New Research Release: What we need to know NOW about our largest generation

The Millennial Generation Today: Impact of the economic environment on recruitment, retention and engagement white paper is available online at www.sbrconsult.com.  The white paper is available complimentary.

Almost 1,200 Millennials (21 to 30 years old) participated in the national online survey to gauge how this generation feels about working in corporate America, thoughts on future employment decisions, and changing consideration of what’s important about work and their future. 

So what did our survey find? Here are a few key highlights…

• We have entered a “flight pattern” of workers wanting to find new employment opportunities. 70% of Millennials say there is a possibility they will change jobs.
• Women are more likely than men to consider leaving.
• Top three priorities are compensation, flexible work schedule and opportunity to make a difference.
• Despite the economic reality, 70% are positive about their future in general.
• Only 41% make saving for retirement a priority.

Results include findings on Millennials and the Workplace (will they stay or go, what’s important and the continual layoff affect), the Education Debate (high cost versus ROI and does your degree work for you?) and Future Visions (retirement, entrepreneurism and CSR impact). 

Take a moment and read through the white paper and then let us know your thoughts on the results.  We look forward to engaging in conversation with you.

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Follow our blog over the next few months as we talk with experts from areas related to our findings to dig deeper into the story of our data.  Up first is Shay Prosser, author of Get It Together – The Real-World Money Guide for Graduates.  She’ll discuss her thoughts on the retirement findings and the financial impact of our new economic normal on this generation. Look for her blog interview on Monday, May 23, 2011.

A Generational Leadership Vacuum?

Recently I co-presented at an event with a Dean of a Liberal Arts program on how colleges and universities are teaching students differently today and the impact that has on companies regarding development, training and work performance.  Keep in mind, for the most part, when we discuss traditional college students we are talking about the Millennial generation (born 1980 to 2000). 

But what our presentation was about is not nearly as important as the question I was asked by another academia at the end of the program.  The question was about the leadership vacuum being created within the Millennial generation.  Specifically the attendee wanted to know my thoughts on how the Millennial generation would lead one day and if we have a generation that will not be able to lead well. 

I’m not exactly sure how I answered because to be honest I think the question may be premature.  Isn’t it natural for an older generation to wonder and question – out loud – if the generation younger than them will be able to take their place one day?  When Generation X entered the workforce didn’t the Baby Boomers and Traditionalist question if we would have the work ethic to show up on time, day in and day out (remember they did call us ‘slackers’).  Now the Xers can’t wait for the Baby Boomers to hurry up and get out of the way so it can finally be their time to be in charge. 

And when in your 20s don’t you naturally make mistakes when it comes to leading or even working with your co-workers, typically your peers, and begin to develop your leadership style in the early part of your career?  Is there an expectation being set today that the Millennials should be able to graduate one day and shortly after assume the helm of a team, project or division and be successful at it?

When we discuss a leadership vacuum, is there really one?  If you look around your company how many people do you think would like to move into a leadership role? Could you make an accurate assessment that is not solely based on your subjective opinion?  And of those ready for a leadership role which ones have been trained, coached, mentored and held accountable for developing their leadership skills?  How many have received accurate and timely feedback on their behaviors and abilities?    

How many Millennials are receiving this kind of training and development now?  If you want them to lead for some future “tomorrow” don’t you need to invest in them now?

A New Generation Brand in Celebration of Earth Day

As we all know everything is going green (or eco-friendly, sustainable, renewable, and so on).  While some adopt these practices because they truly care, others do so because it looks good.  You can’t get away from the “green” movement.  It touches all facets of our lives from the building industry to household cleaners to retail and fashion.  Try being a recruiter today without a “green” message, regardless if it actually makes a recruit pick you over your competitor.  This potential ‘fad’ has taken root.  But what are the considerations of this movement for the next generation (those born after 2001), those who follow the Millennials/Gen Y? 

Some generational experts are calling them Generation Z which certainly fits and follows the previous two generations quite nicely – Gen X and Gen Y.  Others are referring to them as Generation Thumb because all they will know how to do is talk with their thumbs…which is really not that different from the Millennials.  But I propose a new brand for this group of 10 years old to those not yet born.  (Keep in mind a generation spans 20 years so in 2012 we will just begin to start welcoming the second decade of this latest generation to the world.)

I propose G² – Generation Green.  No, not because I think we are going to be raising a bunch of tree huggers.  I believe the green movement has roots in the parents of young children today and the habits will be passed down.  Our young parents today are the younger Xers (those in their 30s) and the older Millennials (those in their late 20s). 

When I was in college in the 90s we didn’t have recycle bins on every floor in our dorm but now they are staples on just about every floor in every dorm.  When you go shopping at IKEA or Earth Fare you have to figure out what is trash and what is not and as we all ask our kids to clean up the table those decisions now fall to them.  As I settle into my early 30s my husband and I have adopted more green and eco-friendly practices.  We, like a number of our neighbors, have rain barrels, plant gardens, shop at farmers markets and recycle in larger volumes than we did when we were younger (when our Baby Boomer parents called the household shots).  

We are creating habits with enough reinforcement to likely sustain our young children well into adulthood.  And this is why I think our latest generation should be rightfully named G² – Generation Green. 

Happy Earth Day to all the Generations.  Remember Earth Day is Friday, April 22^nd – don’t forget to plant a tree!

A Parent’s Confession

Why he is raising a kid you may not want to hire.

I recently had a conversation with a dad who has a senior in high school.  As we chatted about his son and I gently probed his parenting tactics he looked at me sheepishly and said…“I know I am creating a kid that one day companies won’t want to hire.”  Due to his divorce and subsequent marriage to his second wife, he had to move his son across the country and drop him into a family with two step-sisters.  Because the dad felt guilty of the changes (and was at a point in his career where he could financially step back from working) he stayed home.  He also began to cater to his son.  He spends his mornings making lunches and doing laundry, running carpool throughout the day and trying to make his kid’s life easier. 

Now it’s easy to throw punches and pass judgment.  But if you had the benefit that I did to talk openly with this father you can understand his desire to “make things better and easier” for his kid.  He is being a parent after all, and as a parent myself, I recognize that desire, no matter how misguided.  It is a constant internal ‘heart vs. head’ struggle.  And the reality is, this dad knows better and he readily admits it. 

Though the depth of our parenting may be debatable, for the most part how we raise (or don’t) our children defines who they become.  And the person they grow up to be – their values, expectations, work ethic – is the one who arrives at your company on their first day. 

This isn’t a new debate about the Millennial (or Gen Y) generation.  It is an ongoing conversation we all, including the Millennials, will continue to deal with, talk about, debate and try to fix.  Are they coddled?  Must even those in last place get a trophy?  Do they have an over-inflated sense of self-importance?  Must they act so entitled? 

Truth is not all parents coddle, not all kids get trophies when they come in last, and not all think too highly of themselves or feel entitled.  And unfortunately some are all of those things.  As the oldest Millennials start to become parents (they are officially in their 30s now) it will be interesting to see how they parent.  And will give me something else to research, study and debate.  Bring it on!

What are your thoughts on the lasting effects of parenting and how has that impacted the Millennial generation?

Drivers of Employee Engagement

If you have not watched the 10-minute YouTube clip by Daniel Pink on motivation you need to.  It sums up what motivates workers, backed by research and replicated by scientists (which means it has the academia seal of approval).  The clip, in conjunction with RSA Animate, is titled Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.  

Don’t have time to watch the clip?  Here is the cliff note version with a focus on three key drivers of motivation and engagement. 

Autonomy – Listen closely to part about Atlassian (an Australian software company) – once a quarter on a Thursday afternoon the company allows employees to work on whatever you want, the way you want, with whomever you want (beer and cake included) for 24 hours.  The only caveat – employees are asked to share the results of what they worked on with company at end of 24 hours (one day).  Providing freedom and autonomy has yielded amazing results for the company including new products, fixes to existing software, etc. 

Mastery – Why do highly skilled, technically sophisticated people who have paying jobs spend their limited free time doing equally or more technically sophisticated work for FREE?  Because they want and like challenges and want to master a skill like learning to play an instrument on the weekends. 

Purpose – The need is not just for work to matter but for the work to have purpose, transcendent purpose.  It makes coming to work better and attracts better talent.  “When the profit motive become unmoored from the purpose motive – bad things happen like crappy products, bad service, and sometimes illegal acts.” 

When you consider the three key drivers to motivation – how does your company stack up in creating a culture that embraces giving employees autonomy to do their job, the resources to master skills and purpose in the work one does?  It’s a tall task and if it is not embedded in the culture it won’t happen overnight.  The first step is to acknowledge the current practices around these three drivers (micro-managers beware), determine where the disconnect and gaps are and then consider creating an action plan to put autonomy, mastery and purpose into your leadership’s vocabulary and then into every day practice.  

What motivates or drives you to be a contributor at work?

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As a reminder, SBR Consulting’s e² survey (employee engagement matters) measures how engaged and motivated employees are and where a company should focus their resources to have the greatest impact to engagement, retention and the bottom line.  Call me at 704.363.7151 or email me at stacey@sbrconsult.com for more information or to get started.

Freshman Today, Your Employees in 2014

February 21, 2011:  What does it mean for future employers if the self-rated emotional health of their future workforce is the lowest it has been since 1985 (when the question was first asked and tracked)?  According to The American Freshman by the HERI (Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA) there has been a decrease in the number of freshman that report high levels of emotional health and an increase in the number of freshman that report being frequently “overwhelmed by all I have to do” as high school seniors.  Even more unsettling is the difference between men and women freshman…38.8% of women felt stressed and overwhelmed as a high school senior versus 17.6% of men. 

If the stress levels continue what is the emotional state you can expect those new recruits to be in when they arrive on their first day at work?  Will adjustments be needed in the onboarding process? Will supervisors need to become sensitive (or more sensitive) to their emotional state?  Will over-coddling continue for this generation (or be the prescriptive consultants prescribe)?  I think this depends on how you value your employees.

Most companies have an EAP (employee assistance program) to help employees deal with emotional issues which are paid for by the company.  This allows the employee to see a counselor or clinician to work through their issues including addiction, stress, balance issues, etc. at no cost to the employee.  So it is safe to say that companies – to an extent – are currently aware that an employee’s emotional state impacts their productivity.  But for the most part EAPs are underutilized by employees and HR practioners will tell you their constant marketing of all the EAP has to offer falls on deaf ears. 

So what do we do?  First, new hires – especially those just out of college – need to learn about an EAP-type offering from their peers.  We all know that Millennials turn to their peers for guidance and advice on just about everything.  Second, additional soft skills training – like time management and dealing with stress – needs to be included in a new hires first year.  Finally, managers need to be clued in to recognize stress and overwhelming-type symptoms in their new hires and trained in how to deal with stress and productivity issues. 

There is no silver bullet answer but awareness of changing trends in our youngest employees is the first step to dealing with the issue and getting ahead of the issue before it derails a potential high performers.  As we all know, those high performers don’t just fall from the sky. 

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Are you 21 to 30 years old?  If so, we want your voice.  The last few years have been interesting to say the least and the Millennial Generation (Gen Y) has graduated or worked through one of the toughest economic periods in recent decades.  Take our confidential, online survey to share your thoughts on working in corporate America, future employment decisions, what’s important about work and your future.  The survey ends at midnight on March 1 so hurry up.  It’ll take less than 10 minutes to give us your opinions.  Survey link: http://bit.ly/fnN2tF.  Feel free to tweet out the link, share it with your friends and send it to your connections! 

 

Talent Movement

February 1, 2011: Recently I received one of my weekly updates from LinkedIn with the following subject line – “Stacey B. 73 of your connections changed jobs in 2010.” By design I don’t have hundreds and hundreds of connection on LinkedIn but those 73 people who changed jobs make up close to 1/4 of my total connections.

For pretty much all of 2010 we have been hearing from HR experts and numerous surveys that people will be looking more seriously at changing jobs when the recovery begins.  Well I guess that time has arrived.  The economist say the recovery has begun and it looks like a number of my connections agree. 

Whether they are overwhelmed, burned out, tired of low morale or just can’t take it anymore people are starting to look around for different, better or just a new opportunity.  More movement is on the horizon as well.  I believe there are many more that haven’t left yet but are probably thinking about it, very seriously.  This has huge implications for companies, especially if the company is projecting its own recovery.

Retention of talent has never been more crucial than it is now so make 2011 the year you focus on employee engagement…whatever that means for your particular organization.    Once size does not fit all but all companies need to be focused on keeping their talent and keeping their talent engaged and productive.   

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**SBR Consulting has a new research study launching!  As of today the Millennial Generation and the Recession survey (Phase Two) is live.  We encourage all Millennials (Gen Y; under 30) to take the short and confidential 10-minute online survey.  You have until midnight at March 1.    Please share the link with your friends around the US and encourge them to take the survey as well!   Click here to go directly to the survey. 

Survey Background:  The last few years have been interesting to say the least.  The Millennial Generation (Gen Y) has graduated or worked through one of the toughest economic periods in recent decades.  Our study aims to determine how this generation feels about working in corporate America, future employment decisions, what’s important about work and their future.  Much has been said about this generation in the past five to 10 years but has the recession and slow recovery changed their thoughts, perceptions and behaviors in regard to work?