7 Things to Look Past When Managing Gen Y

Published by Ryan Healy on July 1st, 2008 in Generation Y | 34 Comments

Managing Generation Y isn't all that different from managing anyone else. You need to demand a lot, manage a lot and respect the fact that they have a life outside of work. That being said, there are some things that Gen Y employees believe that past generations may not have thought at the same age. So for all you confused managers out there, here's a list of things you should consider accepting when it comes to managing Generation Y.

1. What time he comes to work
Sometimes I come to work at 7 AM. Sometimes I come to work at 11 AM. Sometimes I'll find myself all alone at the office for the better part of a day because my Gen Y co-workers are somewhere else. Lucky for us, we work at a start up where we only care about face time if there is an important meeting. I don't mind if no one is at the office because I know that sometimes when I come in at 7 AM, I have a hard time concentrating and get no work done. And sometimes when I come in at 11 AM, I spent the entire morning in front of my laptop at home, getting a ton of work done.

If you're managing a Gen Yer, and there are no important meetings on the schedule, don't worry about what time he comes to work. Because, as we all know, results matter. Hours don't.

2. What time he leaves work
Yesterday I left work at 3 pm to take a nap. Today, I'll be working well past dinner. Maybe you got the point already, but I'll say it again, hours don't matter. Older folks can use the "I need to pick my kids up at school" excuse and walk out of work guilt free. We twentysomethings aren't quite so lucky. You can only come up with so many doctor, dentist and family emergency excuses before they are worn out.

Create an environment where people don't judge ANYONE who decides to leave early on a sunny Friday afternoon to meet up with some friends, because everyone trusts that the work will be done come Monday morning.

3. What's on his computer screen
Don't be surprised to see Facebook, Twitter, Brazen Careerist, ESPN, Gmail, Word, Excel and Powerpoint all open at the same time on your Gen Yers screen. In fact, only having those tabs open would be a fairly focused afternoon for me.

But it's OK. We can still get our work done. All that stuff is open because, quite frankly, we're all a little ADD. Sending out a tweet or leaving a comment on a blog is a necessary distraction every 20 minutes or so. Honestly, lots of Gen Yers wonder how anyone can sit at a desk and do nothing but work for 8 straight hours without going insane?

4. His ultimately meaningless fashion statements
When I worked for IBM, I was on a project at the Pentagon. As you might guess, this required a full suit every single day . As if this wasn't painful enough, I swear my military co-workers shaved every hour on the hour. So when I walked in with my day old stubble, I felt a little out of place.

But you know what? I actually look better with a little stubble, and I would trade shaving for 10 extra minutes of sleep any day of the week. At one point I decided to grow a goatee. I wanted to see when my boss would tell me to shave it. He told me to shave it after a week. I told him it was in style and kept it for another week.

The message is: you've got to look past a little facial hair, or a pair of open toed sandals, and just worry about your employees' work ethic and production if you want to get the most out of them.

5. Anything he does at happy hour
Everyone loves happy hour. It's the time to kick back, relax and unwind from a long day of work….with the people you just worked with. Things happen. Drinks happen. We're all young, we're in our prime partying years and some of us handle our liquor better than others. So whatever you do, don't judge your Gen Y employees based on what happens toward the tail end of happy hour.

The truth is, the managers should be long gone by the time things get a little crazy. And if they're not, they should be getting a little crazy too. The worst thing I ever did at a happy hour (well, 2 hours after it officially ended) was engage in a little too much PDA with a co-worker. Not sure what came over us (hint: alcohol), and luckily no one saw it, but I can't imagine what would have happened if anyone did. My advice: ignore what happens at happy hours, if you can't, then I'd advise you stay away from the party.

6. His lack of "experience"
It's OK if your Gen Y employee doesn't know how to punch a time clock and can't relate to your high school summer job experience. It has nothing to do with whether he will work hard for you. There is definite truth to the claim that you need to work hard as a child to learn the value of a dollar and the value of hard work, but what summer jobs can offer us is different now.

Your Gen Y overachiever couldn't have settled for a summer job at McDonald's if she'd wanted to, because a summer spent flipping burgers is not going to get you into Harvard. And it probably wouldn't get you into a lot of less competitive schools. But a summer spent volunteering in Africa will go a long way toward getting you into a good college, and it betters the world, too. Look past her lack of traditional experience, teach your Gen Yer how to do the little things that she's missed (even if you think it's stupid), and figure out how to capitalize on the knowledge and experience she gained from leading her business organization or studying abroad.

7. His personal phone calls
When you were an entry level worker, maybe you wouldn't have dreamed of calling your girlfriend to say hello right after lunch or dialing up your mechanic to schedule a time to drop your car off for service. But work and life are no longer two distinct entities and this goes for both the office and at home.

Look past the fact that it's not business for everyone all the time at the office. Because just as I have no problem making personal calls at the office, I also have no problem making a business call or sending an email during my "personal" hours in front of the TV. Life happens 24 hours a day and now, so does work. So look past the personal phone calls at the office and enjoy how your Gen Y worker will use the whole day to get those results you need for the business.