Managing Generation Y as They Change the Workforce

Experience, Inc. CEO outlines top employment trends of 2008
BOSTON--(Business Wire)--Experience Inc., the nation's leading provider of career services
for college students and alumni, today revealed its top five trends
for managing Generation Y in the workplace. As CEO and founder of
Experience (http://www.experience.com), Jenny Floren has been
monitoring entry-level jobs and hiring trends for more than a decade.
An industry leader who has created a critical bridge between college
and the working world, Floren has communicated with 18-30 year-olds on
multiple levels and understands the incredible impact this generation
is making in today's workforce. She is available to discuss these
critical employment trends as they relate to hiring Gen Y.

"Gen Y has created a need for a cultural overhaul that has not
been this dramatic since women entered the workforce en masse," Floren
said. "We need the talent and creativity this generation brings,
especially when you take into consideration the looming employment gap
occurring from the outflux of retiring Boomers."

2008: Top five trends for managing Gen Y

1. Compensation: Compensating Gen Y is not solely about money.
Eighteen to 30 year-olds are characterized by the desire to receive
training, take on new challenges, expand their capabilities and as a
result, advance to new, more highly compensated roles. The focus for
these individuals is less about the compensation and more about the
advancement, the improved capabilities and the recognition of
achievement marked by a new position. Offering Gen Y employees a raise
while keeping all other factors the same will not have the same impact
as giving them new challenges. In fact, in many cases a raise alone
could backfire and cause the Gen Y employee to seek job satisfaction
elsewhere.

2. Communication style: Gen Y employees speak a different
language, so hiring and department managers need to practice a new
style of communicating. Gen Y employees respond to humor, passion and
the truth: don't even think of "spinning" a message with this
audience. As Gen Y employees increasingly dominate the workforce,
people who work with them should also realize how important direct and
timely feedback, frequent encouragement and recognition of efforts are
to 18-30 year olds. While this may feel like pampering to some, the
outcome is a set of employees who are engaged and motivated to show
their best work.

3. Management training: Employers will invest heavily in
management training - not just for the Gen Y set, but also for
Generation X and the Boomers who manage them. Employers are
re-designing their organizational practices and culture to accommodate
these changes. From training to goal-setting and performance reviews,
employers are urged to re-evaluate their standard procedures: reviews
should become more frequent (focused on quarterly steps as opposed to
annual advancement), reward and incentive programs should be
re-examined and other elements of organizational design will need to
be reconfigured. Though this process may be very time-consuming, it
will better reward and motivate Gen Y employees.

4. Lifestyle benefits: Employers are making extra effort to meet
Gen Y's needs by treating these team members as a special class of
employees. Employers are bringing them together for meetings and
training sessions by combining entertainment and learning. This
creates the feeling of community so desired by Gen Y while also
emphasizing an investment in individual performance. Employers are
also getting more creative in the work/life balance arena by offering
perks, such as one-month sabbaticals after five years of service. This
recognizes Gen Y's strengths and offers them time to explore civic
interests and volunteerism in a supported setting. It also reiterates
the commitment to community that is so inherent in 18-30 year-olds.
This may also help to offset the perpetual job-hopping which
frustrates so many employers, providing the above criteria are met.

5. Distributed work environments: The office will no longer be the
hub it once was. Working remotely will become standard, leveraging
technology and virtual relationships. Gen Y is at the core of this
trend because for them, meeting and interacting online is just as
comfortable and "real" as face-to-face meetings (unlike Gen X and
Boomers who see a clear difference between online and in-person
experiences). Eighteen to 30 year-olds have grown up with online
social lives, classrooms and entertainment, making the virtual world a
natural extension of their personal experiences. This will benefit
companies greatly as the need for global teamwork and flexible work
hours continues.

Floren explains, "If employers evolve as their workers evolve, the
end result will be a more dynamic and competitive organization where
knowledge is shared, action is taken quickly and new avenues are
opened."

About Experience

Experience is the only university-endorsed career network bridging
the gap between college and the working world. Since 1996, we have
partnered with universities to educate, assist and inspire college
graduates to launch and lead extraordinary careers. Each year our
award-winning network connects millions of candidates from 3,800
colleges and universities with more than 100,000 employers. For more
information, visit www.experience.com.

Key words: Generation Y, Gen Y, entry-level jobs, employment
trends

Experience Inc.
Molly Smith, 978-499-9250 x234
experience@matternow.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008