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 

This presentation is in parts 1-4. From the IDC A/P Panel: “Generation Y and the Emerging Power of User  Generated Content

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Simmons Research, an Experian company, has chronicled the predilections of consumers in its National Consumer Study since 1960, and recently added social media to its survey. That includes social-networking sites, blogs, message boards, podcasts and e-mail. Simmons agreed to slice and dice its volumes of data for Advertising Age to identify social-media consumer profiles. The first five are from its bank of 38 consumer personalities; the others are pulled from demographic data.

SOCIALLY ISOLATED

These people are generally unhappy with their lives and feel alone. Not surprisingly, they fall at average or below average for e-mailing. But that doesn’t mean they eschew social media. In fact, they’re 12% more likely than the average person to use blogs, message boards or social-networking sites. They also post comments on blogs at least twice a month; personal, music, consumer-product and video-game blogs are most visited.

APPROVAL SEEKERS

This group buys what others are buying and likes to follow styles and trends. They use social-networking sites to meet like-minded people, express their views, get music and entertainment recommendations, and keep in touch with family and friends. They rate average in e-mailing friends and co-workers but above average in using e-mail to communicate with their parents. They are 23% more likely to instant message and download music.

HEALTH AND IMAGE LEADERS

This is eager to try health and wellness products, experiment with diets, and spend to look younger. The majority are under 50. They prefer reading blogs over posting comments or creating their own blogs and prefer to read about TV shows, video games, music and art/literature. They also like social-networking sites: More than one-fifth visit them more than twice a month.

SMART GREEN

Clearly they prefer to buy products in recycled packages and eschew products that pollute. They are average users of social networking, blogging and podcasting but slightly above average in message boards. They are older (50-plus) and are most likely to go online for health or financial information. And in the spirit of their eco-friendly attitude toward trees, they’re 23% more likely to send electronic greeting cards.

BRAND-LOYAL

This group shies away from buying unknown brands just for a bargain and prefers to buy brand-name goods. They’re very average social-media users, but some subjects of interest drive them to social media more than the average person: They’re 21% more likely to read environmental blogs and 22% more likely to use professional-networking sites to make new contacts.

STAY-AT-HOME MOMS

They’re 25 to 49 and have at least one child living at home. They use social media for a variety of reasons, including staying in touch and parental guidance. They visit parenting blogs five times more often than average. They’re also active on social networks, blogs and chat forums but tend to stay away from podcasting. They visit blogs once or more a week and create their own blogs at a higher than average rate.

UPSCALE GRAYS

These 50-plus consumers with college degrees and household incomes of more than $100,000 are low-level social-media users. They are almost 40% less likely than the average person to have read blogs, visited chat forums or instant messaged and 70% less likely to have visited a social network in the past month. One of the only places they skewed higher than average were professional networking sites.

FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS

It makes sense that people in the market for a home would look online for information about not only real estate but other products involved in home ownership. But Experian found that this under-35 set also includes very active social networkers, bloggers and message-board users. They also rank high in texting, podcasting and business networking. They use social networks to keep in touch but also to find information.

DIVORCED

Unsurprisingly, both sexes index high for dating sites, but women are more likely to visit social networks than men. Divorced women are also 20% more likely to buy something online, while men are 52% more likely to visit sports sites. Neither is into blogs or chat forums, but women communicate more than average via text message, while men use e-mail 45% more than average to communicate with their children.

Nadira Hira writes The Gig (great blog by the way) for Fortune. Great blog post on Gen Y forces the green issue today. Hira points out that companies are using the green movement as a great attraction point for hiring Gen Y.

I have been talking with my daughters about this very question. Ann, my daughter who is a sophomore at Duke has chosen public policy as a major and is considering environmental law, because she really believes that she and her Gen Y colleagues are going to have no other choice but to make some very bold moves in the direction of taking care of the environment. So…the post is good food for thought.

Interesting blog post by Tammy Erickson, discussion leader for Harvard Business Review.

Recruiting Today: What Are You Promising Top Job Candidates 

This blog post Gen Y Workplace Demands Can Help You Retain Boomers On The Verge of Retirement on CollegeRecruiter.com offers a concise but fresh perspective on Gen Y’s demands in the workplace…that their desire for flexibility, teamwork and fun are some of the same values that can keep boomers in the door.

As I am going around the county, I am answering the same question about “Why do we need to change…this sounds like pandering to Gen Y?” I just disagree with this question…which comes across as a negative comment.

Each time we usher a new generation into the workforce, the way work is done and the values at play are going to change. Each generation has a different world view, which shapes their values. So, we can either change to adapt to the largest workforce (Gen Y), or they will change it for us over the next few years.

I also believe that Gen Y is getting a few things right here. As humans, we need more flex time. People are burned out from working 60 hours a week. We need a rewards and recognition program…humans are craving acknowledgement, and they just don’t seem to get enough pats on the back. We need better team communication…it will save us so much time, money and energy. We need more fun and laughter…fun reduces stress, and we are all way too uptight as it is (just look around at all of the analysis paralysis and need for perfection…it is just ridiculous!)

So…rather than look at Gen Y’s requests as pandering, let’s look at the bigger picture…how can our lives and work be more satisfying by shifting to meet the needs of Gen Y? I think that we would all be much happier if we stopped whining and started implementing a few of their ideas. They are our future! It’s time to start working with Gen Y and stop resisting their efforts.

Would you like to know what to do to start attracting and retaining the teen workforce? If so, you are going to want to listen in to this special Y-Talk Radio interview with Ken Whiting, Founder of Waves for Success.

Ken has committed his professional life to working within the recreational, leisure-time, and restaurant industries, focusing on strategic sales building programs, customer service initiatives, and the motivating and training of a large entry-level workforce. He has spent nearly 30 years, in the trenches, managing his family’s food service business at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and Fair & Festival business unit. Ken also consults with similar types of businesses, providing cost effective solutions to growing revenue and decreasing costs.

Ken not only runs his business at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. He speaks to organizations around the country on a variety of topics related to the teen workforce. He is also the author of the forthcoming book WAVES for Teenage Workforce Success.

Millennial Leaders

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As I am traveling around the country speaking to companies and conferences about Gen Y, a question keeps popping up

How do I prevent my Gen Y workers from becoming bored and restless?

My response to this question is this “Embrace the entrepreneurial spirit of Gen Y”. Let me explain.

Generation Y is the most entrepreneurial generation in history. It is not uncommon for members of Gen Y to be working full time for an organization while running a small business or a non-profit organization outside of work. Most Gen Y’s will tell you that they see themselves in 2 careers: One that is working for a company or for their own business and one that allows them the time to give back to their community.

The need for flexible work hours, the ability to work from home and the opportunity to work as a community volunteer during the work week will increase as Gen Y tries to balance a full time job with their own social and entrepreneurial interests. Employers who embrace this entrepreneurial spirit, help to cultivate it and support Gen Y in having their own business and giving back to their local and greater community will be much more competitive than employers who don’t embrace this notion. These opportunities can expand a company’s internal and external network and new ideas will be born as Gen Y brings their best practices from their own life back to your organization.

We are certainly in an era that embraces the free agent. Your company can grow by leaps and bounds by teaching young talent about how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, one which focuses on not just working for your company but ON the company…on its growth and development. By getting Gen Y involved in creative ideas for growing your company, you will find that they are much more invested in your mission and in the long-term success for your company.

If you have not read A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, I highly recommend it as required reading for everyone in your company. Give it out to your Gen Y employees the first day on the job, ask them to read it, and then sit down with them to find out what ideas they have that will spark creativity for your team. You might just be surprised at what you come up with.

Millennial Leaders

Many organizations and businesses are asking how they need to change in order to attract and then retain Generation Y. When I answer this question, many people don’t seem to like my answer, because my answer is this: If you want to attract young talent into your organization, you will be called to not just change but undergo a metamorphosis that will keep Gen Y interested and excited about working for and with your company. And, if you try to sit on them, keep them or make life difficult, they will leave in a heartbeat.

I am not a futurist, and many futurists will tell you that it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the formula for the future workplace, because as technology and our global business landscape change, so will the way our organizations work and the way we go about attracting young talent. However, I do have a few ideas on the topic (based on my conversations with Gen Y and companies who seem to be “getting it right”. Over the next week, I will be sharing a few of those ideas with you through a challenge/solution format:

1) CHALLENGE: KEEPING GEN Y ENGAGED

Solution: Redesign the organization to put the focus on the the knowledge worker as your number one growth asset.

The future will belong to the companies who embrace knowledge as the number one asset for growth. There is no generation better to fill the role of the knowledge worker than Generation Y. This Generation was born with a cell phone and laptop in their cribs. They have had instant access to massive amounts of information at the touch of a button for the last 15-20 years of their lives. Companies that thrive in the future will be looking at not only who has the most knowledge but creative methods to capture and leverage tacit knowledge. I believe that the Chief Knowledge Officer is going to be one of the most important roles for the future workplace. The CKO will be the leader who can provide companies with an honest, unbiased view about the world and where their company stands in relationship to its competitors.

I spoke to a young woman last week who said she felt as if her job was not challenging her enough, keeping her interested enough. She knows she can be doing more and giving more to her job…if only her boss could provide her with the challenge and developmental opportunities she has been craving. I hear this constantly. Many people believe that this is just more of Gen Y trying to “get what they want”, but I have to ask you “Isn’t this what we all want?” Don’t we all want to feel that we are learning more, being challenged more and being offered an inspiring environment to work and live in?

If you are reading this blog today, I want to ask you to sit down with your Gen Y careerists and ask them what you can do to help them grow, develop and feel as if they are learning more because you have provided an inspiring environment to do it in.

Millennial Leaders

Ah- a little tension in the IT department. The old school IT professionals are feeling challenged by the younger web savvy Gen Yers. The older folks are used to developing large enterprise systems and software applications where the development cycles last a lot longer. The Millennials are used to launching and learning and then quickly making changes. They are used to flexible development processes. They look at their creations as something ‘organic’ — something that does not to be perfect when it is out there on the market. They have given the word Beta a whole new meaning. It is now OK to launch with a beta product. In someways, this makes me think of their process as more experiential.

And then there’s the tools Gen Yers use when communicating to their co-workers. Before walking down the hall to talk to a fellow programmer, they would rather send an instant message and start the conversation that way.

I work for a software company, and we are constantly reminding ourselves the importance of technology, processes and people. Surprisingly, managers (IT and in other part of the organizations) forget to address the needs of their employees.

 Here’s a good article about bringing out the best in Gen Y

The article is from CIO magazine… It breaks down tips into the following areas:

1. Management: Share your strategy, but break it down into small comprehensible chunks of information.
2. Training: Spend more $$ upfront during the on-boarding process
3. Check-Ins: Establish frequent meetings with Yers
4. Communication: Don’t be afraid to provide training on h0w to give presentations, etc… especially cause these guys and gals grew up in a virtual world
5. Collaborative situations: Develop teams of people to work together
6. Schedules: Be flexible — have flex-time schedules
7. Technology: Support their interests and habits… allow them to use and pay for them to learn new web-based technologies…

Read the article for more…