What WE NEED and What THEY WANT!

Few months back I was pulled into a meeting for the reason being my team could not close some of the critical requisitions for quite some time, for one of the Design group. I was listening to the Engineering Managers’ version for not filling these positions and trying to understand the actual reasons. At the end of the meeting, I did not have any other option, but to say I will monitor the progress and close the requisitions at the earliest. I am sure this situation may not be new for any HR manager.

To validate our Engineering manager claims I have collected all the relevant data from my recruitment lead. My team has done a good job in extending offer to two prospective candidates, surprisingly, none of the candidates turned up. I was stunned with this outcome and decided to get into the fundamental reasons, and requested my recruitment lead to include me in the panel interview for the next potential candidate along with the Engineering Manager.

The following week, we had an interview scheduled for a potential candidate. The Engineering Manager asked different questions related to the functional competencies and seemed satisfied with the candidates’ answers. As a part of our interview process, we encourage candidates to ask us questions. This candidate jumped at this opportunity and asked questions about his role, how it aligns with the organization’s vision; probing about different policies on flexi hours, work from home, working environment, parallel career paths, dress code and freedom to pursue activities that interest him?

Who are they? What makes them tick? How do we attract them—and more importantly, how do we retain them?

Meet the new Generation!

“They are young, smart, brash Generation Y employees” very ambitious, demanding and have a hundred questions. They wear flip-flops to the office and listen to iPods. They want to work, but they do not want “work to be the only thing in their life”.

Generation Y, the Internet generation, or ’Net generation, with the early 20’s age group. They grew up surrounded by digital technologies like computers, play-stations and mobile phones. When Generation Y made their initial foray in the workforce, their positive reputation was built early because employers loved their energy, drive, and skills and put them in high demand. But, as things progressed, managers are having difficult time understanding how to incorporate & motivate them in the work environment. In fact many managers were taken aback by what they perceived as a short attention span and reluctance to perform tasks that lacked depth.

This is the most high-maintenance workforce in the history of the world; however the good news is they're also going to be the most high-performing workforce in the history of the world. Today, as the demand for intelligent workers intensifies, employers need to understand what motivates and inspires the loyalty of these “Y” Generation.

I have studied their unique characteristics, change in trend, and realized that we need to have distinct approach in attracting and retaining this talent. They possess the following unique characteristics:

1) Imprint is Entrepreneurship
2) High expectations of self (Want to be Better than rest of the team) & from Employers
3) Expect challenges, work on some thing new
4) Ownership
5) Flexibility at work, Life -Work Balance
6) Tech Savvy and likes Informal working Environment & open culture
7) Instant recognition & Rewards
8) Development opportunities and faster growth
9) No long-term employment commitments
10) Fun at work

How to Attract Generation “Y” work force

The disparity between the number of jobs created, and the shrinking pool of talent to fill the positions is driving generation Y to be more selective. Here are some inputs to attract this work force.

Creating an Organizational Brand around our organizational Employment Value propositions (EVP’s); providing entrepreneurship opportunities, Social dimension, job flexibility, work content, open culture, Informal work environment and Life work balance will certainly help to attract these talents. If you don’t articulate your EVP they will go with messages they hear from the market. The shift in positing their organization to the eyes of Generation Y employees is visible in the recent advertisement of world’s highly respected brands in this direction.
Elevating Role models in our organization: Building Personal Brand around our leaders/senior team-members. Encourage our leaders to participate in different forums to attract this talent who envisage them as role models.
Elevating a performance based culture (PBC): Articulating PBC policies at different stages of employee life cycle can increases chances of attraction, as the Gen Y employees have high aspirations and expects faster growth. This should start from strong Variable compensation plans, Broad band hiring table, pay for performance, design of non cash components, special leaves & special leadership programs for High pots and so on.
Show casing ‘Fun@Work’ programs: This Generation loves to have Fun at work or work to be fun! To grab their attention, showcase the fun forum, sports committee, cultural forum, autonomy in designing their own work place (with their interest colours), news letters forums, team outings, family get-togethers, and Annual events.
Training Recruiters & interview panel members: Gen Y candidates will not choose the opportunity if their interaction experience with organization (Recruiters and Interview members) is not exciting or aligning with their value system. The importance of training Interview panels & recruiters on Generation Y Hiring Skills can not be understated.
Designing Effective Employee Referral Program: Birds of same feather flock together. .Employee Referral program can be a good source to attract these Generation Y employees. Satisfied Generation Y employees in the system can help us to reach/Attract this talent. To strengthen this program we need to articulate the EVP (Employment Value Proposition) with internal stake holders (employees) so that the right message is propagated to the targeted audience.
Increasing Gen Y touch points with organisation :Well designed in-house talent incubation programs like internships, Encouraging consultants, contract to permanent hire options, need based assignments; hosting functional group/forum meetings on our campus as this gives potential Gen Y Employees an insight into our organization culture and work environment. This will increases the chances of attraction.


How to Retain Gen “Y” work force
Most companies have not yet faced the issue, but retention is becoming a greater challenge than recruiting as companies watch out Gen Y Employees move out of organization rather than move up. Here are some of the suggestions to retain these employees in addition to regular retention strategies.

Add responsibility ahead of time: Generation Y want to take up more responsibility, sooner. They do not wait too long for an inside opportunity and move out from the system, if they don’t see the proactive signals from Management. They also want to explore a variety of different jobs to quench their learning& growth thirst. Moving them to new responsibilities coupled with right training programs will help us in retention.
Give more ownership: Give them more ownership on the tasks they are doing and Challenge them. Gen Y want small goals with tight deadlines so that they can build ownership of tasks.
Offer flexibility at Work: Both in terms of working hours and trust them to work from home. Money is important to them but maintaining work-life balance outranks money.
Communicate & Communicate: Find out what they want. Communicate openly & give honest feedback on their performance and development. Corporate double-speak is a dead language .Train the Managers on these new challenges & Generation Y Employee Management skills.
Look for Personalized Motivation: Command and control models are not going to work with them. Profile employees to determine how each individual prefers to be managed. New employee assimilation program/new manager assimilation program/Reference inputs while hiring will help us in understanding these individuals motivation styles.
Shorter performance review cycles & real time feedback sessions: Gen Y would not like to wait for one year to know their Managers feedback on their performance. Having real time feedback sessions and short performance review cycles supported by coaching or mentoring (online) will help them to fine tune their behaviour.
Build relationships around people: Gen Y’s are more loyal to team than organizations. Hence create a touch points that increases/builds relationship with co workers are pivotal.
Instant Recognition: Do not save recognition for a year-end banquet, but honest appreciation with a card, nomination for an award, movie tickets, dinner or even a simple 'thank you' make people feel valued.
Provide Developmental opportunities: Use class room, experience based or relationship based learning models to build competencies with these Gen Y members. Offer opportunities for growth and development according to individual needs. Show them a path that will allow them to change jobs within the same company. Internal mobility programs that support movement between the job families, functions should be encouraged.
Designing a strong on- boarding program: that helps them to feel important and create impact from Day one is very important as New-hire attrition is one of the concerns in the industry today. One of the segments that are triggering these numbers is Generation Y category employees. They will switch off their minds easily if they feel organization is not keeping the projected image in first week.


In most cases, it’s not the corner office or a large pay check that drives Generation Y, but rather, the opportunity to work for a company that fosters strong workplace relationships and inspires a sense of balance and/or purpose.


What next

Generation Y will most likely prove and deliver, if capitalized on, to be one of the greatest assets of companies today. However, many organizations are failing and will fail if they ignore the intricacies of formulating strategies to recruit and to retain this talent. The challenge that lies ahead is to find a balance between a work environment that leverages the benefits of Generation Y but does not alienate the rest of the workforce.

Reference links
RHD Ruvey on Generation Y : http://www.hrmguide.net/australia/general/generation-y.htm