Mr. Lee

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

What Your Gen Y Employees Can Teach You About Attracting, Retaining, and Engaging Talent

By David Lee, Founder, humanNature@Work

"This is the most high-maintenance workforce in the history of the world." “Supervising employees now requires more time and skill.”
- Bruce Tulgan, author of *Generational Shift: What We Saw At The Workplace Revolution

While much is written about—and many lament—the new generation of workers, Gen Y employees offer employers a hidden gift that employers, managers, and “experts” fail to recognize.

Gen Y employees offer a critical gift to the astute employer: an early warning signal that can help them improve employee engagement, morale, and retention for ALL employees.

When it comes to the employee experience you deliver, when it comes to attracting, retaining, and engaging talent, your Gen Y employees are your Canary in the Coal Mine.

In case you’re not familiar with the term, it comes from the early days of coal mining, when miners would bring a canary into the mine as an early warning sign. Being more sensitive to CO2 levels than humans, the canary would flop over dead before the levels got dangerous to humans. Thus, their demise would save the miner’s lives.

Gen Y Employees Can Be YOUR Canary in the Coal Mine If You Let Them

Your Gen Y employees can become your “Canary in the Coal Mine” with regards to your management practices and the employee experience you deliver, if you use their words and actions as an early warning signal.

Just as the canary’s greater sensitivity gave the coal miner’s important information that could prevent a disaster, your Gen Y employees’ greater sensitivity to a continually uninspiring and unpleasant work experience can help you prevent an “engagement disaster” with ALL of your employees.

Thus, they can save you a lot of time, money, and frustration trying to figure out how to increase employee engagement, how to build a stronger Employer Brand, or…how to inspire your employees to want to provide a consistently amazing guest experience.

Your Gen Y employees can do this for you because of the following reasons:

1. Gen Y Employees Basically Want What Every Employee Wants

While there are generational differences in work styles, by and large, Gen Y employees want what employees from other generations want. They want:
a) The feeling that their work has meaning – Believing that the specific work they do each day, and what their employer brings to the world offers true value and makes a positive impact.
b) To be treated with respect – Feeling that respect at both a personal and professional level.
c) The opportunity to make a difference – Being encouraged and empowered to offer their ideas and fresh perspective, and to innovate—i.e. to be a “player”, not just a “hired hand.”
d) To feel proud of their employer – Believing that who they work for provides a world class product or service and is lead by intelligent, wise, ethical leaders.
e) A positive relationship with their manager – Believing their manager cares about their well-being, their professional development, and them as an individual.
f) Opportunities to grow professionally – Having opportunities to develop their skill portfolio, take on career-enhancing responsibilities, and other avenues of professional growth.

2. Many Unhappy, Disengaged Employees Don’t Speak Up, But They Do Stay

Many employees from older generations grew up learning that you don’t speak up to authority figures and that you shouldn’t expect much from a job. Because of this, their response to a unsatisfying work experience is often to “grin and bear it”...while becoming increasingly less engaged as the months turn into years.

Unfortunately for both employee and employer, because these employees neither speak up nor leave, their employer is stuck with an underperforming workforce without realizing how they are creating this situation. The magnitude of this problem cannot be overstated. According to the Gallup Organization, 55% of the workforce population constitute what they call ROAD Warriors, they are “Retired on Active Duty”. ROAD Warriors do just enough to keep their jobs, but don’t bring passion and dedication to their work. They also don’t provide a guest experience that leads to delighted guests and positive word of mouth advertising.

3. Because of the social norms present during Gen Y Employees’ upbringing, they are “genetically predisposed” to being a Work Experience Canary in the Coal Mine

Gen Y employees grew up during the most “child-centric”, affluent, and narcissism-glorifying time in American history. This cultural milieu can’t help but play a major role in shaping many Gen Y’s perspective on work, authority figures, and life. Some of these key norms include:
a) Their opinions were asked for and respected, even as small children. They didn’t get the “Because I said so” response from their parents, as did many children from previous generations.
b) They were encouraged to speak up, including to adults, thus they don’t have the same fear of—or baseline respect for—authority figures as do previous generations (especially people of the Boomer and Veteran generations).
c) They received far more praise and positive feedback—often over simply showing up and participating—than previous generations.
d) They were told from an early age how important it is to make a difference in the world, and that it was possible for them to do so.
e) They grew up in an individualized, customized “Have it your way” consumer world.

4. Gen Y employees are far more likely to let you know either verbally or by leaving if you’re not hacking it as an employer

Because of the above factors, Gen Y employees are more likely to:
a) Expect - rather than wish for - a fulfilling, meaningful work experience that leaves them feeling good.
b) Be far more likely to speak up to their boss or ask for what they want in a work experience, without fear or embarrassment.
c) Expect work/life balance and view a job that prevents this as unreasonable and unpalatable.
d) View frequent job changes as a natural career path, not a stigma.
e) See blind loyalty to an employer as foolishness and passé, not a positive attribute.

Thus, the take away message is this: “Your Gen Y employees offer you a huge gift.

Because they expect more from a work experience, because they require more sophisticated management skills to bring out the best in them, and because they’re more likely to leave if you provide a mediocre, uninspiring work experience, they require you to ‘improve your management game’.

If you choose to do this, you will increase your ability to inspire the best in ALL of your employees. Also, because they are more willing to speak up or leave if they are not satisfied, they can be your Canary in the Coal Mine that will help you identify what you are doing that keeps ALL of your employees from being more engaged.”

Time to Open the Gift Your Gen Y Employees’ Are Offering You

So how can a smart management team use this concept of Gen Y employees being a Canary in the Coal Mine for ALL employees?

1. Apply what is written about managing Gen Y employees to ALL of your employees, especially practices such as:
   a) Create a clear, compelling vision of what excellence looks and sounds like in their position, and how it makes the big picture possible.
   b) Give feedback regularly, so that it’s seen as a regular part of work life.
   c) Point out the good things they are doing, not just the areas that need improvement.
   d) Actively involve employees in generating improvement ideas in all aspects of your business.
   e) Show interest in them as a individual human being with a unique personality, dreams, and needs.
   f) Reinforce and celebrate the difference their work makes, though teaching stories, and letters and videos from guests.
   g) Show appreciation. Never take excellence and hard work for granted.

2. Ask ALL employees how, together, you can make the work experience you deliver more fulfilling.

3. Ask ALL employees what obstacles, if removed, would make their jobs easier and allow them to perform at the highest level possible.

4. Learn the skills for making it safe for people with less power to speak up (see the article “Can We Talk?” at HumanNatureAtWork.com for suggestions).

5. Keep employees in the loop about what you’re doing with their input and the reasons behind the various decisions, so they remain excited about offering their input.

6. Learn more about managerial practices that inspire people to give gracious, enthusiastic, go-the-extra-mile customer service.

Time For Action

Don’t file this article away. Share it with your management team and share it with your employees. Use it as a conversation starter about how you can create an environment that enables you to attract, retain, and engage talented people from ALL generatio

David Lee, the founder of HumanNature@Work (www.HumanNatureAtWork.com), helps employers in service industries improve employee engagement, customer service, and morale, through his work as a consultant, trainer, and executive coach. He has worked with organizations and presented at conferences both domestically and abroad for over 20 years. An internationally recognized thought leader in the field of employee engagement and performance, Mr. Lee is the author of over 60 articles and book chapters on employer branding, onboarding, and other topics related to employee performance that have been published in trade journals and books in the US, Europe, India, Australia, and China. Mr. Lee can be contacted at 207-571-9898 or david@humannatureatwork.com Extended Bio...

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