Brett February 3rd, 2009
Employers have been slow to recognize the shift in the American workplace toward increased employee mobility. In fact, most companies have failed to realize that they need to actively recruit talent with as much determination as potential employees look for their own jobs. Too often companies approach both recruiting and employment in a passive way: posting jobs in different media, and waiting until a credible candidate appears. That system no longer works especially for Gen Ys or Millennials, and companies must develop processes that attract new talent to them. Continue Reading »
Brett December 19th, 2008
I thought that Top Trends blog had an interesting take on Millennials in the workplace. The author’s viewpoint about the future of work is spot on I think, and goes into why Gen Ys appear to be less loyal than previous generations. Check out the link below if you would like to read:
Top Trends Blog on Millennials
Brett November 17th, 2008
I found an interesting article detailing how ESPN manages its marketing
workforce. The marketing department at ESPN is almost 70% Gen Y, so they have
had to quickly adapt to this generation’s attitudes towards work. The managers
at ESPN use an interesting technique that I believe could be applied to many
companies called clearing. Clearing focuses on having a team come together
every so often and air grievances and compliments from both employees and
managers. For any identified problem, the team should make an action plan to
deal with the grievance.
I think this works ideally with a group of young professionals because they
are so accustomed to being able to speak their minds. Instead of having
problems boil under the surface, clearings offer young people a chance to give
their opinions, feel like they have been heard, and that their manager respects
their views. The whole key will be to balance this technique, and make sure
managers do not overuse it does not go overboard, making everyone feel like
‘clearing’ is another worthless meeting.
For the full article please click the link below:
How ESPN Manages Their Gen Y Employees
Brett November 10th, 2008
Too often I hear from all the pundits, corporate execs, and basically everyone older than myself that my generation is lazy and out of touch. That I and all the rest of my generation have squandered all that America has created in the past half century. On a recent 60 Minutes piece “The Millennials Are Coming” (look at minute 3:50), one of the interviewees, Mary Crane, highlighted that Millennials have no idea what a day of hard work looks like. Instead (as she puts it) we have spent our summers excavating Machu Picchu, building orphanages in Mexico, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, and taking cushy internships with corporations. She explains that Gen Yers have never spent any time in the trenches doing ‘hard labor’ so that we would quickly learn that we did not want to dig ditches for the rest of our lives.
Continue Reading »
Brett November 5th, 2008
“Hi, I’m representing the Silent Generation (born before World War II) on today’s panel, and I can’t stand it when all these young kids always ask why.” And with that the panel introductions ended, and I found myself staring into a less than supportive crowd of 200 plus executives nodding their head in agreement.
Let’s back up a bit…
Continue Reading »
Brett April 3rd, 2008
I recently talked to a friend, who graduated with me from Notre Dame, who works in consulting. After the normal exchange of ‘what’s up’, ‘nothing’, I asked what he had been doing at work. He casually (and I almost didn’t notice) said he spent the week carrying boxes.
“What???” I exclaimed confused, “why would you be doing that.”
He responded that his company had sent him to Cincinnati for the week to ‘consult’ (and I use that with extreme generosity) with a company there. When he reported for work on Tuesday morning, the company informed him they had nothing for him to do. After sitting around for a few hours, the company finally found a task for him: move boxes in storage up to their top floor because no one else wanted to do it. Continue Reading »
