workplace frustration: how to reduce it and manage generation y for an increase in company profits

WORKPLACE FRUSTRATION: HOW TO REDUCE IT AND MANAGE GENERATION Y FOR AN

INCREASE IN COMPANY PROFITS

This generation wants to be your best employee,

to learn, and to stay on the job.

Business owners and managers are frustrated by the difficulty of managing Generation Y and for retaining them for any reasonable length of time. If they will accept the reality of generational differences in the midst of a rapidly changing work environment, they can resolve workplace frustration, keep these young professionals around longer, and increase their profits.

Promoting Business Retention of People and Profits

©Generational Gap Coaching, 2011 Page 1

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2

Why I Am Writing This Paper ........................................................................................................................ 5

Background ................................................................................................................................................... 6

The Concept of Generations ..................................................................................................................... 6

Generational Differences .......................................................................................................................... 6

What Happens if Businesses Ignore Generational Differences? .............................................................. 7

Four Generations in the Workplace Today ................................................................................................... 8

Traditionalists ............................................................................................................................................ 8

Baby Boomers ........................................................................................................................................... 9

Generation X ............................................................................................................................................. 9

Generation Y ........................................................................................................................................... 10

Workplace Challenges ................................................................................................................................. 11

Today’s #1 Challenge .............................................................................................................................. 11



What Happens if Businesses Hire Gen Yers But Do Not Accept Their Differences? ............................... 13

The Solution ................................................................................................................................................ 13

The Solution to Frustration and Gen Y Turnover .................................................................................... 13

I. Understand Generational Differences ................................................................................................. 13

II. Appreciate Gen Yers and Adapt to Change ......................................................................................... 13

Opportunity.................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Closing ......................................................................................................................................................... 16



Introduction

Most of the business leaders today are people ages 46 to 70s; they are Traditionalists (Trads) and Baby Boomers (Boomers). Many continue to build successful lives around thriving businesses. They are a presence at the office with increased attention to health and meaning in their lives and the lives of their employees. They work hard and strive to achieve, just as they did through the ups and downs of the last 40 or so years. They are excellent strategists; they are winners and are proud of how they have supported family and community with their guts, drive and talent (GDT). They have prospered and helped many others prosper. Many today are focused on saving what they have worked so hard for; improved quality of life and positive social change. However, all that business owners and managers have become and have done for their communities is being tainted with frustration.

Traditionalists and Boomers put into place the systems of today's work

environments, which are hierarchical, competitive, have established locations with specified schedules, and supervised internet use. Successful workplaces of the past are frustrating today and are disrupting this traditional Boomer “work-style”. Changes in worker demographics, global economy and technology are impacting the work environment and threaten feelings of loss for traditional owners and managers; loss of conviction for choices that prolong accomplishment, loss of certainty for what works best, and loss of being leader and having the last word.

These same broad changes are the formative events that create differences in

the values, attitudes and beliefs (VABs) among employed generations, particularly Generation Y (Gen Yers), ages 18 to 31. Because technology, communications and global economies have changed so quickly, young professionals today bring greater degrees of difference than ever before to workplaces lead by Traditionalists and Boomers. Conflict and a forced-change in work style are most often in areas of time, loyalty and technology, where the most change has occurred. There is no way of resolving changes already in motion and deeply imbedded in the minds and psyche of all workers; they must be accepted and managed. Each generation brings its own set of VABs to the workplace, which clash as generational differences, create frustration at all levels, and impact productivity as well as profits.

Here are some examples of workplace frustration:

A Gen Y employee asks to come in late the next day because skiing is important to him and new snow is expected tomorrow.

Several employees call on Monday morning to say that they were in Denver overnight for a Bronco game and are on their way into work.

A new hire left a required training session because he decided he didn’t need it.

All younger employees are wired to technology, and the supervisor can’t tell what they are doing.



The manager has a fatherly talk with the newly hired Gen Y, offering to help her and the response is that she does not want to be parented, but wants a peer relationship and opportunities.

These employee situations would not have happened ten years ago. Experience has not prepared managers for these employee issues. The person in charge feels a loss of control and lack of certainty and is ready to give up on Gen Yers. This is management frustration. Coworkers believe Gen Yers are “getting away with murder”. The Gen Y employee believes he will not get the career experience he needs at this job and begins to think about leaving. This is workplace frustration that can be alleviated with personnel training in generational differences.

Frustration is a strong entry point for opening minds to appreciating generational

differences and the will to adapt to broad change. Learning about generational differences and how they form in groups of people has been shown to improve relationships among workers. Understanding and accepting the aspects of four generations in the workplace is essential for owners and managers to prepare themselves and their companies to integrate Gen Yer employees. Even more, Gen Yer VABs are a condensed, behavioral representation of the future of business; their differences can be understood within the framework of rapid advances in technology, globalization and other broad social shifts. I propose that accepting their differences is synonymous with acceptance of broad changes that affect how business is done today.

Martin and Tulgan argue that business owners and managers must update the

work environment to adapt to, not the wants and needs of a new generation but, a “workplace revolution precipitated by globalization and technology“. Shaped by these changes, Gen Yers are the best fit for success in companies that will adapt. When companies welcome Gen Yers, they stay ahead of the rest in the knowledge of generational differences, in technological advances for doing business faster and better, and in reinventing management in ways that develop and inspire all employees. Business adaptations to Gen–fit organizational leadership and shift the workplace culture will go a long way for resolving workplace frustration, keeping young professionals around longer and increasing company profits.

Companies have several choices for dealing with generational frustration and

turnover; they can refuse to hire Gen Yers or let them go, they can hire them with the expectation they will assimilate current methods, or they can adapt to changing times and apply Gen Yer values to the workplace. If Gen Yers are not hired or are forced to adapt to outdated ways of doing business, many companies will remain out of touch with how work can be done better, faster and in ways expected by today’s consumers. “Gen Yers will bring a new style and perspective to the workforce, but unless organizations are willing to adapt, they risk losing billions of dollars to unwanted turnover and lost productivity.” (Sujansky, 2010) Companies will get even further behind the ever-changing curve and turnover costs will continue to cut into company profits.



If businesses choose to maintain a status quo, they will encounter both heightened levels of frustration and costly entry-level turnover that seriously affects company profits. One-third of people in their 20s go through an average of seven jobs, more job changes than in any other stretch (Henig, 2010). Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist writes of her talented Gen Yer brother who left a top investment-banking firm when he expressed interest in a promotion “doing something he had never done before” that would be “very good for [his] development”. Instead he was put on a six month project where he felt he “wouldn’t learn anything”. Further, the head of his team expressed that he was the one "who controls if [he] gets promoted". In this case, frustration led to turnover.

For Gen Yers, turnover is caused by outdated technology and management

methods that don’t support their careers and as a result, they are stereotyped as "job hoppers". Robert Barnard, founding CEO of Decode’s, explains that most of them start with the intention of finding and staying at a great workplace, but become job hoppers over time as employers with an impression they are disloyal, are unwilling to make a big investment in them. He believes this lack of investment in an early stage of employment causes Gen Yers to start looking as they gain some experience. There is urgency for businesses to become dynamic, agile, and “cognizant of the expectations of the next generation” for managing change (Meister, 2010). If employers adapt to Gen Y values with innovative attraction, development and retention plans, they have a better chance of maintaining inherent loyalty. Outdated practices and outmoded technology have already widened the generational divide in almost every workplace and contribute to unnecessary turnover.

Gen Yers have what Boomer businesses need, but businesses cannot recognize

this until they appreciate generational differences and how business methods and workplaces are changing. Gen Y assets for improving company profits outweigh their need for guidance and mentoring. Considering the three options for reducing employee costs, not hiring Gen Yers, requiring them to adapt to business-as-usual, or understanding and managing their unique values, the latter has the greatest potential for company survival and positive cash flow. Only then will Traditionalists and Boomers seize the opportunity for generational partnerships, find renewed GDT and reinvigorate with a fresh and relevant “work-style”.

This paper identifies the lack of knowledge of generational differences as a

reason businesses have increased frustration and are losing money on Gen Y turnover. It will teach businesses the value of …

• understanding and appreciating generational differences • keeping up with new ways of doing business • attracting, developing, and retaining Gen Yers as employees

…for improved company profits.



Why I Am Writing This Paper

This paper is for the owners and managers of businesses and organizations in

the United States today and relevant for businesses, employees, young people and

their parents. I empathize with businesses attempting to both recover their finances and

to create people, planet, profit-oriented enterprises. I am concerned that Gen Yers are

becoming stereotyped as difficult and not worth the trouble and for an economy that

needs young employees, yet is rejecting them. What is being experienced by

businesses that hire Gen Yers and what is being written about them is stagnating

companies and spoiling opportunities for promising futures. My purpose is to introduce

an appreciation for generational differences and Gen Y potential that will reduce

workplace frustration and improve profits.

I am devoted to work-readiness for young people and I have mentored and

taught them in young mom’s programs, church youth groups, Girls Scouts, Colorado

Division of Corrections, Western Colorado Conservation Corps, and the Youth

Workforce Investment Act summer internships. I promise research-based conclusions

and an optimistic point of view for Gen Yers as a company resource for getting into the

steady flow of change.

I came to the topic of generational differences in the 1980’s while a

supervisor/manager in the U. S. Postal Service, watching Morris Massey tapes for help

to supervise Traditionalists and Boomer clerks and carriers. I know fully the pain and

frustration of leading groups of people that I could only vaguely identify with. Unless

they have had workplace experience, Gen Yers have no idea of what to expect of senior

generations when they start their first job. I envision “generational partnerships” and

management innovation based on the knowledge of generational differences and broad

change that will fulfill employees and make many companies prosper.



Background

The Concept of Generations

The term generations is used loosely as “discrete birth year groups”, those born and living within the same time of history (Strauss and Howe, 1991). Generations have been around for as long as the topic has been studied and although few are scientific, most research agrees that there are clear similarities in cohorts of age groups (PEW, 2010). Generations may be named in several ways with differing spans of years. Groups of people living in the same periods of time experience social and cultural events (formative events) like war, economic shifts, birth rates and medical and technological breakthroughs, that similarly shape their VABs, many of which change little throughout their lives. The concept is also endorsed by educators, marketers, and businesses who want to know the characteristics of generations who will be learning, buying, leading and working. Although about age, I use generations in preference to “old” and “young” for referring to groups of people at work who have similar VABs and needs.

Generational Differences

Generational differences are a hot topic today because of how they are affecting the workplace. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2011 Workplace Forecast indicates that companies will give priority to training managers to resolve differences related to generational divides. Yet, many don’t believe they exist, or believe that such issues are anything more than normal “young verses old”. My experience in personnel management, the multitude of reports on the internet from every industry, and conversations with people about working with Gen Yers satisfies my need for evidence of the annoying reality of generations at odds in the workplace.

Generational differences are a consequence of differing formative events and

group experiences in the lives of young people. The economy, good and bad, is strong for creating VABs that trend. For example, Traditionalists were youth during the great depression; which shaped them as compliant, loyal to employers and appreciative of all things. A Gen Yer recently shared that his grandparents, “Don’t throw anything away”. Anyone can understand how The Great Depression would have this affect on young lives but, can they respect it as a reason for why the boss will not replace outdated technology? After all, it’s not broken! Fast forward to 2010; Gen Yers have experienced volatile, social change and have no problem tossing out the old, yet they do believe that businesses should finance beneficial solutions for handling waste. In the end, this tendency toward consumerism makes them understandably more confident with change and more open to it than their early-generational peers; a generational difference.



What Happens if Businesses Ignore Generational Differences?

If left unrecognized, generational differences can lead to high employee turnover and workplace frustration. If left unchecked, they will hamper teamwork, productivity and company profits. In a recent Society for Human Resource Management survey, 40% of human resource professionals observed conflict among employees as a result of generational differences. In organizations of 500 or more employees, 58% of HR professionals reported conflict between younger and older workers, largely due to differing perspectives on work ethic and work-life balance (Gravett, 2011). The issue is so important that a new survey of Human Resources professionals in American industries found that 59% of them will train line managers in 2011 to resolve differences related to generational divides (McCafferty, 2011).

Conflict takes over as each generation believes the other needs to be like them.

Each generation believes their paradigm is correct and views the actions of others as needing to be changed. As an example, PEW research reveals that more Traditionalists and Boomers believe that technology wastes time while more Generation X (Gen X) and Gen Yers believe that it saves time. Traditionalists observe Gen Yers on cell phones or in groups having fun and conclude they are not getting work done, that cell phones need to go. Gen Yers show impatience for Boomers’ who control internet use and want help with their new cell phone. This is the day-to-day friction behind high turnover of Gen Yers. The four generations in the workforce have differing degrees of acceptance for change and hold vastly different sets of values, beliefs and expectations (Meister, 2010). Because change has come so rapidly, the entry of Gen Yers makes a bigger gap in generational VABs than ever before.

Table 1 Generations are Socialized with Core Messages That Create Generational

Differences

Aspects of Generations

Traditionalists/Boomers Gen X/Gen Yers

Technology Wastes company time and money Saves the company time, money

Time Work is done at the office and until

completed

Work can be done anywhere,

anytime

Work

The most important thing Work is best when blended with

friends, family and fun

Family So important must work hard to

provide for it

More important than career

Religion

Organized and central to life and

family

More spiritual and less religious

participation

Service to Others

Necessary and outside of workplace Important enough to do with work



Generations in the Workplace Today

Four generations are at work together today. Although predicted to have been gone from the workforce by 2011, Traditionalists are six percent and Boomers 41 percent of the workforce, some with no thoughts of retiring (Herrick, 2011). The current economic recession has affected retirement for these two groups and many have lost jobs that were intended to fund long-planned, early exits. Yet, researchers warn they will steadily retire within the next ten years. Presented in the following text is each of the four generations by age-range, formative events, what they are best known for, and the attributes they bring to the workplace.

Table 2 Generations Working Together

Generation Born Age Range Population* In US Workforce

Traditionalists 1928-1945 66-83 46 6%

Baby Boomers 1946-1964 47-65 78** 41%

Generation X 1965-1980 31-46 50 29%

Generation Y 1981-2000 11-31 80** 24%

Gen Z, iGen 2001-2020 0-10 0 0%

*In Millions ** Jennifer Clampet, USAG, April 2010

Traditionalists: Veterans, Matures, Duty & Family

Traditionalists experienced the aftermath of the Great Depression, WWII, and the Korean and Cold Wars; and have been named the Veterans for their dependability, sacrifice, and patriotism. They demonstrate a company loyalty that places duty before pleasure. Many survived difficult times to get a post-war education and, through teamwork and the help of Post-war Prosperity, built the modern infrastructures of religion, education, business and family that support the American economy today. They face the greatest amount of change with technology in their home and work lives.

They are known for having the traditional family that many describe as all-members working together with grandparents as an integral part. Children learned responsibility and hard work from their elders with clearly designated roles and lines of authority based on respect for age. “Mothers who worked home production relegated child care to the older children or servants and maids; they didn’t suspend work to savor a baby’s first steps or discuss with their husband how to facilitate a grade-schooler’s “self-esteem”. Such families emphasized formality, obedience to authority, and tradition in their childrearing (Coontz, 1992). They remain in the workforce today as leaders in businesses and organizations.



Baby Boomers: Large group, Competitive, Growth, Work Ethic

The birth of Boomers was a global event after WWII, comprised of Traditionalist parents living in a prosperous post-war economy. They are the largest generation for their time and only recently outnumbered in the United States by Gen Yers. Formative events include witnessing via television the Vietnam War, Watergate scandal, and the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy. These events formed their understanding of institutions as fragile and unworthy of their trust. They were shaped by two major technologies; the television and the computer. Unlike the computer, television was loved by former generations and grew in households from 12 percent in 1950 to 83 percent in 1958. It became the most powerful communication medium available at the time. Yet, it was the computer that most impacted their work lives. (Meister & Willyerd, 2010). Boomers are remembered as activists for social reform, fighting in, dying in and protesting the Vietnam War, marrying later in life than their parents, becoming self-indulgent workaholics, and being extraordinarily idealistic and optimistic.

They still occupy the largest share of the workforce today. Educated and

confident, they believe that work is the most important thing and have ambitiously pursued economic, financial, personal, and community growth, along with huge social changes. They expected that hard work would allow them to retire early to a life of their dreams and yet, recent internet blogs blame them for taking jobs from younger workers. They have been the most studied generation for their economic and social impact.

Martin & Tulgan (2006) divide the Boomers into two groups, Woodstockers born 1946–1953, and Young Baby Boomers born 1954-1964. They argue that the two groups were shaped similarly yet experienced different economic circumstances that caused them to behave differently. Basically, the younger Boomers did not have the venue to live-out their expectations and sought inner change, personal empowerment and approached a work-life balance that showed up strongly in the generation that followed. Generation X: Self-reliant, Tech Savvy, the Me Generation

The number of births declined dramatically between 1965 and 1980, creating the smallest generation, Gen X. They were shaped in their young adult years by the Gulf War, the AIDS epidemic, and some of the most profound economic changes since the industrial revolution; an emerging global economy, corporate downsizing, and the 1980’s tech boom and bust. They are known best for their self-reliance, individualism, and skepticism. Dubbed the “Me Generation”, the U.S. Army recruited from this generation with a direct call for Gen Xers to become an “Army of One” from 1980 to 2001. They were Dot.com stars, strong in technology skills. They pioneered the free-agent workforce, “taking responsibility for the direction and evolution of their own careers” in an uncertain job market (McDonald & Hite, 2009). Events like 9/11 reinforced their free agency and self-reliant attitudes. In the workplace they are free-agents, self-reliant, skeptical of management and corporations, and entrepreneurial.



Gen X was quite a shock to the Boomer workplace. They formed a new meaning for career success and a decidedly different perspective on work ethic. They were labeled the “slacker generation” in their first work encounters with Boomers. Lacking the social skills of their parents, they deeply value their personal contacts and learned early to lean on friends for companionship and support. Comprised of a large number of new immigrants, they have an increasingly tolerant attitude toward racial diversity and a distinguished global perspective. As children of workaholic Boomers and domestic social change, they were called “latchkey kids” who cared for themselves after school until their parents returned home. They responded with an intention for work-life balance, strong family connection, and flexible work hours and places.

Gen X is caught between two much larger cohorts: Boomers, who are

threatening to work later in life than other generations did, and Generation Y, the newest employees who seem to have a natural kinship with the Boomers, their parents and friends. Although some expected them to replace company leaders, the economy has slowed progression plans and bypassed this generation that is less willing to make a Boomer-work-style sacrifice for leadership positions. Similar to Gen Yers in this regard, it is their revised meaning of career success that creates frustration for business owners and managers today.

Generation Y: Achieve Now! “Digital Natives”, the We Generation

Although Gen X set the stage for future trends in generational values, Gen Yers have their own unusual set of economic and socially impacted traits. At 80 million they will soon outnumber Boomers in the workplace. Shaped by 9-11 and the Iraq war, rapidly changing technology and corporate greed, exposure to Ponzi schemes, and industry bailouts that signaled a worldwide economic crisis, they anticipate change and follow Gen X as free-agents for developing their own careers. One in four has at least one college-educated parent supporting them to be the most educated for their time. (Raines, Arnsbarger, 2010). They are the first generation with early childhood, digital media success and sufficient organized social capital to collectively impact the 2008 presidential election. In the workplace they are socially connected, technologically advanced, ethnically diverse, and ready to achieve. They have high expectations, clear goals and are willing to work hard. While these qualities are considered good for getting work done, Gen Yers are thought of by some to have an unprecedented sense of entitlement and self-worth (Boseman & Herbison, 2009). They have older parents, were brought up in smaller families, and are accustomed to being the center of attention; they expect to have the support they need to achieve and can be impatient for it. Raines explains that they tend to be less satisfied than Gen Xers with their jobs and employers. While Gen Y VABs are like Gen X, they are stronger in ways that frustrate even Gen X. Johns warns that “technically able, highly informed and confident, but lacking direction, Gen Yers are most likely to “rock the boat” than any prior generation (as cited in Eisner, 2005).



Workplace Challenges

There are three major workplace challenges today. They include owner and manager frustration with generational differences around time, loyalty, technology, the hiring of much needed Gen Yers thwarted by generational differences, and high Gen Y turnover that increases company costs.

Today’s #1 Challenge

Workplace Frustration with Differences in the Meaning of Time, Loyalty and Technology

It is reported today that Gen Yers are causing an upset in the workplace. Nearly

60% of human resource professionals in large companies report conflict between younger and older workers (Eisner, 2005). Meister and Willyerd point out that Boomers had set the norm for the workplace not long ago when they were 50% of the workforce but are only 30% now. They project that Gen Yers will set the new norm for the workplace in 2014 when they become 50% of the workforce. They will be put into key leadership positions 50% faster at this point, and have less time to get ready than Boomers did. This perhaps explains their urgency. In the meantime, Traditionalists and Baby Boomers are most of the leaders, business owners and bosses today. They are looking for their GDT in young professionals and believe Gen Yers will in time, change. As they don’t see this happening, frustration levels rise. Workplace frustration comes from lack of understanding and simply not knowing what to do. The highest potential for workplace frustration is in the areas of greatest generational difference: the meaning of time, loyalty and technology (Marston, 2007).


Businesses Need Gen Yers Yet, Are Not Hiring Them Because of Generational Differences

Businesses will need to hire Gen Yers in the near future. An aging workforce, declining birthrates, the need for technology skills, and loss of leadership due to retiring Boomers indicate that competition for workers will increase. Companies have little choice but to consider young new hires. But will Gen Yers be willing to work with the companies that want them?

Businesses need Gen Y employees but don’t hire them because of Generational

differences. One reason Gen Yers leave jobs for other companies is to manage their careers. As free agents in a volatile corporate economy, they are less able to focus on job security. Young professionals today need up-to-date technology, competent and supportive coworkers, and engaged and innovative management for guidance and access to thought-leaders. They must be in workplaces that provide these. This new



concept of free-agency in career development is often misunderstood as selfish, lacking loyalty and a bad fit for the company.

Unfortunately, companies are not hiring Gen Yers because of what they have

experienced in their workplace when in fact they are not prepared for the unique ways this generation contributes their value. In my conversations with business owners and managers, I hear that young workers don’t want to work, expect too much and are too self-focused. I ran into a friend who told me that she was letting her Gen Y employee go because she was selfish. She had a good education, did quality work, but asked for schedule changes too often and was on her cell phone too much. This manager was proud to say she was done with the young ones and hired a 40 year old to replace the Gen Yer. On the upside, a local business owner shared that his company was acknowledged nationally in his business sector in 2010 for having the highest percentage of employees under age 30, which was only eight out of 52. It is amazing that he stands out nationally for hiring a small percentage of Gen Yers. Generational differences are a hurdle for business owners and managers.


Businesses Need Gen Yers Yet, Lose Them Because of Generational Differences Gen Yers are often let go from jobs or they leave because bosses do not know

about generational differences. They are unable to manage or help them develop their careers. Understanding for each generation and a good look at how these developed has been shown to relieve frustration and give managers a direction for engaging each generational type.

Most companies today are led by Boomers and some Traditionalists, who are

reluctant to both accept broad social changes and to recognize how Gen Yers are a product of them. They are not convinced that rapid changes in technology, new ways of using time for work, and vague loyalty will make the company money. At the end of the day, if workplaces have not kept up, they have a tough time over generational differences and trouble managing Gen Yers.

From my studies thus far and relationships with Gen Yers, I believe their value in

perception and comprehension of social trends (i.e. teamwork, collaboration, technology, diversity, meaning for task, social consciousness, and ambition for achievement) far outweighs their teachable behavioral and skills deficiencies. They need more training and experience with interpersonal communication, planning/organizing, dedication/tenacity, reliability, loyalty, and self-motivation. In ways explainable through a sociological lens, Gen Yers have been nurtured and can work in a culture which innovative markets require, and Traditionalists and Boomers often loathe.



What Happens if Businesses Hire Gen Yers But Do Not Accept Their Differences?

If businesses can not accept the unique aspects of Gen Yers at work, they will be

forever frustrated. Managers and coworkers will be at a loss for how to work with them,

assuming Gen Y will assimilate established methods procedures for time, loyalty and

technology. One generation will blame another and teamwork will suffer. As frustration

grows, it will be difficult to retain any generation of employee. Many will not want to work

there yet some will stay because they need a job. Employees will become unwilling to

try anything new, even if required. Cash flow will suffer as productivity and turn-around

drag. The business brand will convey a message that its products and services are old-

fashioned, and for old-fashioned people because that is what the business will be.

Customers will find it unpleasant to do business there and to get the quality and latest

version of product or service they shop for. They will tell their Social media contacts of

their disappointment. The number of customers will drop off, and the rest of the story is

a common one. Generational differences get in the way of quality business and if left

unchecked; will hamper teamwork, workplace productivity and company profits.

The Solution

The Solution to Frustration and Gen Y Turnover

The solution to workplace frustration and high Gen Yer turnover is for business owners and managers to understand generational differences, appreciate Gen Yers and the change they represent, give up resistance to change, adapt for managing generational differences, and Gen-fit themselves and the company leadership.

I. Understand Generational Differences

Recognizing and accepting four varying sets of generational VABs is a necessary start for reducing frustration and high turnover as well as making plans for the future. If you’ve read this far you already know a lot about generations. Deloitte researcher W. Stanton Smith identifies generational differences as dilemmas that offer “multiple viable options” yet, none that can provide lasting solution; they can only be managed or else dealt with over and over again.

II. Appreciate Gen Yers and Adapt to Change

Appreciate Gen Yers

Gen Yers are skilled in technology, have social capital, are educated, open to diversity, and socially responsible; qualities that reflect broad change for how business is done today. When engaged and achieving, work is fun for them and coworkers are friends. They like to learn and most plan to continue their education for higher degrees



(Eisner, 2005). They want to learn from all generations and want to be leaders, so I heard from my Gen Y Advisors (Gen Y, 2011). They expect to learn more all of the time finding knowledge “if and when I need it” with technology.

Along with tech savvy they have “social capital”, a killer-combination for our times. In her book, The Facebook Era, Clara Shih describes social capital as ”the collective value of all social networks and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other” and is useful for adapting to a diverse and rapidly changing workplace.

Adapt to Change

Frustration is reinforced by rapid change in the people components of management: demographics, available skills, will to work, and level of comfort with technology. “It is time to make a transformational leap in organizational practices” if your business is going to be “relevant to a rapidly changing world around us” (Meister, 2010). Businesses that are adapting to changes in today's workplace, particularly around technology and use of time, are much more able to adjust to changes that are just around the corner.



Opportunity

Generational Gap Coaching helps owners and managers resolve the pressing problem of frustration with Gen Y employees. We remove the pain of consistent disappointment with new hires and mitigate the constant trickle of increasing costs. We get company leaders back in control of their workplaces and leading with GDT. We help create work environments where employees want to be because there is no doubt they are a part of a relevant, enthusiastic team. Access to our services is fast, easy and completely confidential. Even better, it’s free.

Go to our Website at www.GenerationalDivideCoaching.com where you will find

a Business Assessment tab at the top of the Home page. Click on that and complete the 10 question Business Assessment. Then, I will call you to schedule a free 30 minute Strategy Session. This will give us the chance to talk about how we can help you reduce generational frustration and employee turnover. Your company or organization may qualify for a 2-hour Generational Differences presentation for your employees. The presentation is offered only to businesses in the Grand Junction area and at this price (free) for a limited time. Honestly, we want success stories as quickly as possible. There is no risk and lots of reward for taking early action.

If this sounds like the workplace you want and are ready to have it for yourself,

go to www.GenerationalDivideCoaching.com (or, call Tinker at 970-589-0020) now and complete the Business Assessment. I would give you a guarantee if there was some risk on your part but in truth, you have everything to gain by getting in touch with us as soon as possible.

http://www.generationaldividecoaching.com/

http://www.generationaldividecoaching.com/



Closing

Today, business owners and managers face growing frustration with changes in business leadership and the increasing cost of keeping good employees. SHRM reports that companies will face radical workplace reconstruction for aging populations with increased health care and retraining costs, a shortage of skilled workers and retirement of Boomers (Miller, 2011, SHRM, 2010). For example, SHRM expects a loss of labor relations expertise within the HR profession due to retirement of Boomers and Gen X/ Gen Y purposefully avoiding the area (SHRM, 2010).

In addition to health benefits, training, retraining, and ramping-up interpersonal communications, turnover rates are a big expense. The June 2011, Bureau of Labor Statistics news indicates that overall national turnover for all industries and regions is level at 2.9%. However, nearly half occur in three industries: retail trade, professional and business services and accommodation and food services. It is in these areas that Grand Junction is hoping to expand economic development. In local Listening to Business research, businesses report that “lack of workforce has potential to impede growth”. Mesa County shows a continuing “downward trend in the size of the workforce as people move out to find employment elsewhere” just as jobs are hard to fill in “growing sectors”(Castle, 2011). Many say that the number one issue facing businesses is finding and keeping good employees, and Gen Yers are the most difficult to keep. Problems with replacement planning and high turnover are present in many businesses and across all industries throughout the country. Gen Yers are prioritizing job security in more recent years yet, 30% are anticipated to have seven jobs during their twenties (Henig, 2010).

Today Gen Yers are looking for companies where they can develop their careers and stay at one job longer. It is often lack of opportunity to build their careers and low levels of interaction with owners and managers that contribute to high turnover. Polly LaBarre argues that “it is time to radically rethink how we mobilize people and organize resources to productive ends”. She writes that although the aspects of standardization, specialization, hierarchy, and obedience of century-old modern management contributed to immense prosperity, they are fundamentally at odds with those of this age. Familiar work-styles that honor Traditionalist and Boomer GDT are less accepted and don’t get the same results in business as they did in years past.

The focus of generational conflict must move to the greater issue of owners and managers becoming knowledgeable about changes in the way work is being done and to identifying how a work-style shift will benefit their company. For broad and lasting protection against workplace frustration and high turnover, businesses must understand generational differences and Gen-fit the GDT of Traditionalist and Boomer leadership to both adapt to change and hire and keep professional Gen Yers. Companies that don’t do this will trail or lag behind companies that do.



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