Ready or Not, Here They Come

It’s important to effectively train supervisors to manage Generation Y employees.

By Jennifer Blanchard, HRTools.com

Most people would say that when you know how to manage one employee, you know how to manage them all. But some experts disagree, stating that Generation Y is a complex generation in need of strong managers who know them well enough to bring out the best they have to offer.

“If you understand who Gen Yers really are, you can bring out the best in the new vanguard from their very first days in the workforce and throughout their young adulthood,” says Gen Y expert and author, Bruce Tulgan, in his book Managing Generation Y. “If you are positioned to meet the challenges they bring to the workplace—if you are willing to…keep Gen Yers engaged and motivated—you will take a quantum leap ahead of your competition.”

Gen Y currently makes up 22.5 percent of the workforce and is the fastest growing segment. Over the next 3 to 5 years, about 7 million more Gen Yers will join the ranks.

And as more Gen Yers come in, and more Baby Boomers go out, the workplace is going to experience a huge shift—from the old way of doing things to a new, more innovative way of getting the job done.

In order to keep up with this generation of technologically savvy, adaptable, efficient, multitaskers, managers will have to shift their thought processes as well.

Finding New Ways to Manage
A recent HRTools.com survey of college students found five ways employers can better manage, coach and integrate Gen Yers into the workplace, including:

Be open-minded
Give them work that’s challenging
Offer them mentorships, internships or other training opportunities
Recognize their valuable talents, skills and unique views
Allow for workplace flexibility

1) Be Open-minded
An effective way to manage Generation Y employees is to understand this generation grew up with technology and an abundance of information, so they’re comfortable multi-tasking and having many different ways to complete an assignment.

Here are some suggestions for being more open-minded:

Listen to what Gen Yers have to say—they may be young and inexperienced, but they are quick learners and have seen a lot more than you’d think they have. This is a very opinionated group of people, but they also have a fresh outlook on things, which is what companies need to succeed in the future.
Be open to multiple ways of getting the job done—getting stuck in a “my way or the highway” mindset is detrimental to your position as a manager of Gen Y employees and is also a surefire way of losing them.
Look at everything from all sides—every situation and assignment has different viewpoints. The best managers see each side of things before deciding what’s right.

2) Give Them Work That’s Challenging
An effective way to take advantage of Gen Yers’ need for meaningful work is to give them difficult assignments that are important to the company’s future and offer up more responsibility as soon as they prove themselves worthy of it.

Here are some suggestions for delegating more efficiently:

Talk to your Gen Y employees—rather than assuming they’re happy and have plenty of work to do, ask them. Find out whether they have enough work to keep them busy and if that work is challenging enough for them. They won’t keep quiet if it’s not.
Check in with them—you don’t need to be a micromanager, but it’s still a good idea to keep tabs on your Gen Yers. In fact, according to a recent Robert Half International and Yahoo! HotJobs survey, What Millennial Workers Want, “60 percent of Gen Yers want to hear from their managers at least once a day.”

3) Offer Them Mentorships, Internships or Other Training Opportunities
An effective way to manage Gen Y will be to offer on-the-job training and other educational opportunities so they can acquire the skills and knowledge they need to get their job done and to further their career with your company.

Here are some suggestions for facilitating training:

Give them what they need—Gen Yers, although entering the workplace with many different skill sets, still need guidance and training in order to do their job to the best of their ability. So make sure that if there’s something they haven’t had a lot of experience with or something they’re new to, that you offer them a way to get the skills, knowledge and information they need.
Go outside the company—sometimes Gen Yers need or want to learn more about something that goes beyond their day-to-day responsibilities. An example would be a computer technician needing to keep up-to-date on the latest processes and procedures in the industry. If your company can’t offer this type of training in-house, find a local program or college that offers it and pay for the employee to attend. This will get the employee the training they need and will allow them to implement it at your company.

4) Recognize Their Valuable Talents, Skills and Unique Views
An effective way to manage Gen Y is to recognize the unique, valuable talents, skills and views they bring to the workplace and treat them with the respect they deserve. Managers that do will be in a better place to hang on to these employees.

Here are some suggestions for recognizing the value they bring:

Realize they’re not incompetent—there’s nothing Gen Yers hate more than a manager who treats them like they have no idea what they’re doing. Gen Yers might come into the workplace young and less experienced than others, but they are by no means incompetent. They have plenty of experiences through college internships and extracurricular activities. After-school activities these days aren’t just for fun, they also offer important learning experiences that are priceless when it comes to finding a job after college.
Give it to get it—if you expect your Gen Y employees to respect you and your organization, you need to return the favor. “Do as I say, not as I do” will not fly with this generation.

5) Allow for Workplace Flexibility
An effective way to manage Gen Yers’ need to make a difference in the world is to give them flexibility in their work schedule. There are plenty of charities in your local community that would love to have their help on a regular basis.

Here are some suggestions for allowing workplace flexibility:

Let Them Create Their Schedule—by allowing them to choose the time they come into and leave work, you’re giving them the freedom to spend their personal time doing good in their community. Community service doesn’t operate on a nine-to-five schedule, so don’t force your Gen Yers to.
Offer Company-Sponsored Volunteer Opportunities—if you offer your employees company-sponsored volunteer opportunities they can participate in during their usual work hours, you’re giving them flexibility to make a difference and keep their jobs.
Give Them Work-At-Home Days—if your Gen Yers are able to work at home one or more days a week, they’ll be able to get their job done when it’s convenient for them and also be able to donate their time to a cause that matters to them.

Want to know more about Generation Y in the workplace? Then check out the Generation Y blog on HRTools. It has insights, advice and a new way of viewing the employees who are taking the workplace by storm.

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