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Our Young, Multitasking Workforce
By Linda Thompson of Life Path Solutions, Inc.
Employers ask every day how to effectively manage a new, young employee. Young workers today are unlike any previous group, and integrating them into your company can be a challenge, at best. First impressions First of all, stop making quick judgments based on first impressions. That can be lethal. Let’s say you’re interviewing a Gen Y to work for you. However, you have already decided you won't hire her because she has tattoos, her hair is purple and there’s a ring in her lip. Do you think any of these external accoutrements affect her ability to do the job, her ability to think? Are these Gen Ys really any different than when Boomers were their age – applying for jobs wearing love beads, granny glasses, tie dye and the then unheard of long hair on men? Your young workers have grown up hearing over and over that they can be anything they want and that they will be good at it. They have more self-confidence at a young age than any previous generation. They may report to their first day on the job with a business plan in hand that could change the entire operation of your company. And, they will expect you to read it and take it under consideration. They came out of the womb multi-tasking; they have grown up with technology. They can send text messages without ever looking at the buttons. But they have specific needs. You, as their manager, must meet those needs or they won’t stay around for long. Make it fun Gen Ys want to enjoy what they do. They are not particularly motivated by money, but they do want to pay the rent. If a particular task can be shown to be for the greater good of the office, the community, or society as a whole, they will bend over backwards to get it done. They feel they are being unjustly punished if forced to sit in a cube from 8 AM to 5 PM. If they finish their assigned tasks, they want to get out of there. Chances are if you provide them with a Blackberry, they will get the job done on time and more efficiently, but they will probably do it from the beach, Starbucks, or some more other interesting place. Yes, folks, the world is certainly different now. But, to steal a bit of Bob Dylan, the times, they are a changin’ and there isn’t much we can do about it. The world will not stand still. To drive the point home, in 1989 (in an attempt to appeal to Boomers), VH1 featured the following slogan: “The generation that dropped acid to escape reality is the generation that now drops antacid to cope with it.” In other words, deal with it. The technology may be new and the methods of getting a job done are different, but human nature will never change. At some point in all of our lives, we all become our parents. As emerging youth we feel the need to energetically shout out individualism. As we age, we marry and have children. We become caught up in making the mortgage payment and we lose that energy. As we approach retirement, we begin to look at what’s behind us and what’s ahead. We say things like, “The world is going to hell in a hand basket and these kids will be the ruination of us yet.” But pause for just a minute, put yourself in these kids' shoes, and think back – isn’t that the same thing your parents said when you were young? OMG. Look at the time! EOD G2G L8R – And IMO, if you don’t have a clue as to what I just said, welcome to the 21st century!
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Contributor's Note
Linda Thompson is the author of Every Generation Needs a New Revolution, How Six Generations Across Nine Decades can Find Harmony and Peaceful Coexistence, Planning for Tomorrow, Your Passport to a Confident Future, a common sense approach to life planning; and A Caregiver’s Journey, You Are Not Alone, a survival guide for working caregivers. To find out more about Linda’s presentations, workshops and publications, visit: http://lifepathsolutions.biz/
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This intel first appeared on: http://www.triond.com
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My spouse is 11 years older than I am and according to Him, things will not change until old folks die off. Both of us vow to stay "young at heart" ~ He and I will be celebrating B'days on the 11th and 13th of November.
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