During the months of June, July and August, we surveyed 320 Generation Y careerists, ranging in age from 21-27 years of age. In the survey, we asked a few questions about leadership and what Gen Ys are looking for in a leader.

Question Number 5 was this:

When you leave a company, what one thing causes you to leave?

I hear every day that Gen Y leaves because of money or because they love to job hop…so, these responses may surprise you (please know that this survey was completely anonymous:)

Top Answer: 1: Weak Leadership (Leaders are blamers, whiners, disrespectful and lack vision)

2: Money

3: Lack of opportunity for professional growth

4: Lack of opportunity for advancement in the company

5: Better offer or opportunity with another company

6: Lack of acknowledgment for a job well done from bosses and managers

7: Work and work environment are boring

8: Lack of ethics in the company

9: Work culture is not fun and exciting

10: The work has no meaning

If you believe your organization is being affected by any of the above behaviors, please send me an e-mail to beafields@beafields.com, and we can discuss a 360 Degree assessment for your organization.

Pick up a copy of Millennial Leaders today 

Interesting article in the Nevada Business Journal for August on Bridging the Gap.

The article mentioned that Boomers and Gen X don’t want to be coached.  That is not universal.  I see a lot of folks from both generations who raise their hand and WANT coaching.  Gen Y as a whole seems to be more open to the idea, but Boomers and Xers also respond in a positive way to coaching.

I honestly believe the key here is to look at shifting the way “training” is delivered.  Gen Y is not a generation who enjoys sitting for 8 hours a day in a classroom (none of us want it…Gen Y is just the first to step up and say they don’t want it!)  I believe that what can help managing across generations is for companies to start developing true learning organizations…cultures which provide the psychological safety and coaching throughout the environment so that learning is a part of doing the job.

I was recently interviewed by Tom Heck of Teach Me Teamwork on a few questions from managers about how to best communicate with Generation Y. For those of you who read this blog who are Gen Y’s, I would love to hear your suggestions!

Listen to the audio below.

 

 Tom Heck [61:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tom Heck sent me this video today. Great take on generations at work by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Thanks Tom!

Millennial Leaders

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 

BNET Editorial gathered some great information by Robert Half International and PayScale to find out what Millennials are looking for in career. Great stuff.

A few other fun things on BNET:

Recruiting Gen Y: Four Killer Tactics

Workforce Millennials: A Field Guide

Three Strategies for Managing Millennials

I want to continue the blog entry started by Scott on the Profile of Gen Y job article by Tamara J. Erickson.

What we are seeing is that Gen Y has a different definition of “work ethic”.  Baby Boomers seem to define work ethic as giving 60-70 hours per week, rushing from here to there in order to have the world see how much they are doing.  I am a Baby Boomer, and I know this mentality (I live this mentality).

Gen Y, however, is different (remember…they have different world views from any previous generation).  They not only have the knowledge and the tech skills to get the job done more efficiently and effectively, they have the network to pull off a task in a matter of 30 minutes as opposed to two hours by a solo worker working as a “lone ranger”.

I have had people ask me if Baby Boomers are upset with Gen Y’s view of work, because they also really crave less work hours and  more free time.  There might be something to this notion, but let me just put this into perspective on how I see the different generations and how they view work:

1) Traditionalists:  Traditionalists were affected by the Great Depression.  Work meant work…you worked to earn a living, save and invest.  If you left a job, there was a stigma attached to it (Oh…Henry must have been fired).  They were highly respectful of authority, and created a hierarchical structure to the leadership in organizations (so…everyone worked hard to climb to the top).

2) Baby Boomers:  Baby Boomers fall in that category of working 60 hours a week at a corporate job so that they can “keep up with the Joneses”.  To change jobs is a waste of time, and in order to do a great job, it means that you must hold a LOT of meetings and work week-ends if necessary.  Boomers love Mondays…because it means they get the chance to get back in there and work, work, work really hard (and many ended up being affected by the downsizing of corporate America in exchange for that hard work).

3) Generation X:  Gen X grew up being fiercely independent.  As latch-key kids, they began to depend on themselves and their friends for support, and many began dabbling with tech start ups during the Dot Com boom.  The Dot Com bust happened, and many went back into full time work, yet they had a few new demands, including flex hours, telecommuting and being able to move to different divisions in the company and spend time with their friends. Gen X really worked in order “to live”, and they don’t like close supervision.  So, meetings which made no sense and managers telling them how to work and what to do were met with quite a bit of resistance.

4) Then came Gen Y.  Okay…think about this…Gen Y has watched all of the above.  They watched their grandparents (traditionalists) in coat and tie, watched their Baby Boomer parents work 60 hours a week just to get laid off or fired and watched their older siblings (Gen X) start to ask for things like flex hours and movement.  So…this is an evolution of generations and how they view work.   Gen Y’s mantra is “Live First, Work Second”,  and they know how to use technology, online social networking, and the massive amounts of knowledge they have to multi-task and do it well!  They see work as something they do between the times they live or see their friends or do something fun.   So, they are changing the way we work and live…living first, working second…isn’t this what we all want?

I want to close by saying that I really believe that Gen Y is going to change the way we all work, and again…I think this is an evolutionary process in our world.  Sure…there will always be Generation Y adults who work hard, but they are putting their foot down and saying “We want to live in a different way!”.  If we can get the job done (and done well without the quality of the end product or service suffering), then why not do it in half the time?  What’s the purpose in the 60 hour work week?  If you enjoy working 60 hours…great!  I congratulate you.  However, be very careful about speaking about Gen Y as if they don’t have a strong work ethic.  They just have a much different way of moving about work, and their priorities are  in a bit of a different order right now, and this is all subject to change.

Gen Y prefers jobs based on task vs. time, especially cause they can work faster than older folks. Read more.

Managers should take this into account when the hire Gen Y.  As we noted in our book, it is more important for managers to gain alignment on the goal and let Gen Y figure out how they will solve the problem and how long it will take them. Goals should not be time-based.

Great article today in USA Today:  Studies:  Arrogance not rampant among young in USA Today.

As I have said before:  Every generation thinks the next generation is more arrogant and narcissistic than the generation before them.  The Gen Y leaders I have met over the last 18 months (and I have met and interviewed about 200) are coming across as generous, hard working, and very dedicated to social causes.  They are also very thoughtful.  Just three weeks ago, Arel Moodie and Bert Gervais called to wish me a Happy New Year and to thank me for supporting them…that meant a lot to me, and I don’t hear my boomer colleagues calling me to say that.   And…if you listen in to the interview below this post with Margaret Regan, she brings up a great point…that Gen Y is saying that they don’t want to live the way their boomer parents did…working 60+ hours per week and being stressed to the max.  So, in my opinion, what some boomers are calling narcissistic and “it’s all about me” may just be  Gen Y’s way of saying “I want to live life first and work second.  I want balance, flexiblity and freedom.  I’m not going to do things your way, working my fingers to the bone, because it will kill me…or at least put me in the sick ward”.  (Don’t we all want that?  Why are we so afraid to ask for that, and why do we then call a generation that is asking for what we all want in life things like lazy, narcissistic and arrogant?)

I believe this to be true…if you look for the negative, you will find it.  If you look for the positive, you will find it.  If you are reading this blog today, I encourage you to get out there and start talking to Gen Y, because I think you might just be surprised at the positives they are bringing to the world.  And…I’m going to say it again “It’s time for us to start working with them…not resisting their efforts!”

Would you like to know how our business and corporate landscape will be shifting in the next 5-10 years as young talent (Gen X and Gen Y) moves into the workforce and into key leadership positions? If so, you don’t want to miss this call with Margaret Regan, Founder of the FutureWork Institute , shares her insights from a gobal study her company is conducting on workforce trends, diversity, talent shortages and generational values. Led by Y-Talk host, Bea Fields  and Guest Co-Hosts Beth Bloomfield and Carol Graser of Next Gen Leaders.

 

 Y Talk Interview with Margaret Regan [45:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download