Give a purpose. Show the purpose. Sell the value.
Posted On December 1, 2015
Many millennials view the workplace differently than their fathers and mothers did. They want their jobs to be fun and fulfilling. They want to work for a company and in a profession that they can believe in. And, according to a recent Forbes article, many business leaders find their millennial hires don’t want to do sales. Of course, these things may be related. We can perhaps excuse Baby Boomer and Gen-X managers who think those millennials should perhaps feel fortunate that they have a job at all. But that’s no way to retain employees. And a report from the University… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, WorkplaceRestlessness knows no generational bounds.
Posted On December 1, 2015
In the 1996 film Trainspotting, one of the characters deliberately tries to tank a job interview without allowing the interviewers to catch on, in order that he might remain on government assistance. Among his strategies, all of which prove wildly successful, is to describe himself as a perfectionist. “For me, it’s got to be the best or nothing at all,” he says. “When things get a bit dodgy, I cannot be bothered.” This quote, minus the ulterior motive and deliberate deception behind it, would seem to be the impression many Baby Boomers have of millennials in the workplace. They have… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Work, Workplace“Stop doing their homework.”
Posted On November 24, 2015
I was reading a Washington Post piece recently about helicopter parenting recently when a line in the story stopped me in my tracks. At the end of a short list of easy-to-use tests to determine whether you are a helicopter parent was the admonition: “Stop doing their homework.” Parents are doing their kids’ homework? Where were these parents when I was in middle school? As crazy as that sounds, we all know parents nowadays who coddle their children, who hold their hands through every challenge, who refuse to let them fail. And yes, some of them probably do their homework… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, iGen
A Sharp Stick in Your Eye. And My Eye, Too.
Posted On October 22, 2015
So apparently, millennials don’t like to be referred to as entitled. Los Angeles Times columnist Chris Erskine found out as much when he created a “millennial pledge” in a recent column. Framed as a list of action points “signifying a ceremonial crossing into adulthood,” the list hits on several themes familiar to the popular picture of millennialism. Dress up for that interview. Be on time. Put down the coffee and take that part-time job, “even if I feel like it’s beneath me.” Put down the phone. And when you do pick it up, how about making an actual phone call?… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials
Millennials Fiscally Responsible
Posted On September 8, 2015
Last time, we looked at the benefits of financial benefits of millennials spending a couple extra years at home after leaving college. Now, Forbes tells us that millennials may be way ahead of the rest of us in terms of fiscal responsibility. The magazine recently noted a T. Rowe Price survey that found millennials doing a better job of tracking their spending, sticking to a budget, and even taking advantage of things like 401(k) plans. Among the survey’s findings: 75 percent of millennials surveyed say they track their expenses carefully, compared to 64 percent of Baby Boomers. 67 percent of… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation Y / Millennials
Trampoline, not a free ride.
Posted On August 31, 2015
Many millennials, like their Gen-X parents and Baby Boomer grandparents before them, are ready to jump right out into the world and get on their own once they leave college. In our culture of independence, there may be a certain social stigma attached to those who continue living with Mom and Dad after they’re finished with school. CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans, author of Smart is the New Rich: Money Guide for Millennials, suggests in a recent video for USA TODAY that it’s not a bad idea for newly graduated millennials to live at home for a couple of… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Generation Y / Millennials
What’s Motivating Millennials?
Posted On August 25, 2015
Do you know what’s motivating your millennial employees? Research presented earlier this year by venture capitalist Mary Meeker, and shared by the Huffington Post, indicates that many managers don’t. In studies cited by Meeker, nearly half the managers believe the most important indicator of success for millennials is high pay. All other factors paled in comparison, with none registering higher than 12 percent. But when millennials were asked how they define success, only 27 percent said money was most important. Most of those surveyed, 30 percent, said meaningful work was their top factor, while 24 percent said it was a… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace
The “Convenience” Generation(s).
Posted On August 20, 2015
A recent article on millennials at salesforce.com referred to them as the Convenience Generation. Perhaps it’s just me – and it wasn’t the apparent intent of the author — but that moniker seems to have a negative connotation, like millennials can’t be bothered to drive to a store, make a telephone call or get off the couch to change the channel. It’s not an inaccurate characterization, but why is convenience so important to them? Perhaps it’s because they’ve never lived without it. Technology has grown to a point to where we don’t have to go to a store to make… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials
Are you saving enough?
Posted On July 28, 2015
Are you saving as much as you should be for retirement? If you’re a typical American – and particularly a typical American millennial – probably not. A recent study on retirement saving and spending by T. Rowe Price found that millennials are saving an average of only 8 percent of their salary for retirement, just over half the recommended 15 percent. In light of this, the Fiscal Times offered strategies for millennials to increase that figure. Most of them are common-sense things that apply to people of all ages – cutting costs, budgeting and prioritizing expenses – though many millennials… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation Y / Millennials
“Millennials are not looking for perfect people…Jesus already handled that.”
Posted On July 14, 2015
How do you keep millennials in your church? You certainly can’t be afraid of change – and change is not something with which religion has been historically comfortable. This is an entity, after all, that hasn’t changed its mission statement in 2,000 years. But while the mission by definition won’t change, it never hurts to update best practices. As churchleaders.com’s Frank Powell notes, attracting a new generation that’s 80 million strong should be a priority for any institution that wishes to remain relevant. If the church hopes to do that, “that’s the way it’s always been done” has to go… Read More
Categories: church, Generation Y / Millennials