to-face meetings,… Read More
Continue ReadingGen Xodus
BusinessWeek.com has an article titled Today’s Top 10 Talent-Management Challenges that provides some interesting tidbits from 3 different talent managers. One topic leaped off the screen: 6. Stemming the exodus of Gen X’ers from corporate life. A big threat in many firms today is the exodus of mid-career talent—people in whom the organization has invested heavily and in whom it has pinned it hopes for future leadership. For example, developing talent management practices and programs calibrated to leverage technology and create greater work/life balance has been a priority for Mercer over recent years. The sheer smallness of my generation creates pockets of problems with the marketplace. This particular problem is… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Gen Y Workplace
From CollegeRecruiter.com: Generation Y a/k/a Millennials promise to: Hold only productive meetings. Hallelujah! Shorten the workday by focusing on productivity. Bring back administrative assistants — even if Gen Y pays for them out-of-pocket and even if they’re virtual. Redefine retirement by taking multiple mini-retirements. They’ll find real mentors by teaching older workers about technology and in return be guided through office politics. Put human back into human resources. Promote people to management based on their managerial skills, not their seniority. Continue to value what their parents have to offer because Gen Y respects their parents and their parents respect their Gen Y children. Trade off potential raises and promotions for… Read More
Continue ReadingMarketing To Millennials
Inc.com chronicles one Gen Y marketing campaign by BMW that I have not heard of. The opening sentence forewarned me: Generation Y’s indifference to traditional forms of marketing and advertising has some big companies and their ad agencies scrambling for creative ways to reach and engage this demographic. Engagement is the key these days, isn’t it? If you read the marketing campaign in the short article, you won’t read about magazine ads, TV commercials or radio spots. Instead there are short films on YouTube, Facebook pages and micro-websites. I think the author best sums up this new marketing approach (my bold): It seems to me that the campaign is less… Read More
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