by K Ivey

Created on: January 05, 2009

While older employees were often motivated by such things as 'stability', and 'job security', younger workers come from a different generation, have a different work style and mindset. This means that employers cannot rely on the old stand bys to attract and retain younger workers. Our parents and grandparents often worked at the same organization for years and then retired. With current market conditions and the recent history of organizational lay-offs, this is no longer a reasonable expectation. Nor is it something that most younger workers desire. Some of the things that younger workers share that appeal to them are the need to make a real contribution, having some freedom to direct their schedule and the 'how' of getting their work done, feeling appreciated and having a management team that is approachable and open to new ideas. Most companies claim to have an open door policy or at least that their management team is open to ideas from employees but many times these are only words. In order to realize the benefit of younger employees knowledge, managers must seek input from them, let them know their contributions are valuable and allow them to implement some of their ideas.

Often, younger workers are discounted because of their lack of experience. However, many times they are able to approach an old problem from a new perspective and bring valuable insight and even possible new solutions. Recognition is extremely important to most young employees and there are many ways to provide it. Simply giving credit for an idea in an employee meeting can be a valuable tool for letting employees know they have a voice.

It is important that employers realize that when building a team, it should consist of different personality and work styles. Much can be accomplished with a team that includes detail oriented individuals, those with lots of experience, results oriented people who look at the big picture, customer service oriented people and those who are good at mediating conflict and individuals with fresh, new perspectives for looking at challenges. Younger workers can fall into most of those categories and bring value to the workplace in many different ways. It is helpful to realize that younger workers are more than just 'younger'. They are often motivated, intelligent and creative and can be of service to an organization in many roles. Like their older counterparts, employers need to look at younger workers as individuals and understand the talents and skills of each employee. This group of individuals must not be stereotyped or painted with a broad brush. They are as different from each other as their older counterparts.

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