Generation Integration: Roberta Matuson Unites Boomers, X-ers and Millennials in the Workplace

Return on Investment

I was at a friend's house for dinner the other night where I met a young man who just graduated from a private college. Great guy. Bright, full of energy, strong communication skills. Yet, he has been unable to to land a job in his field. His mother was rightfully concerned. You see, she and her husband had invested a substantial amount of money in their son's education. They expected to see at least some return on their investment.

Here's the good news. This young man is not a slacker. He is gainfully employed, although not working in a job that requires a college degree. I suspect he will make some great contacts and when the economy turns around, he may be able to leverage some of these contacts into job interviews.

To his parents I say, keep the faith. Your investment has already paid off as you've raised an articulate young man who will eventually find his way. Of course that's easy for me to say as I haven't plunked down six-figures worth of college tuition and fees...yet!

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Why Can't These People Be Like Me?

The joke starts out like this, " Boomer: "Why won't these kids work 60 hours like me?" Gen Yer says "Sorry it takes you so long to get your work done." It would be funny, if it weren't so true. This was an actual Tweet on Twitter, but it could have come from anywhere. In fact, I hear this all the time.

I do a lot of work with companies to help them integrate the generations at work. This allows me an opportunity to have some great one-on-one conversations with their employees. Just about every time I speak with people who are Gen Yers (Millennials) they always say "Don't mistaken my ability to get my work done early as laziness." Now how can you argue with that one?

Okay, so many of you Boomers are holding your fingers in your lap so that you don't pound out something you'll later regret. Yes, I know we found more work to do. But let's admit it. We used to call that work "busy work." Why? Because it made us look busy. We had no idea why we were doing it nor did we see a point to it. We just did it.

I'm glad this generation isn't like us. And I'm also glad they can do many things in half the amount of time that it takes us Boomers to do things. It makes me hopeful that this generation may actually figure out a way to balance work and life. Then maybe we can all go home at 5:00 PM.

As Promised...

Earlier I promised to put up a photo of Taylor Swift's performance on The Today Show. So here it is. She represents the youth of this country in a very positive light. Paris Hilton could learn a few things from her.

  

Are You Sabatoging Your Employees?

On the way home from Houston on Saturday we had a short layover in Cleveland. Given the fact that there was only one "fast food" place in the terminal, we had no choice but to enter the long line for Pizza Hut. After a long wait, we finally arrived at the front of the line only to find there was no food ready to be served. The restaurant was out of cheese pizzas and bread sticks. Now tell me how a restaurant that only serves pizza can be out of cheese pizza. My 9-year old was even able to figure out they could have taken off the pepperoni prior to heating the pizzas so they could serve cheese pizza.

It was obvious that the young staff was quite willing to accept the status quo and could care less that hungry travelers with young kids in tow would leave disappointed. Normally I would blame the organization for hiring people who were a bad fit from the get go. But I suspect this group started out with a lot of enthusiasm and things went down hill when day after day they had to tell customers they were out of food.

Is this really any way to run a business?

What are Soon-to-be Grads Waiting For?

With all the doom and gloom in the headlines you'd think there would be a line wrapped around the college placement office with soon-to-be grads. Not so, according to the director of college placement for a major university. I asked her if parents were calling to ask what the placement office was going to do for their off-spring. Nope!

So here's what I'm thinking. Parents believe their children are diligently looking for work as graduation nears. Yup, just like they are back in their dorms by 10 PM every night...alone. And the kids believe that they'll easily find a job after they come back from Europe this summer, just like their friends, who graduated last year. You know the ones who have recently boomeranged back home after losing their jobs.

This is your wake-up call. If you haven't stumbled into the placement office this year then put your running shoes on and get your tush in there. It's very unlikely that you are going to find a job hanging out in your dorm room nor will there be a huge rush of openings come this summer. You've got a lot of catching up to do, so don't delay.

Now this part of the message is for the parents. Don't assume your children know how to find work. Nor should you assume the placement office will be able to place your child, particularly if they've never met him or her. It's going to take a village to get your kid employed this year. So do what you can to help them now, before it's too late.

Hiring Outlook Bleak for This Year's College Grads

Seniors graduating this year will get diplomas, but they may not get jobs. This just in from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), a professional group that forecasts trends in the job market. According to a recently released study by NACE, employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer graduates than they hired in 2008. Click here to read Workforce Magazine.

So here's my advice to those who are graduating in 2009:

Keep things in perspective. We've been through recessions before and eventually this too shall pass. In the mean time, if you have an opportunity to continue your education then do so. Maybe by the time you finish grad school the employment outlook will have improved. 

Take what we used to call an entry-level job if it's offered to you. You will have an opportunity to see how a company runs from the bottom. Not a bad thing if you plan on running your own company one day.

Don't even think about asking where your office will be located. Smile and say thank you when you are escorted to your cube.

Be open to adjusting your social schedule. Yes, your friends may have been able to leave the office in time to make yoga class but that was last year. This year they may be teaching the yoga class. Stay at work until you've exceeded your bosses expectations. This will help to ensure you have a job tomorrow.

Lastly, if you haven't had a chance to introduce yourself to the people in the career placement office yet then run (notice how I didn't say walk) across campus to do so. The people who will get the most help are the people who they know.

Yes, hiring will be down significantly but this doesn't mean every college grad will leave school without a job. Quite the contrary.

View from the Frontlines on Managing Millennials

I received an e-mail this morning from a subscriber to this blog regarding yesterday's posting on Why the Recession May be a Good Thing. I thought it was too good not to share. So, with her permission, here it is:

Hi there – Your predictions are spot on for our three millennials!  They were very thankful to find their jobs at the desk. I continue to like working with this group as they are a lot of fun but there certainly are challenges. None of them diss me. They challenge my decisions at times, but I have always welcomed and encouraged this. They do however respect when my decision is final.

 

One thing that seems to be a common theme is they do not have the writing skills our generation had starting out from college and they do not have the same speed in which we work. There is the underlining theme they already know everything, which I get a chuckle out of as I do not know everything and I have a lot more experience. I find it fun to challenge in all this and let them try and get one up on me. (they have and I bow gracefully!) To challenge speed, I give them a project and tell them since I can do in two hours I will give them 4 hours. I love it when they get it done in the two hours to prove to me that they can do things as fast. This is one way I found to cut their Facebook time. They use a chunk of their day for Facebook, internet time and all other communication non stop that they do with family, friends and strangers. I do not monitor or care about this as I believe it would be a losing battle. Getting them focused in other areas away from this during office hours seems to be a better way to handle.

 

My boss continues to want things quicker, and of course wants them to be held very accountable but they do not work as quick. Holding this generation accountable is also a whole new deal. I believe accountability at work is broader. If overall, they are getting the job done and we are profitable things are getting done. I have all the time management measures in place but since they are new to these measures the training (or sinking in time with them) takes longer. I hold them accountable for getting their jobs done in a reasonable mutually agreed upon timeframe. Progress is being made, but I find that basic management steps and training take longer with this generation. I am glad they are beginning to stop job hopping and wanting to stay longer. This should make it easier on companies that invest all the training time.

Could this Recession be a Good Thing?

I wouldn't wish this economy on anyone. But it's here so we might as well look at what some of the positive outcomes might be, particularly for the Millennials since they never worked in an economy like this. Here are my predictions.

1. The demands for salaries, that in no way reflect the value young people bring to an organization, will normalize.

2. Job hoppers will become job stoppers. The realization that a job is better than no job will keep young people at their jobs for a longer period of time.

3. Instead of dissing the Boomers, they will attach themselves to this one sector of the workforce that appears to be hanging onto their jobs.

4. They will be less materialistic and consumer-driven. In the end, this will free them up to pursue work that is more fulfilling than the generations before them.

Millennials Boomerang Back Home

It seems like having your own pad in the city is out and moving into your old room is in. According to yesterday's Boston Globe, "The days when college graduation automatically meant getting a job and an apartment are endangered. With the US economy in a nosedive, jobs scarce, and rents high, "boomerang kids" head for home, where the living is easy. There are no firm numbers yet on the impact of the current recession, but those who study the younger generation say that empty nests are starting to fill back in." Click here to read the full story Boomerang Kids are Returning Home.

It seems these kids are comfortable. Maybe a bit too comfortable. In the interest of full disclosure, I was a "boomerang young adult." After flying around the world for a year, I returned to the nest. But I had a plan. I was getting out of there as soon as I could. These kids look like they are staying indefinitely.

Here is my advice from the voice of experience:

Parents may be doing their children a favor (or vice-a-versa) but in the long run everyone needs to learn how to fly on their own. Don't get too comfortable or you may be living in this situation for the next 40 years.

Stop enabling one another. Living for free and expecting your folks to do your dirty laundry. Do you really want your mom folding your thongs? Or worse yet, your dad? Make a financial contribution as well as a contribution to the household chores that must be done.

Create an exit strategy. I'm not talking about the one mentioned in this article where the parents leave the house so they can have a private conversation (Gheez!) This is a plan to help move things along so eventually everyone can get back to living the way life was meant to be lived.

Lower your expectations Millennials. Yes, I know you may have had a million dollar view of the Charles River all through college but this is the real world. Those views can be had again for those willing to work hard to achieve success.

Learning how to stand on your own will help prepare you for the ups and downs life may offer you. And in the end, that's something that even your caring parents may not be able to give you.

Young People Smarter Than We Think

My nine-year old daughter checked her Passbook from her savings account and wanted to know why the bank was deducting $2 per month when they were only giving her .75 a month in interest. I couldn't come up with a logical response to her question, even with an MBA.

So, she is finally going to get her wish. Her money will be taken out of Florence Savings Bank and will be deposited into the bank of her choice--Bank of America. She is smart enough to know that she can more readily access her money if there is an ATM close by when she is traveling with her parents. Of course we've yet to break the news to her that nine-year olds do not receive their own ATM cards. At least not yet!

It is ironic that we are trying to teach our children about the value of money and they wind up teaching us that somehow the math simply does not add up!

Are the younger people in your organizations trying to teach you some valuable lessons? It may be time to start listening.