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Millennials In The Generational Workplace

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In anticipation of a guest post tomorrow from none other than Beatriz Alemar, founder of Breakthru Life and member of this community, I’m going to recap an opinion column in Ad Age Feb. 20, 2012 that inspired my invite to Beatriz to post on the topic of millennials.

I’ve always been fascinated with demographics and their nomenclature. Now, more than ever, I wonder about the corporations seeing the blending of extreme youth with the profession’s elders. Teams are being cast with a a senior mentor and a young professional sharing some ropes, too.

This opinion piece I paraphrase today is from Beth Ann Kaminkow, president and CEO of TracyLocke. I love this first paragraph I’m going to repeat exactly, “We’re seeing a progression in the quality of young professionals. This  isn’t a group ready to stay in the background and learn the way things are done. This is a talent dynamic that I foresee shaping the way we work and interact, and they’ll present challenges.”

Think about your teenagers at home or those in your family. Have you ever seen the devour a device and never look up? How about that texting? The superficial social skills with a blip interaction create horrifying habits for the workplace. Fast forward to the college grads who maintain those habits and also think Facebook is their playground for laughs and giggles.

Does your company need to hire young people from college? There may be a respite as so many more seasoned Americans are out of work, but companies can’t avoid hiring millennials.

Kaminkow suggests the solutions are training that builds habits with a push to dig deeper instead of skim the surface. Teachable moments should be cherished whenever they pop up, too.

In the piece she wrote, Kaminkow gives five tips on how to incorporate millennials  into the workplace:

  • Loyalty is fleeting. Companies need to give these youth a reason to stick around. With digital skills that abound, the “babies of the recession” (as Kaminkow states) want to use those skills.
  • Engagement inside the company and with clients (coming from an agency perspective) are what matter. There are many coaching opportunities to teach hierarchy; something many young people are not glomming on to.
  • Less respect for process. Online research being always available to millennials sets off common systems and processes in the workplace. When a manager “has always done it this way,” and a newbie rolls in and sidesteps the steps…imagine the sparks!
  • Whites of the Eyes. Facebook never meant face time. The in-person meeting is less preferred by youth due to the comfort with texting and social media postings. That has to change as body language, facial expressions, and contextual understanding are critical in business (and especially teams).
  • Coffeehouse. I love this tip Kaminkow provides most of all.  She suggests each company make a coffeehouse area with comfy couches for everyone to get supine and brainstorm. Millennials with their devices gathered up with a Starbucks green tea respond better to this than to sterile cubicles.

In her close, Kaminkow puts the onus on a new style of management and leadership to integrate the generations. She draws a comparison to the blending of new tools as to the blending of new talent “into a thoughtfully reimagined environment.”

Aging, Death And The Workplace

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Credit: Srinivas Rao, Kikolani.com

Everywhere I turn, I hear about someone who has committed suicide — all ages. And, I listen and watch as friends say good-bye to parents. My heart saddens with the news of my own friends passing on. This news is not random; it’s frequent and sometimes twice daily.

In your life, are you dealing with the emotions about losing someone special or hearing about your managing their loss?

As we all continue to grapple with the passing of loved ones and friends, we need to be sympathetic and empathetic in the workplace about these emotions.  I’m not going to give tips on the best way to manage workplace situations because I’m really not qualified to do that.

This issue has been affecting me and bothering me more and more, especially because my college roommate just said good bye to both her parents.  And, I have heard of four suicides by teenagers and fathers of young children (hitting very close to home).

In the workplace, when we hear our peers have lost someone special in their life, the doors open with sorrowful messages of condolence, and the recipient is too shocked to hear. When these people return to work and act “normal,” colleagues aren’t sure what to say or whether to bring up the issue. It’s awkward.

Then, after five months or so, when it really hits home that a loved one is not coming for dinner, making a phone call, or coming to your birthday party, more of grieving occur and stress rears its head with odd workplace behavior. Depression happens. It’s one day at a time to get through the raw sadness and grief. Time heals wounds slowly.

In our workplaces, we’re not prepared for the “onslaught” of the passing of an aging population. Coworkers are not trained in sensitivity around this issue. The challenge is that everyone deals with death in their own way. Which means nothing, really. That’s a mask of an excuse because EVERYONE is grieving. It’s how they show up to others that makes one suggest we all with death differently.

As our population ages and passes, will their families in workplaces be able to work efficiently? Will there be lost productivity? Will there be greater absenteeism? Should there be temp workers standing in the wings in the event that…?

For we who are small businesses and self-employed, this issue is out of our control. We don’t dictate when someone leaves our world to continue their journey elsewhere. We also can’t control the impact that loss has on our own ability to manage productivity and deliver quality service. But knowing there is no one else to carry the ball, we will get up and go…because there is no other option.

If anyone has thoughts to share on this, please do.  I have no expectation how this topic will be received, but it’s been bothering me enough to write on.

(Post-Script: In searching for links to add herein, the author of one I selected has the same name of my dear friend I said good bye to this week. What are the odds? Rest in Peace Patricia Johnson.)