Last week, I talked about the current era we are living in, in which the business world is witnessing a <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/542671/the-fight-for-generation-y">war for Generation Y</a>.
I also mentioned briefly about how you need to build and implement a strategy that is dedicated to attracting and retaining Gen Y talent. This week, I will share some simple tips about things that you can — and should — be doing, right now in order to secure your future human resources.
First, in order to get ready for your fight, the most important foundation is to prepare your environment. You will need to be prepared to significantly overhaul your organisation’s performance management, reward, and career planning systems as Gen Y talents expect to be given opportunities to contribute and to quickly reap the rewards of their successes.
Your compensation and benefits package will need to be designed and adjusted according to generation — lifestyle, values and attitudes. In other words, companies can no longer use a one-size-fits-all compensation package for everyone.
Moreover, location is very important for Gen Y. I’m certain that a downtown location with great local services is not possible for everyone, so I’d suggest you consider how you can redesign your offices to create the right tone and ambience of informality and creativity in order to promote collaboration.
The second critical factor relates to how you can attract Gen Y and make them aware of what you have to offer. Given the fact that these young workers are digital natives and highly tech-savvy, you can no longer wait for them to come knocking on your door to be recruited. Instead, you need to be engaged with potential employees and cultivate talent from school age up. Then, through the use of advanced technology, you need to build the right employer branding, which includes the social aspect.
I’ve learned that these young adults love the social aspect of the organisation as it makes them feel they have done something for society. If you can build up your brand around these values, people will talk about it online, then it will go on viral and attract many Gen Y people out there in the market.
In addition, I’d like to suggest an innovative option: make sure your recruitment and selection systems are designed and operated by other Gen Y talents. For example, you can share videos on your website of Gen Y experiences, their first 100 days, and run open days with Gen Y “ambassadors”, and so on. These are the simple techniques in baiting the hook for Gen Y.
The next process, which is equally important, is engaging and retaining your young talent. Based on their unique characteristics that I mentioned last week, in engaging Gen Y, organisations must provide them with challenging roles that offer variety, opportunities to harness technology, opportunities to work with others, and opportunities to earn and progress quickly.
As well, it is essential to restructure your work planning to ensure that people have a work-life balance as it is a critical issue for Gen Y. Also, be flexible in work policies, allow people to work when it suits them and where it suits them.
In the meantime, let’s not forget the other generations in your workforce. In managing the multigenerational organisation, you can leverage mentoring programmes with the Baby Boomer generation. This has the added advantage of helping to capture and preserve their knowledge as they start to exit the organisation. Also, make sure to invest in supervisory and management development with Generation X. The biggest friction points are likely to occur here as Generation X has to quickly make the transition from task-focused management to relationship-focused management. You will need to hold Gen X accountable for turnover — this really will be one of your key business performance metrics in the near future.
Generation Y as we know is very goal-oriented, focused and determined, but at the same time needs guidance, interaction and a lot of practical hands-on assignments to ensure goals are achieved. This is why I say that organisations with a multigenerational workforce can excel by bringing out the best and strongest points of each generation and finding the right balance to pool them all together.
Last but not least, promote collaboration in person and through technology. Gen Y workers expect to have access to social networking technology and are adept at multi-tasking. Be understanding about the fact that they can manage to work while browsing for more information on another page and listening to music or responding to their chat group all at the same time. They are not wasting their time; rather they are energised by staying in touch.
The workplace of 2020 will be radically different and Gen Y will genuinely transform how we work. Indeed, the initial impact is already under way in progressive, early-adopter businesses that are implementing Gen Y strategies. This is a trend you simply cannot afford to miss or be late turning on to. So ask yourself: are you ready to fight for Generation Y?
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Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand’s leading Organisational and People Development Consultancy. For more information, e-mail arinya_t@apm.co.th or visit www.apm.co.th. For daily updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/apmgroupthai