The Millennials Are Coming!
Anyone raising kids in recent years knows that this generation is vastly different from any before. Today’s young people are techno-savvy, collaborative, diverse, positive, and self-directed. They’re also argumentative, opinionated, immature, spoiled, and have very short attention spans. In short, they are just like every generation that came before in one respect: they have their advantages and their disadvantages.“Millennials” is the word used to describe the up-and-coming generation of employees who are already entering our dealerships. The youngest members of this generation are only 9 years old, but the oldest are 26, so they are gradually making their presence felt. This is a big generation, the second largest in history, after the baby boomers. They’re our future managers and business leaders, so we had better learn to work with them to everyone’s advantage.
Changing Policies
This isn’t going to be easy. The processes we have in place are all coming into question. I recently talked to a dealer who has a company-wide ban on visible tattoos. He is unable to find a single job applicant for a sales position who meets this criterion. We discussed his expectations. Is his policy out of line with current thinking? After a lot of discussion, we settled on amending his policy to prohibit visible “objectionable’ tattoos.
Employees are also questioning prohibitions against visible body piercings. Between tongue studs, earrings, nose studs, and eyebrow rings, the millennials are a pierced generation. If your dealership has policies against visible piercings (other than earring for women), you might want to re-think it.
Voicing Their Opinions
Another dealer I consult is having difficulty with his annual performance reviews. While past generations have seemingly been happy to sign off on their managers’ opinions, millennials have their own take on things. A performance review with a millennial is likely to be a two-way conversation, with the manager’s performance receiving as much feedback as the employee’s. Given what we know about this generation, this isn’t too surprising. Many of them come from families that were largely democracies, with the children having equal votes with the parents. From the time these employees can remember, they made decisions about where they wanted to go on vacation and what looked good on the menu. Almost every family can relate a story about a child who derailed a parent’s promotion when he or she refused to move to another city. These young people have opinions and are used to having their opinions hear. It’s no wonder that they expect that to carry over to the workplace.
Different Views
These are just a few of the areas where we are seeing friction develop as the millennial generation is absorbed into the workplace. Almost all areas of the dealership will feel effects from the millennial generation. Hiring is bound to become difficult if we try to enforce outdated policies for new hires. Technology that we have been satisfied with seems archaic to today’s 20-year-olds. Training that worked on baby boomers isn’t exciting enough for millenials, who are used to watching TV while texting their friends and listening to their iPods.
Changing Reward Policies
The ways in which we typically reward employees doesn’t impress them, either. Boomers were happy with a year-end bonus they could focus on, knowing the payoff would be there in the end. Millennials don’ even know if they’ll be with the company at the end of the year. Short-term bonuses work best. In fact, some of the companies with the very best records of working with millennials pay daily performance bonuses. Many of the rewards that millennials find most alluring are not monetary at all. A recent survey of 20-something workers found that time off to work for worthy causes was valued above a raise in hourly wages. Fortunately, we have found many ways to reward members of all the generations that don’t deplete the bottom line. Sometimes it’s a matter of timing, as with the example given here. Sometimes, it is a matter of finding rewards that appeal to individuals. Sometimes it’s a matter of giving people meaningful choices. I’ve only scratched the surface of this subject.
Our challenge as employers is to create a workplace that satisfies all four of the generations in our workforce today. Our dealerships need to be places where employees of every generation feel challenged to excel, find the means to reach his or her goals, and feel personally fulfilled. This is an attainable goal, but it’s going to require a change in mindset for many of us, and some soul searching as well. It’s important to remember that we have an obligation to future generations, just as past generations had an obligation to us. With some training and introspection, I’m sure we’ll meet the challenge.