Brett November 18th, 2008
Today, young professionals view their jobs within an industry as little more than a commodity. During the shift from the Information Age to the Talent Age, companies have done little to differentiate themselves from their competitors. This commoditization has had a direct affect on allowing Gen Ys to change their jobs so often. Companies offer few compelling reasons for a young professional to show loyalty to the corporation, and many companies view their employees as static and undifferentiated assets, even if they say otherwise. It is assumed that a worker only has X utility and that they will not stay for long, and the whole goal of the corporation is to maximize that utility before they decide to move on to another job. The reasoning goes that since employees will not stay long, there is no value in creating a compelling employer value proposition to the employee. This thinking is a self fulfilling prophecy that makes young professionals feel unappreciated, and thus enables them to leave companies without a second thought.
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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.
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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…
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Brett November 4th, 2008
When it comes to retaining young workers Google has it right. While almost every magazine and article points out the various perks workers enjoy like a cafeteria, filtered air, day care, etc., I think they are missing the point. It is not just these perks that young professionals respond to, but rather the atmosphere all of these things create. And that atmosphere starts from a single idea that Google is not just a place to work, but a college. In fact in some their promotional material they even refer to Googleplex as a college.
Obviously, Page, Brin and Schmidt do not mean it in the Van Wilder type way that so many people take college to mean today. Instead, they used the definition of a college as being a place where peers can interact, feel comfortable, and share ideas. Creating such a community where information and knowledge is readily shared and passed is quite unique in corporate America today.
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