How to Manage Generation Y / Millenials

With Generation Y eagerly advancing up the professional ranks, over the course of a few short years, the composition of the workforce is changing. Here are some tips and insights

• Gen Y wants immediacy as they are used to instant answers. Use this to help instill action in your company
• They want to have a work-life balance. After seeing their parents toil, they want to enjoy all aspects of life. They don't necessarily want their managers job given the pressure and hours.
• This groups wants 1:1 interaction. They want to create. They want to share. -> Wikis, open source platforms and just any tools that allow people to share are useful for the organization
• They are active in wanting to build their whole career and see themselves at a variety of companies. Lateral moves in the company can also be useful if they see it as part of their total career journey. Let them know what skills they are building.
• They want to be listened to so ask them for their thoughts, ideas. As a marketer, this can be a great way to find out what your target wants. In a company, this can be harnessed for the benefit of others. If they are providing insights and ideas to senior management inappropriate of hierarchy, as a manager, do some gentle coaching on what is appropriate on the culture without stifling their ideas.
• They are close to their parents. I have personally seen parents get involved in hiring and firing decisions. As the employer, don't assume that the employee is encouraging this. It's probably not true and the parent is probably just used to being super-involved.
• They work well with Boomers. Because of their parent relationships, they respect and work well with Boomers. Mentor-ship programs are hence useful
• Flexible work arrangements and the opportunity to give back to society trump the sheer size of the pay package, according to researcher Sylvia Ann Hewlett.

"This rewards remix is both challenging and liberating for talent managers. It’s challenging because it means letting go of cash as the prime motivator and tangling with the difficult task of redesigning incentives. It’s liberating because if nonfinancial rewards are less expensive to fund, companies can lay out more plentiful options. Perhaps that explains why we found managers experimenting with a whole range of such rewards—figuring out how to use time, for example, as currency, or a green workplace as a retention tool. In a period when many were not able to offer raises or bonuses, some realized it was the right time to respond to the attitudinal changes they were already sensing in the air. Because some of their initiatives deftly address the demands of the 800-pound-gorilla cohorts, Gen Ys and Boomers, we believe they show the way to tomorrow’s best practice."