By Dr. Jeff Van Pelt
Which of these descriptions do you think is more accurate?

Generation Y: born between 1982 and 2000. Right out of school they expect a high salary, corner office, and lots of vacation. They need close supervision, frequent feedback, and ample recognition. They show little company loyalty, and change jobs more often than most people change the batteries in their smoke detectors. They dress casually, are quick to question authority, and want their jobs to accommodate their personal lives.

Generation Y: They are eager to work. They want to do an exceptional job and make an impact. They are technologically savvy and expert at multi-tasking. They are more optimistic and tolerant of diversity than previous generations. They have many of the strengths of the three preceding generations, which may make them the next “Great Generation.”

Is there such a thing as a “generation gap,” or significant differences between generations? Do employees of different generations need different things from their managers? If you supervise or manage employees from the so-called Generation Y, the answers to these questions are important to your success as a manager.

The Generation Gap
The notion of a generation gap hardly existed before World War II. One generation lived, thought, and worked pretty much like the next. But two things have changed all that:
• The speed of social and technological change
• The increasing independence of young people as a result of more access to money and cars
Changes in technology and social mores now come so fast that each generation literally grows up in a different world.
Most people born after 1980 have never used a typewriter, rotary telephone, carbon paper, or a manual gearshift. They have never had an attendant put gas in their car, a milkman (here the gender stereotype fits the reality) deliver their milk, or been to a drive-in movie.
Most of those born before 1960 don’t use instant messaging, text messaging, iPods, Blackberries, MySpace or Facebook. And they have never heard of Maroon 5, Good Charlotte, or Chris Brown.
Differences between older and younger generations peaked in the 1960s as many of the young rebelled against cultural orthodoxy. Since then the differences have been subtler, but you need only scratch the surface to find them.

Consider the different social influences on each of the four generations currently in the American workforce, and the resulting differences in their values and attitudes:
Traditionalists. Born before 1946.
• Early life experiences: Jim Crow laws, the Great Depression, the New Deal, Pearl Harbor, World War II, Hiroshima, the Korean War
• Heroes: Charles Lindbergh, Lou Gehrig, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Ted Williams, Dwight Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, Douglas MacArthur, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne
• Values and attitudes: duty to God and country, thrift, honor, self-sacrifice, respect for authority and hierarchy
Baby Boomers. Born between 1946 and 1964.
• Early life experiences: the Cold War, Sputnik, Dr. Spock, Kennedy and King assassinations, civil rights movement, Vietnam War, birth control pill, moon landing, the “me” generation
• Heroes: Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Martin Luther King, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, Mickey Mantle, Muhammad Ali, Betty Friedan, Hugh Hefner
• Values and attitudes: idealistic, activist, seeking personal fulfillment and growth, don’t like delaying gratification (abhor living frugally to save money), question authority, prefer consensual decision making, sexually freer, less concern with conforming to social expectations
Generation X. Born between 1965 and 1981.
• Early life experiences: Watergate scandal, Nixon resignation, parents often AWOL (Boomers pursuing self-fulfillment), rampant inflation and high interest rates, era of corporate layoffs, Wall Street greed and scandals
• Heroes: Neil Armstrong, Billie Jean King, O. J. Simpson, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev
• Values and attitudes: embrace technology, diversity, and globalization; self-reliant and street smart because of hands-off parenting; pragmatic (in contrast to the idealism of the Boomers); even more informal and unimpressed with authority than Boomers; value risk, adventure, and living on the edge
Generation Y.
• Early life experiences: space shuttle Challenger disaster, breakup of the Soviet Union, emergence of the United States as the only superpower, first Gulf War, death of Princess Diana, O. J. Simpson trial, Monica Lewinski, United States’ economic ascendancy of the 1990s, 9/11 terrorist attacks, Columbine shootings, current Iraq War, and Hurricane Katrina. Gen Y benefited from a backlash against hands-off parenting. Their childhoods were busy and highly structured by more involved parents (gymnastics, karate, dance lessons, soccer, baseball, themed birthday parties, educational summer camps, school trips).
• Heroes: Norman Schwarzkopf, Nelson Mandela, Cal Ripken, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Michael Jordan, Princess Diana, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, the New York fire and police departments after 9/11
• Values and attitudes: Gen Y came of age during a societal shift toward virtue and values, which they tend to espouse more than Gen X and Boomers. Like Gen X, they embrace technology, diversity and globalization, but unlike Gen X they need structure and supervision because they are used to it. Gen Y also tends to be more idealistic than the pragmatic Gen X.

What Managers Need to Know About Generation Y
Generation Y comprises about 70 million people. As more of them reach working age and more Boomers retire, Gen Y will become the largest generational cohort in the workforce. That makes them a force to be reckoned with. The more successfully you learn to manage this generation of employees, the more successful your company and your own career are likely to be.
Any statements about the values and attitudes of a whole generation are obviously broad generalizations. There will be many exceptions, people who don’t fit the stereotypes. Such generalizations are also subject to change over time as a generation ages, especially younger generations.
Nevertheless, there are patterns of differences between generations, and it is helpful for managers and supervisors to understand these differences in order to tailor their behavior to fit the employee.
The assertions about Generation Y in the first two paragraphs comprise some of the positive and negative stereotypes of this group. To summarize, Gen Y presents the following challenges to managers and supervisors. They:
• Have high expectations of what a company can or should provide them
• Want and need more supervision, feedback, and recognition than older employees
• They change jobs quickly—but to be fair, they are in the early part of their careers when people are searching for their niche, plus companies don’t show as much employee loyalty as they used to either
• Tend to be informal in dress, manners, written and verbal language, and attitudes toward authority or hierarchy
But, Gen Y also brings the following strengths to their work. They:
• Are eager to do an exceptionally good job in order to prove themselves
• Are adept with current and emerging technologies
• Respect diversity, and work well in a global economy
• Are optimistic, idealistic, and hopeful—at least at the present

How to Manage Generation Y
It is important to adjust your management practices to fit the employee. Don’t act as if one size fits all. Following are some strategies for managing Generation Y more effectively:
Manage Gen Y every day. Check in. Ask how things are going and what help they need. Coach them. Help them prioritize their work. Whatever they need.
Explain the big picture. They need to know how their job fits into the overall organization. They want work to be meaningful, not to be a cog in the wheel.
Ask for their input. Be solicitous of their ideas and suggestions, especially in their areas of expertise, such as newer technologies and youth culture. If you have a product line aimed at young people, you’d be foolish not to be consulting with your young employees.
Give multiple forms of recognition. Everybody likes to be recognized for a job well done, but Gen Y needs it more as they are still finding their way in the world of work. Be creative in the ways you recognize them. Sure, money is good, bonuses and raises are appreciated. But so is extra time off, praise in front of co-workers or senior management, an article in the newsletter, or lunch with the boss. Be specific about what they did well and how it helped the company.
Use the right motivators. Again, money isn’t everything. Be generous with paid vacation. Provide the best technology you can afford. Career advancement is important to Gen Y, so provide opportunities to learn new skills, cross-training, tuition reimbursement.
Implement a mentoring program. Pair a seasoned employee with a relative newcomer so that the mentor can help the “mentee” learn the nuances of the job and advance more quickly.
Be flexible about office hours. Consider offering flex-time and telecommuting, if feasible. Focus more on results achieved than on live body-in-seat time.
Consider a business casual dress code. You will need to provide training on what this does and does not include. You are probably thinking BUSINESS casual, while your employees are thinking business CASUAL. Many local clothing stores will come in and do a free business casual “fashion show” and offer discounts to employees.
Provide information in the formats they are most used to. Gen Y grew up watching lots of television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, instant messaging, and texting. They were not inclined to curl up with a good book. They don’t like to read dense text. Don’t give them a thick manual and expect that it will get read. Instead, provide information verbally and visually as much as possible. Show them how to do something. When it has to be in writing, break it into small chunks, similar to that on Web pages.
Make work fun. Who says work has to be serious? Productivity and fun are not mutually exclusive activities. Have a sense of humor—positive humor, that is. Combine work or training with leisure and entertainment on occasion. For example, brainstorm about a new product while hiking or sailing.
Remember the relationship! It is often said that employees don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. The most important factor in retaining employees is the quality of relationship they have with their managers. This applies to all generations, but bears special attention with Gen Y because it is easier to change jobs early in one’s career. With this in mind, managers need to be honest, straight-talking, genuinely concerned about their employees, and available.
Do all of these things and you will be far ahead of most companies when it comes to competing for and keeping top young talent. Your company’s productivity will likely rise, as well.

Dr. Jeff Van Pelt is a corporate wellness consultant.