“A global study, The State of Employee Engagement 2008 (http://www.blessingwhite.com/research), finds that Generation Y employees are the least engaged in the workplace on four continents. The new report was issued by Princeton consultants BlessingWhite (http://www.BlessingWhite.com).”

The press release on the report can be found here, and the one finding that I believe is most important is this:

“Conversely, disengaged employees often feel underutilized, are the most disconnected from the organization’s strategy, and may indulge in contagious negativity, warned Rice. “Left to themselves disengaged workers are likely to look for their next job, or worse collect a paycheck while complaining and not producing. If they can’t be coached or encouraged to higher levels of engagement, their exit benefits everyone, including themselves.”

As I am going around the country, I am hearing from Millennials that they feel they are bored and disconnected from their companies, because their employers don’t believe they are capable of taking on challenging, big projects.  This is a serious mistake, as our Gen Y’s are so very talented and capable, and their skill sets are beyond anything we can imagine for ourselves.  It is almost a form of projection from senior leaders.

When working in the direction of getting your Gen Y’s more engaged at work, I encourage all senior leaders to ask these 5 questions:

1) What type of work would most challenge you here for our company?

2) What do you find most meaningful in life, and how can we help you get that sense of meaning here, on this team?

3) If you could take all of the available resources from our company and use them to come up with a new product or service that would have a positive impact on the world, what would you create?

4) What are the hidden talents and skills you have not used in the past that you would like to use here (this could be a creative art, skill of public speaking, brainstorming, etc.)

5) What type of career do you most want to develop out over the next few years, and how can we help you achieve that?

Once you have the answers to those questions, take as many steps as you can to implement what your Gen Y’s most want, and I believe you will find them much more engaged at work.  The tools we used in the past to keep employees engaged (perks, pats on the back) work short-term, but in the long run, your Millennials need to come to work knowing that they are using everything they’ve got to help make a difference in your company, community and greater world.

Ah.. more than 42 Million Gen Y members can vote in the upcoming election. And why is that only one candidate is really using the web And why is it that only candidate thought to go to an expert or at least someone who lives and breathes online stuff. Why is it that only one candidate hired the founder of Facebook to help him with his campaign. Why is that even though only 48% of the Gen Yers claimto be a Democrat, they will still vote for Obama.

46% of Gen Yers expect the next President to interact with them online. Isn’t amazing that other candidates–in any election–still haven’t integrated online into their communications with these constituents

Tactics to use to retain and train Gen Y:

• Flexible hours
• Flexible vacations
• Mentoring programs
• Creative compensation — not just $$
• Constant feedback
• Incentives tied to group performance

And don’t forget to give them constant feedback. But I would like to touch upon the last bullet point about incentives. It can be really powerful to reward not just the individual, .. but also how the individual does as part of the team and part of organization. At Intuit, we call it ‘cascading’ — making sure that the CEO’s goals and objectives cascade down to everyone in the organization.

When I manage folks, I am always looking at how their professional goals cascade up and cascasde down.

I must be asked this question several times a day. Even by some of the best marketers in the business. My answer is always the same ‘talk to Gen Y,’ they don’t bite. And remember the way you learned about products and services is not the way they learn about products and services. So, don’t ask me what is the right type of TV commercial to run? Or what the right direct mail campaign is? Direct mail? The young whipper snappers I work with don’t write checks, don’t receive bank statements. They ‘do it online.’ But don’t take my word for it. Just ask them. Don’t look at them or treat them like they are from another planet.When we wrote our book, we went right to the source and ask Gen Y how they like to be communicated with.  To be honest, I hate when I see blogs and online articles that say the best way to market to Gen Y is to have cool and hip products. Those were words I used in high school and I am an old guy. But then again, what do I know. I did a Google Search on ‘Cool and Gen Y’ and ended up with over 600,000 results. Note, however, when I ask a Gen  Yer what type of product they like the words ‘cool and hip’ never come up. So there seems to be a disconnect here, eh? 

Some interesting findings in a new report What Millenial Workers Want: How to Attract and Retain Gen Y Employees by Robert Half International, a specialized staffing firm, and Yahoo! HotJobs commissioned the survey. The findings were cited in a report titled, “Generation Y workers were asked, “What is your number-one career concern for the future?”

• Their responses were:Salary and healthcare/retirement … 33%
• Job stability ………………………………. 26%
• Career satisfaction …………………….. 23%
• Other …………………………………………. 8%
• None …………………………………………. 5%
• Don’t know …………………………………. 5%

“The Gen Y professionals we surveyed were focused on practical concerns, such as saving enough money for retirement and being able to balance work and family obligations,” said Reesa Staten, senior vice president and director of workplace research for Robert Half International. “These basic quality-of-life needs are common among all demographics in the workplace. Respondents offered the following verbatim responses when asked to identify their top financial and benefits-related concerns:

• Having enough money to support the lifestyle I desire.
• Getting paid enough to both save for retirement and enjoy the present.
• Finding a better job or a career with benefits, a 401 (k), better salary and financial stability.
• How long I have to work into my golden years to secure a good retirement.
• If I will ever be able to afford a future; a house, a wedding, children and retirement.
• Access to health and retirement benefits.
• That I won’t make enough money to provide a good life for my family, with rising costs of everything from fuel to homes and food

Gen Y workers offered the following responses regarding finding and holding onto a job:

• That I won’t be able to get a job that matches up with my qualifications.
• Being able to settle into the job right after graduation.
• That the economy won’t be sustained in order for jobs to be secure.
• Being able to find a job after being outsourced.
• If there will be enough jobs for the number of job seekers.
• Having to switch jobs more than I desire.

And, finally, respondents to the survey who focused on job satisfaction offered the following thoughts:

• My number-one career concern for the future is advancement. A time will come when I need to decide if I should stay at my current position, or if I should take a new, better job. My concern is knowing how to tell when that moment comes.
• Finding something I am truly passionate about.
• Whether or not I’ll enjoy my work. Going to work when you hate it is so hard and tiring.
• If I want to change careers, how much more will I have to put into going back to school? How much is it going to cost me to change my career, and will it be worth it?
• Finding a niche career that suits me.
• Being happy with my job, and balancing work and home life.

Gen Y workers want the best healthcare and retirement benefits employers can provide as well as defined career paths,” she said. “To recruit these professionals, firms should make these programs easy to understand, promote them in detail on the company Web site and highlight them during the interview process. From the Gumbo Entertainment Guide 

This presentation is in parts 1-4. From the IDC A/P Panel: “Generation Y and the Emerging Power of User  Generated Content

Simmons Research, an Experian company, has chronicled the predilections of consumers in its National Consumer Study since 1960, and recently added social media to its survey. That includes social-networking sites, blogs, message boards, podcasts and e-mail. Simmons agreed to slice and dice its volumes of data for Advertising Age to identify social-media consumer profiles. The first five are from its bank of 38 consumer personalities; the others are pulled from demographic data.

SOCIALLY ISOLATED

These people are generally unhappy with their lives and feel alone. Not surprisingly, they fall at average or below average for e-mailing. But that doesn’t mean they eschew social media. In fact, they’re 12% more likely than the average person to use blogs, message boards or social-networking sites. They also post comments on blogs at least twice a month; personal, music, consumer-product and video-game blogs are most visited.

APPROVAL SEEKERS

This group buys what others are buying and likes to follow styles and trends. They use social-networking sites to meet like-minded people, express their views, get music and entertainment recommendations, and keep in touch with family and friends. They rate average in e-mailing friends and co-workers but above average in using e-mail to communicate with their parents. They are 23% more likely to instant message and download music.

HEALTH AND IMAGE LEADERS

This is eager to try health and wellness products, experiment with diets, and spend to look younger. The majority are under 50. They prefer reading blogs over posting comments or creating their own blogs and prefer to read about TV shows, video games, music and art/literature. They also like social-networking sites: More than one-fifth visit them more than twice a month.

SMART GREEN

Clearly they prefer to buy products in recycled packages and eschew products that pollute. They are average users of social networking, blogging and podcasting but slightly above average in message boards. They are older (50-plus) and are most likely to go online for health or financial information. And in the spirit of their eco-friendly attitude toward trees, they’re 23% more likely to send electronic greeting cards.

BRAND-LOYAL

This group shies away from buying unknown brands just for a bargain and prefers to buy brand-name goods. They’re very average social-media users, but some subjects of interest drive them to social media more than the average person: They’re 21% more likely to read environmental blogs and 22% more likely to use professional-networking sites to make new contacts.

STAY-AT-HOME MOMS

They’re 25 to 49 and have at least one child living at home. They use social media for a variety of reasons, including staying in touch and parental guidance. They visit parenting blogs five times more often than average. They’re also active on social networks, blogs and chat forums but tend to stay away from podcasting. They visit blogs once or more a week and create their own blogs at a higher than average rate.

UPSCALE GRAYS

These 50-plus consumers with college degrees and household incomes of more than $100,000 are low-level social-media users. They are almost 40% less likely than the average person to have read blogs, visited chat forums or instant messaged and 70% less likely to have visited a social network in the past month. One of the only places they skewed higher than average were professional networking sites.

FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS

It makes sense that people in the market for a home would look online for information about not only real estate but other products involved in home ownership. But Experian found that this under-35 set also includes very active social networkers, bloggers and message-board users. They also rank high in texting, podcasting and business networking. They use social networks to keep in touch but also to find information.

DIVORCED

Unsurprisingly, both sexes index high for dating sites, but women are more likely to visit social networks than men. Divorced women are also 20% more likely to buy something online, while men are 52% more likely to visit sports sites. Neither is into blogs or chat forums, but women communicate more than average via text message, while men use e-mail 45% more than average to communicate with their children.

Nadira Hira writes The Gig (great blog by the way) for Fortune. Great blog post on Gen Y forces the green issue today. Hira points out that companies are using the green movement as a great attraction point for hiring Gen Y.

I have been talking with my daughters about this very question. Ann, my daughter who is a sophomore at Duke has chosen public policy as a major and is considering environmental law, because she really believes that she and her Gen Y colleagues are going to have no other choice but to make some very bold moves in the direction of taking care of the environment. So…the post is good food for thought.

Interesting blog post by Tammy Erickson, discussion leader for Harvard Business Review.

Recruiting Today: What Are You Promising Top Job Candidates 

This blog post Gen Y Workplace Demands Can Help You Retain Boomers On The Verge of Retirement on CollegeRecruiter.com offers a concise but fresh perspective on Gen Y’s demands in the workplace…that their desire for flexibility, teamwork and fun are some of the same values that can keep boomers in the door.

As I am going around the county, I am answering the same question about “Why do we need to change…this sounds like pandering to Gen Y?” I just disagree with this question…which comes across as a negative comment.

Each time we usher a new generation into the workforce, the way work is done and the values at play are going to change. Each generation has a different world view, which shapes their values. So, we can either change to adapt to the largest workforce (Gen Y), or they will change it for us over the next few years.

I also believe that Gen Y is getting a few things right here. As humans, we need more flex time. People are burned out from working 60 hours a week. We need a rewards and recognition program…humans are craving acknowledgement, and they just don’t seem to get enough pats on the back. We need better team communication…it will save us so much time, money and energy. We need more fun and laughter…fun reduces stress, and we are all way too uptight as it is (just look around at all of the analysis paralysis and need for perfection…it is just ridiculous!)

So…rather than look at Gen Y’s requests as pandering, let’s look at the bigger picture…how can our lives and work be more satisfying by shifting to meet the needs of Gen Y? I think that we would all be much happier if we stopped whining and started implementing a few of their ideas. They are our future! It’s time to start working with Gen Y and stop resisting their efforts.