Who Is Generation Y

When it comes to attracting strong talent, it can often be hard to compete with the large businesses, which can offer great compensation and benefit packages. As a result, you are faced with limited access to professional or trade experts. 

With thousands of Baby Boomers retiring every year, it has become the younger Generation Y workers, which businesses are focusing on. But this generation is hard to attract and retain: entering businesses big and small, and advancing quickly through the ranks. 

As a small business owner, you have an advantage. You’re more agile than your large company competitors. You’re able to be flexible to change. If Gen Y doesn’t like what you offer, you do not have to get permission from multiple levels of management to change. By using this agility to focus on the evolving employment practices favored by Generation Y workers (rather than compensation) you will be one step closer to successfully finding and keeping talented Generation Y staff.

Who Is Generation Y?

Generation Y (also known as the Millennial Generation, the ME Generation, and Echo Boomers), has different belief and value systems than their parents’ generation, the Baby Boomers. Composed largely of individuals born between 1980 and 1995, this generation grew up with more adult supervision than any other. North American parenting practices during this generation’s development period were focused on positive reinforcement rather than punishment, empowering the child, and ensuring that there were no winners or losers by eliminating competition in school and other activities. According to Stats Canada, 51% of this generation still lives with their parents.

They are the first generation to have the Internet in their world from infancy and, for most, their bottle and baby food was warmed in a microwave. They are used to instant information, instant food, and instant entertainment. They want instant answers or solutions to problems and they expect success to come quickly and easily. 

From a retail marketing perspective, Generation Y is well targeted. Thousands of products are successfully sold to them every day. But when it comes to offering attractive work environments, compensation, and benefits for Generation Y workers, employers have been slow to understand what they want. Possibly because it is so different from the priorities of their Baby Boomer parents. 

EVALUATING YOUR SELECTION CRITERIA

Harvard Business Review has reported that 65% of all hiring decisions are based on assumption and intuition.  Guess wrong, and it can cost upwards of $7,000 to replace that bad hire, according to the Canada Human Resources Centre’s online ‘turnover calculator’.   

So how do you make crucial hiring decisions and ensure you recruit the right candidate the first time? Not surprisingly, it starts long before you schedule the interview - it begins when you evaluate the criteria you’re using to select the right person. 

Everybody is Doing the Evaluating 

Every job applicant will tell you what you want to hear, so your challenge is to know what mix of skills, talents, values and behaviours your company needs to achieve your business goals.  

 

At the same time, every job applicant has their own set of criteria they are using to evaluate you as a potential new employer. 

 

From a candidate’s perspective, being able to manage their own career offers control over three important factors that contribute to their quality of work life. 

 

“The secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world,” says Daniel Pink, author of DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.  He says an employee’s true motivation and performance comes from three elements; having a sense of autonomy, mastery, and purpose.          

 

Assuming that you are looking for highly motivated employees who want to do their best for your customers, your business and themselves; your selection criteria needs to reflect these ‘engagement criteria’ to deliver on both sides of the recruitment table

The Four Stages of Evaluating Selection Criteria

There are four key stages to evaluating your selection criteria. 

1. Plan

What does success looks like for your company and the candidate?  Do your homework – ask everyone on the team what “great results” would look like for the individual, the team and the company.  This step gives you the big picture of what to include in the position description and in any marketing material you post/print about the job.

 

In addition to reflecting the specific requirements of the position, the rule of thumb in developing selection criteria is that it needs to be fair, objective and measurable. For example, requiring a degree in a specialized area may exclude great candidates without a degree who have valuable experience performing all aspects of the position to a very high level.

 

Two questions to ask as you plan your selection criteria:

1. What needs to be better after we fill this position?
    
2. What combination of strengths and talents do we need to ensure our company’s success?  (I.e. technical skills, someone to push the envelope, an aspiring leader, or a great follower)

Finding Where We Fit

Finding Where We Fit

Given Cain’s insights into the introvert, my life experience makes more sense.  Growing up I was happy with one or two close friends.  The centre of a large social scene was not my most comfortable place and still isn’t.  I hated with an almighty passion the very idea of group work in school.  I lacked the confidence to share my ideas in a group, and hated having to rely on others for any part of my project outcome.  Imagine my surprise when I found that the dreaded group work followed me straight on into university, where I had assumed I would spend many a peaceful hour quietly studying and writing papers... alone.  It’s no surprise that I eventually fell in love with distance learning.  To this day, it shocks me to learn that anyone actually enjoys group work.

 

I’ve had numerous jobs over the years where I was required to work with a variety of co-workers, or large numbers of the general population.  And I have been good at all of these jobs, and even enjoyed many aspects of them.  I do like people, quite a lot as it turns out.  But I would come home from a day in a busy office where I interacted with up to fifteen co-workers and an endless stream of clients, and I would crash.  There was nothing left.  Give me an hour of quiet, and I am back online.

 

So, here I am now, working away in my cozy little home office, and I’m ideally suited to my work.  I can always find a colleague or client to meet with or call if I want some interaction.  But, as I often do, I can enjoy a lot of solitary quality time, just me and my computer and my books.

 

Susan Cain’s Ted Talk video includes a few key points about introverts.  I’m putting all these on t-shirts as well.

 

• “Introverts are pretty excellent, just as they are.”
• “There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.”
• “The key then to maximizing our talents is for us all to put ourselves in the zone of stimulation that is right for us.”
• “Stop the madness for constant group work. Just stop it.”

Limited qualities available.  Order now to avoid disappointment!

 

Where do you fit on the continuum?  Introvert?  Extrovert?  Or somewhere in the middle?

DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS

People often ask about my choice to work from home.  For some people, this arrangement simply would not work.  For me, it is a perfect fit.

 

I’m not shy or anti-social, but I am a fiercely independent introvert.  So not only do I like to do things a certain way, I also prefer to do them alone.  My husband and I joke that if I were to receive a report card on my current work habits, it would clearly state “Does not play well with others.”  I’m having t-shirts made.  How many would you like?  We also have travel mugs.    

Understanding the Introvert

Nine years ago I became a parent to a child who is my complete opposite.  In an effort to understand this alien being, and to gain some insight into why she was so adept at draining my life-force, I read stacks of parenting books.   I discovered that, while I have conquered my childhood shyness, I am definitely an introvert.  My daughter is an extrovert.  And those two characteristics are about so much more than being shy vs. being outgoing.  An extrovert is someone who is energized by being around other people.  An introvert is someone who recharges by spending time alone.

 

So it’s got nothing to do with social skills or popularity.  It’s about energy, and where you find it.  For some of us, that is through collaborating with co-workers in a busy work environment.  For others, it is in quietly tackling our daily to-do list in the quiet of our own office.

The Quiet Revolution

Author Susan Cain recently published her book Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking.   In her Ted Talk appearance, she talks about her journey to understanding the place of introverts in history, and in our modern world.  Watch the video.  It is excellent and you will, if you in any way consider yourself to be an introvert, find yourself nodding in agreement from beginning to end.  

Why Do You Want to Hire Generation Y Workers?

Why Do You Want to Hire Generation Y Workers?

As more Baby Boomers prepare to depart the workforce, valuable knowledge and skills need to be transferred to the next generations taking over the workforce. 

 

The benefits of the Generation Y worker are that:

• They can build upon the Boomer’s knowledge and skills.
   
• They are comfortable with technology and can use it to improve productivity and therefore profits.
   
• They adapt to changing markets and demands easily.

However, members of Generation Y are not particularly loyal. If you don’t offer an appealing work situation you will have a hard time convincing them to work for you. If unhappy, they will simply find a company that caters more to their value and belief systems. 

 

To please Gen Y workers, you must first understand their perspective. Even if you do not hold the same values and beliefs as them you must be prepared to change. 

 

As a small business it is easy for you to change to accommodate the needs of the top Generation Y talent. The key is actually knowing what they want.

What Do Generation Y Employees Want?

Based on what we know about Generation Y individuals, we can assume a few of their wants and needs:

 

• Work-Life Balance
  Gen Y wants flexible work options, compressed workweeks, reduced workweeks, and telecommuting options. Although not a new trend, flexible working is now a necessity rather than a nice to have.
• Consistent Feedback and Recognition
  Generation Y wants daily feedback. They need constant informal reminders that as an individual and/or team they are doing a good job and they want to know how they can improve. They prefer consistent informal feedback rather than annual performance reviews. They expect leaders to take a vested interest in their own individual development and provide clear career paths.
  Creating a culture where feedback and recognition is second nature takes time. Creating this type of work environment isn’t expensive, but requires a lot investment of time.
• Freedom of Creativity
  Gen Y individuals look for jobs that allow them the freedom to be creative and autonomous. As a small business you are likely to be able to allow employees to be creative with minimal constraint. Small businesses should use that advantage to attract Gen Y workers.
• Empower to Solve Problems
  Generation Y is technologically sophisticated and, if you allow them, they will find efficient, moneysaving ways of doing things. By empowering them to solve a problem and recognizing those solutions as valuable, you will soon have your employees treating your business like it’s their own.
• Training and Development
  Gen Y craves knowledge. Providing a yearly training and development allowance will help your employees grow with and become invested in the business, while fulfilling their desire for self-improvement.
• Say Yes To Social Media – With Boundaries
  Generation Y is fueled by social media. It is part of their life, and a major communications avenue for them. No matter how much you, as an employer, try to suppress their online communication habits, they will find a way to engage in social media.
  Instead of outlawing what they use the most, attract and retain Gen Y by including social media in your communication systems. Set boundaries by ensuring proper social media polices are in place and effectively manage and implement them.
• Give Back: Don’t Just Take
  Generation Y was brought up to be aware of others and to care for those less fortunate than themselves.
  Although you may not have the budget that large organizations have to allocate to volunteering, but you can still support employees by providing them an outlet. That could mean giving them the time to complete a charitable activity. Or it could mean joining with them to do something like the Food Drive. It might cost a little budget, but the engagement, productivity, and positive PR it brings to the business will outweigh the cost associated with it. 

It may be difficult for you to compete with the compensation and benefit packages offered by many large organizations but you have the advantage of being able to provide intangible options. By branding yourself as a progressive, supportive, creative, and open-minded workplace, and more importantly, living up to that brand, you are sure to get the Gen Y workers you need. 

If you’re running

If you’re running a commercial website, then you should be taking a constant measurement of its performance so that you can improve the site and the revenue it generates for your business.  

In our previous article, “How to install Google Analytics” we ran through the steps required to get started with Google’s free analytics tool.  Now that you have it set up, the key thing is not to get bogged down with too much data, but simply ask a question and use Google Analytics to find the answer...

How Many People From BC Come to my Website? 

Concentrate on your target market.  If you’re providing a local service in a small community in BC, then the number of visitors from Ontario is probably not a number to get excited about.  But if you find you have a lot of visitors from another region who you aren’t selling to, you could consider forming an alliance with another company in that region, or bringing on a partner and expanding your business.

 

Where can I find this information?

Click Visitors, and select Demographics and then choose Location.  

 

The default view will show the Country/Territory of your visitors, at the top of the table you will be able to select City to view more detailed information about your visitors

 

 

 

 

How Long do People Spend on My Site?

You want your customers to spend a long time on your site, don't you?  Well not always.   

 

A high dwell time of over three minutes could also demonstrate that users are finding it hard to find content or that they are unsure of how to proceed.  If, for example, you are selling a product on your website you would want the customer to buy an item relatively quickly to ensure that they complete the transaction and do not get distracted.  

 

On the other hand, if you run a website which has video content or longer articles, a dwell time of over 4 minutes is desirable, as it shows people are taking time to consume the content.

 

Where can I find this information?

The average time spent on your site can be found on the main Visitors Overview.

 

To drill down further and find out the number of people who spent between 0 and 10 minutes, 11 and 30 minutes and more, select Visitors, Behavior, and Engagement.

 

 

 

 

What Content on My Site is the Most Popular?

Google Analytics enables you to quickly see which pages and sections of your website are attracting the most traffic.  Over time as you see what content is the most popular you can focus on feeding more content of that type onto your website.  

 

Where can I find this information?

Select Content, Site Content and Pages to view the most viewed pages on your site or select Content Drilldown from the same menu to find out the most viewed pages by your website file structure e.g. mywebsite.com/products not mywebsite.com/products/mouse