Feb. 27, 2013 – Today’s teens and young adults are from a completely
different generation, and it can be challenging to relate to your
under-20 employees. Here are seven ways to drive increased performance,
engagement and contribution from your younger employees from Ken
Whiting, creator of the WAVES University web-based employee training
program.
Feb. 27, 2013 – Today’s teens and young adults are from a completely
different generation, and it can be challenging to relate to your
under-20 employees. Here are seven ways to drive increased performance,
engagement and contribution from your younger employees from Ken
Whiting, creator of the WAVES University web-based employee training
program.
1. Hire the best. Not all teens and young adults are created equal; it
matters where you start. There are lots of interviewing strategies to
employ that can have a huge impact on your success in ensuring you’re
hiring people who have the potential to deliver a great performance.
Initiate a rating system during your interviews so you make sure your
needs will be met, and ensure you’re quantifiably selecting the best
person to come on board.
2. Incentify performance. This is a “what’s-in-it-for-me” generation:
when you find provide a reward for your employees in exchange for strong
workplace performance. Pick one thing in your organization that you
want to improve on (for example, sales, safety or attendance) and engage
and incentify your staff to make it win-win.
3. Recognition equals retention. A program to reward good behaviour is
also useful: have supervisors hand out cards when they see employees
doing something right. Prizes don’t have to be elaborate or expensive,
but the cost of retention is. Create a culture of catching people doing
something right and make a lot of noise about it.
4. Technology. This is the greatest physical difference between today’s
teens and those who are not in this age group. Young adults have been
raised among technology, so they don’t question it. Find ways to utilize
this at work.
5. Communication. How you say something is as important as what you say.
Information flows 24-7 in this age group, and communication has
increased with texting and social networking. Create an employee website
or Facebook page and post digital versions of documents and user
manuals on it so they can be accessed 24-7. Use online scheduling or
post training videos on YouTube. These things feed right into their
lifestyle.
6. Manager education. So many manage through the eyes of what things
were like when they were a teen, which does not to speak to today’s
teens. This results in frustrated, burnt-out managers, an increase in
unnecessary turnover, and little to no improvement with those who are
still working. Educate your managers on how to properly relate to this
younger generation.
7. Workplace readiness. So many high school- and post-secondary-aged
employees aren’t ready for the workplace. Workplace readiness used to
come from schools, parents and cultures, and this isn’t the case today.
Employers have to fill this gap. Education is the why and training is
the how. Given the way they were raised, this age group demands to know
the purpose and reason behind everything. Modify your policies to
include reasons why things are important. Do not assume that your
employees understand why you do things the way you do. Add the reasons
to your handbooks and guidelines – if you can’t come up with reasons,
you might need fewer policies.
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