There is considerable debate about what matters most to Generation Y (Gen Y) at work. As a consequence, much of the literature is concerned with engaging, motivating and retaining this youngest segment of the workforce. But what about what Gen Y can do for you and your organisation? This article considers how to make the most of Gen Y’s particular characteristics and capabilities.
Make the most of their collaborative nature
Having grown up with the internet and social media, Gen Y tend to be natural collaborators. They tap into their online networks and forums to find out everything, from which bands are playing in their local area, to how to fix a problem with their laptop. Many Gen Y employees bring this inclination to share knowledge and learn from others into the workplace. As adept researchers and content creators, they can help your team to source information, develop new skills, and communicate better, both inside and outside the organisation.
What to do:
Have a Gen Y employee do a ‘show and tell’ of online collaborative tools such as Yammer, Twitter, and SharePoint. This could help the team to share knowledge, track workflows and keep policies and processes up to date in real time, and from any location.
Ask Gen Y employees to promote employment vacancies using their networks, if you don’t already do this. Remember to track where all your applicants heard about you, to establish which methods deliver the best candidates.
Task a Gen Y employee with using crowdsourcing to input into a piece of work. This could be anything from translating a marketing brochure, to web search term optimisation.
In the UK, all employees now have the right to request flexible working. You may already have team members who work remotely, at least some of the time. Perhaps they work compressed hours or as part of a job share. But could you take things further? Gen Y, in the main, has a less blinkered view of what the world of work should look like. Given their ability to stay connected 24/7 via mobile devices, they tend to have a more fluid concept of when and where work should be done. As such, their perspectives could help you rethink your current approach to flexible working and work-life balance.
What to do:
Consider conducting a survey with all your team members about flexible working and work-life balance in your department or the wider organisation. Find out how they feel it is currently working for them. And ask them what the ideal scenario would be. Your Gen Y employees, in particular, may come back with some surprising answers and innovative ideas.
Try to change your thinking by viewing your team in terms of productivity and outputs, rather than set working patterns, and how often they are physically present in the office. If working hours are currently Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, would it be of benefit to allow some evening or weekend working? This could be particularly useful if your organisation has a global employee or customer base.
Find out what other organisations are doing. Companies with a high proportion of younger employees, e.g. tech start-ups and media companies, can often be a good source of ideas for new ways to approach work-life balance in your team.
Once you have established some changes you would like to make, consider trialling them for a week or so, to see how they would work in practice.
An important caveat: you should seek advice from your HR department before implementing any changes to flexible working arrangements in your team.
Make the most of their environmental concerns
Research studies often cite social responsibility and environmental issues as a real concern for Gen Y individuals. In a study by Deloitte, for instance, 65% of respondents thought business could do more about climate change. The same study also showed that 43% of participants actively volunteer, or are a member of a community organisation. Finding ways to turn their concerns and emotion into action can help to build their motivation and engagement levels, while benefitting your organisation.
What to do:
Encourage employees to put forward their suggestions for individual and team fundraising, CSR and volunteering opportunities. As well as supporting worthwhile causes, such activities can help your Gen Y employees build relationships and develop confidence and skills, while boosting the profile of your team or department.
If a Gen Y employee is passionate about sustainability, ask them to become a ‘green champion’ in your team. Responsibilities might include identifying ways to cut down your carbon footprint, and encouraging team members to reduce, reuse and recycle. Ask the team member to report on progress periodically to keep up the momentum.
Make the most of their lack of experience
This may sound like a contradiction in terms, but Gen Y’s comparative lack of experience can bring real benefits to you and your team. When tackling tasks and problems, they will be less influenced by what has and hasn’t worked in the past than their more senior colleagues. Instead, they are likely to approach their work with a fresh mindset, and come up with new solutions and ideas. Gen Y tend to ask lots of questions and need to understand the ‘why’ of what they are doing. They also like being given responsibility - for them it’s one of the best ways to learn.
What to do:
Ensure Gen Y employees are involved in work groups and project teams whenever possible.
Listen to the questions Gen Y employees ask you. Rather than dismissing these out of turn, ask yourself, what might these questions be telling you about your current working practices?
Encourage them to put forward improvement ideas. They may well suggest approaches and solutions that have been tried before without success. But perhaps now would be a good time to try them again.
Give your Gen Y employees responsibility for delivering a significant task or project in your team. What they lack in knowledge, they are likely to make up for in energy, enthusiasm and the desire to be recognised for a job well done.
Reference:
‘The basic idea (of crowdsourcing) is to tap into the collective intelligence of the public at large to complete business-related tasks that a company would normally either perform itself or outsource to a third-party provider’. Quote source: 'What is Crowdsourcing' at www.cbsnews.com
'The Millennial Survey 2014' available at: www2.deloitte.com
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