By Nadira A. Hira, Fortune Magazine
May 15 2007: 3:10 PM EDT
This article can be found on website CNN Money.com at the URL:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033934/
GREAT FACTS & QUOTES
1. I had a conversation with the CFO of a big company in New York," says Tamara Erickson, co-author of the 2006 book "Workforce Crisis," "and he said, 'I can't find anyone to hire who's willing to work 60 hours a week. Can you talk to them?' And I said 'Why don't I start by talking to you? What they're really telling you is that they're sorry it takes you so long to get your work done."
2. More than a third of 18- to 25-year-olds surveyed by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press have a tattoo, and 30 percent have a piercing somewhere besides their earlobe. But those are considered stylish, not rebellious.
3. Of course, Gen Yers have been told since they were toddlers that they can be anything they can imagine. It's an idea they clung to as they grew up and as their outlook was shaken by the Columbine shootings and 9/11. More than the nuclear threat of their parents' day, those attacks were immediate, potentially personal, and completely unpredictable. And each new clip of Al Gore spreading inconvenient truths or of polar bears drowning from lack of ice told Gen Yers they were not promised a healthy, happy tomorrow. So they're determined to live their best lives now.
4. New attorney, Katie Connolly said, "Lots of firms say, "Oh, we're 150 years old,and they do things like they did 150 years ago. That's not attractive to me. I want to do good work, not just slog through for years till I get my Persian rug and my 50-gallon fish tank."
5. Gen Yers still respond most of all to money... And they don't want to be given short shrift - hence the frightening tales of 22-year-olds making six-figure salary requests for their first jobs. One could chalk that up to their materialism and party-people mentality, but author Erickson has a different take. "They have to get some money flowing because they have a lot of debt to pay," she says.
6. No one joins a company hoping to do the same job forever. But these days even your neighborhood bartender or barista aspires to own the place someday. So if getting Gen Yers to join a company is a challenge, getting them to stay is even harder.
7. The key is the same one their parents have used their whole lives - loving, encouraging and rewarding them. What that amounts to in corporate terms is a support network, work that challenges more than it bores, and feedback. "The loyalty of twentysomethings is really based on the relationships they have with those directly above them," says Dorsey, the "Reality Check" author. "There's a perception among management that those relationships shouldn't be too personal, but that's how we know they care about us."
8. Here are some possible motivators:
Business cards are an easy way to make young employees feel valued.
Letting them shadow older employees helps
Inviting them to a management meeting now and then.
Marking milestones is major, no birthday should go uncelebrated, &the first day on
the job should be unforgettable.
9. Twentysomethings can thrive when given real responsibility. Mark Meussner, a former Ford manager, remembers one instance when, faced with a serious manufacturing problem and two young engineers begging for the chance to solve it, he took a chance on them. He gave them one more-experienced person as a counselor, and they made what he estimates was a $25 million impact by solving a problem that had proved intractable for a decade. Says Meussner: "We need to use 100 percent of an employee - not just their backs and minds, but their innovation, enthusiasm, energy and fresh perspective."
10. "I've come to realize that the most significant characteristic of the Gen Y bird", says Nadira Hira the article's author "is that we are unapologetic. From how we look, to how spoiled we are, to what we want - even demand - of work, we do think we are special. And what ultimately makes us different is our willingness to talk about it."
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