Gen Y@Work 5 - How to Manage Generation Y

List of tips on how to manage Generation Y

Many of the things on the list below are how most people would like to be managed and what good managers are doing anyway.

However, Generation Y is the first generation that actually demands it! If Generation Yers are not managed well then they (especially the good ones) will leave for another firm that treats them better.

Good management is a key tool for retaining Generation Y. Organisations that do not develop good management will:

• Have difficultly in retaining good staff
• Have difficultly in filling their positions - Generation Y will market to each other the good & bad firms to work for
• Not releasing the potential that Generation Y have to offer in their organisation - Generation Y employees have the potential to be very high performers - if they are managed well, Generation Y will be a huge asset to their employers

"Many of us are bored, we want more from life than a desk. We want continued education in the workplace, better hours, more family focus...etc"

Do not reject Generation Y workers because they seem difficult to manage

• Generation Y is the most smartest, tech savvy and idealistic generation of our time - organisations need to learn to leverage this generation to ensure their future success and competitive advantage
• Meeting the challenge of effectively managing Generation Y will support organisations to raise their overall bar in management capability - the other employees will also respond positively to raised management standards

Make their work matter

• Prove to them that there is a good enough reason to for what you are asking them to do
• Give them productive tasks that make a difference from day one

Listen to them and provide them with feedback

• Generation Y workers need for their voice to be heard
• People that manage Generation Y need to notice and react to their performance - Generation Y need to be stimulated and given feedback on an ongoing basis
• Give them the opportunity to tell you when they have a better idea for something since they will tell you anyway!
• Try to make an effort to understand their "language"
• Allow them to have their say in organisational decision making

Generation Y want to experience leadership as soon as possible

• Build opportunities for leadership for them
• Generation Y desire to take on significant responsibility early - they will respond positively if they are made responsible for sugnificant pieces of work
• Provide them with autonomy - do not micro manage them - they will come and ask for help and feedback from managers and other employees if they can not do something

Get them on the leading edge of what the organisation is doing

• Generation Y need to feel that they are the cutting edge at work - show them how their work is cutting edge

Encourage problem solving

• Never take for granted that Generation Y will not understand complex situations or products
• Generation Y will not believe that something will fail unless they see it - they want actual proof that something that cannot be done
• Generation Y are capable of solving issues that organisations have failed to solve in the past because they are not afraid of trying and learning from failing

Understand what motivates Generation Y

• The key to managing Generation Y is understand what motivates them - once managers are able to active this, they will be able to inspire the loyalty of high performing Generation Y employees
• Consider new benefits and compensation strategies
• Generation Y are motivated to contribute by working through levels of increasing complexity -this comes from their gaming mentality
• Generation Y do not respond well to command and control management styles ("do this or else"). Many companies have found that their Generation Yers have quit before they have the time to fire them
• Remove / minimise company politics - Generation Y are not interested in "sucking up" - Generation Y is not afraid to tell people at all levels of hierarchy what they think of them
• Goals, goals, goals - small goals with tight deadlines
• Generation Y want work that is sociable and fun

Generation Y want recognition for what they do

• Give public praise - Generation Y want to be famous and known for their achievements

Be prepared to manage their high expectations

• You will need to actively manage the expectations of Generation Y workers - explore with them which of their expectations can be achieved and why others cannot - Generation Y will leave if they are not supported to manage their idealistic expectations

Help them to make the transition into the professional workplace

• Generation Y workers need to be provided with professional guidelines as they are not used to being formal
• Teach them the basics of time management
• Generation Y need support to transition to the real world - they are not as ready as to hit the ground running like Generation X were - they need more instruction & mentoring

Support them to give back

• Offer Generation Y workers opportunities for community involvement
• Allow them to help those less fortunate than themselves
• Generation Y have a core need to make a difference and affect the world for the better - help them to do this

Be flexible about how they work

• Be prepared to reconfigure the way that things are done - if the work is getting done, does it matter where and how it is done?
• Provide balance, flexibility and variety in their work

Generation Y prefer to work in teams

• Allow Generation Y workers to work in teams whenever possible as they are more social than other generations

Be prepared to encourage and guide them

• Encourage the use of mentors
• Generation Y know what they want from work but they will need support on how to get there
• Model the behavior that you want them to have - be prepared to walk your talk - Generation Y will know when you are not being authentic
• Provide coaching - coaching is one of the most successful methods for Generation Y retention

Cater to Generation Y's concept of career

• Create customised career paths for them rather than forcing them onto standard career paths
• Provide them with a personalised portfolio job - give them the opportunity to experience different departments
• Be prepared to develop additional career pathways in the organisation
• Profile each Generation Yer individually and provide a personalised career path
• Show them what lateral opportunities exist in the organisation - otherwise they will leave to find them in another organisation

Understand and provide for their need for technology, knowledge and opportunities

• Commit to training and educational programmes
• Provide them with opportunities to travel
• A key part of retaining Generation Y is the provision of the technology that they are used to using in their personal lives - Generation Y "need" to have access to informal technology based communication
• Allow them to consume media as part of their work
• Provide them with cutting edge knowledge management tools

Allow them to contribute their skills

• Provide Generation Y with opportunities for reverse mentoring - they will be excellent at rasing the technology capability of the rest of the workforce

Allow for "helicopter" parents

• Parents may want to be involved in the development of their children at work

Reference articles

Click on this link to access the links to the following article: (13), (15), (16), (17), (23), (25), (26), (27), (28), (31), (32)

Generation Y articles in this research series (in date order)

• First Steps conference - research background
• Generation Y research strand
• Generalisations & Generation Y
• Generation Y articles used for research
• Gen Y1 - role of Generation Y parents
• Gen Y2 - role of technology
• Gen Y3 - other factors influencing Generation Y & the Generation Y divide
• Gen Y4 -Generation Y characteristics and values in life
• Gen Y5 - the marketing view of Generation Y
• Gen Y at work 1 - characteristics and values at work
• Gen Y at work 2 - Generation Y and intergenerational conflict
• Gen Y at work 3 - Generation Y - vision, good work, work ethics, work-life balance
• Gen Y at work 4 - how employing Generation Y will benefit business
• Gen Y at work 5 - how to manage Generation Y
• Gen Y at work 6 - Generation Y and career
• Gen Y at work 7 - recruiting Generation Y

Posted by: Hina Patel