Saturday, May 29, 2010

Those Pesky Millennials and Their Whiny Demands

This topic seems to have struck a powerful chord for many of you. I recently had an article I'd written published in the HiringSmart newsletter and I've been receiving much heartfelt feedback ever since.

Seems I'm not alone in recognizing that the supposed "unreasonable demands" of Millennials and Gen Y are simply good management practices that ANY generation can benefit from. We just haven't all asked for them and then resigned when we didn't get our demands met. Instead, generations like mine (tail-end Boomer) took the far more mature approach (??) and stayed in our jobs while having horribly low levels of engagement or simply "retired on the job".

Here's feedback from Dorothy Russel, Principal of Essential Futures...When I first began to hear about the Gen-Y ‘issues’ my first thought was, “they’re just demanding good management practices. And they’re willing to vote with their feet if they don’t get the respect and attention they deserve. If organizations did what Gen-Y’s crave they’d be much better places for everyone to work.” I also think they’d be more effective, productive, and profitable. And not just on-boarding practices, but all practices that involve people.

Thank you for a clear, punchy article.
--

Thank you, Dorothy!

Time to start listening to what this generation has to say.

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2 Comments:

Blogger ablain said...

Great post and great article. Leaders would do well to listen to your advice and listen to the Millennials.

As a corporate executive who began hiring Millennials in 2002, I was very frustrated with this group because they were so unfamiliar to me. Instead of holding on to outdated priniciples and judging them I set off to understand them.

I created my own Millennial Lab and observed them in their natural habitat. My frustration turned into amazement and very quickly I was able to not only harness but capitalize on the talents they bring to the workplace. Talents, that unfortunately, remain and will continue to remain untapped unless we, as leaders challenge our conventional thinking to bring in and retain Millennials.

Monday, May 31, 2010 3:15:00 PM  
Anonymous Yellow Umbrella said...

I did enjoy reading this, as well as your article in HiringSmart! So true!!

Thank you,
Anja

Friday, July 09, 2010 9:25:00 AM  

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