8/12/2010
Managing a Gen X and Gen Y Workforce - maricelawire's blog
Managing a Gen X and Gen Y WorkforceWorldwide Generation Y is huge, nearly 2 billion strong. In the U.S. Gen Y, also called Millennials, outnumber the Baby Boomers, the previously largest generation. The Boomers made and moved markets. The Millennials will be the doing the same thing but more quickly and dramatically. Millennials will rewrite the rules for communities, markets, and workplaces.
Millennials were born between 1980 – 2000, so we’re just starting to see the oldest Millennials entering the workforce. They grew up during the greatest period of wealth creation in modern history. They have also witnessed irrational exuberance ending in the dot-com crash, terrorism, war and climate change.
Unfortunately the oldest Millennials could also be called Generation Debt. No group has ever started adult life so deeply in the hole due to mounting college costs, dwindling financial aid, and credit-card debt.
Millennials are mostly the by-product of the late-marrying and married again baby boomers. They grew up with “Baby on Board” signs and a culture that lovingly catered to their needs. Their parents have been called “helicopter parents” and “snowplow parents” for hovering over every move their child made and trying to pave the way to a clear future. As a result, they are characterized as being optimistic, tech-savvy, multi-cultural and collaborative.
Authorities on the digital revolution, these tech-savvy kids spend more text messages everyday than there are people on the planet. They grew up tethered to multiple electronic devices while juggling text messages, surfing the Net and listening to iPods – all while doing their homework. They mix learning, communicating and playing.
Worldwide this generation is huge, nearly 2 billion strong. In the U.S. the Millennials outnumber the Baby Boomers, the previously largest generation. The Boomers made and moved markets. The Millennials will be the doing the same thing but more quickly and dramatically. Millennials will rewrite the rules for communities, markets, and workplaces.
These youngsters have grown up online, bathed in bits and bytes. Unlike their parents who grew up watching 24 hours of television per week, Millennials grew up interacting with their media.
By age 21 years of age, it is estimated that the average Millennial child will have:
Spent 10,000 hours playing video games Sent 200,000 emails Spent 20,000 hours watching TV Spent 10,000 hours on their cell phone Spent under 5,000 hours reading
Young people are gathering en masse on line to collaborate. Millennials, unlike their Gen-X predecessors who incessantly played one-dimensional games, create the games they play – virtually and interactively with people they’ve never met. Hanging out with their friends down the street has been replaced by online gaming and social networking. It’s like they closed the bedroom door but instead of one best friend inside they now invite thousands of friends in. Lacking in many traditional social circles – school, work and family – these online networks provide virtual instant feedback and affection.
Whether you agree with them or not, Millennials will be knocking on your doors for jobs for years to come. Millennials are the future. Yes, their attitudes and values are different -not necessarily bad, just different. But when hired and managed effectively, Millennials will be some of the brightest, generous, and most collaborative employees you’ll ever hire.
What are some Basic Survival Skills for Managing the Millennials?
Millennials love to work for managers who teach new things. They work hard for managers who coach them and are positive – just like their soccer Moms and stay-at-home Dads. Their expectations are that managers are like their Moms and Dads – hovering over them and plowing the way. Learning must be dynamic and interactive with ongoing feedback.
Bruce Tulgan, author of several books on managing the different generations, offers these suggestions:
1. Treat Millennials like value adders from day one, not as interns or “know-nothing kids.” They can’t stand condescending practice managers and doctors who are not approachable when they need their questions answered. They want to feel like a colleague or associate, not a subordinate. Treating them respectfully, as you ask for respect in return, is key to a great relationship. (Here’s a strong suggestion: if you feel this advice is a bunch of hooey – then don’t hire anyone under 35!)
2. Be flexible. Customize schedules and work assignments. Since some Millennials are still in school or working two jobs or balancing family and work, they appreciate a manager’s attempt to balance work requirements with their other commitments.
3. Provide constructive feedback consistently and often. Don’t wait for performance evaluations to tell Millennials what they’re doing right or wrong. Tell them what they’re doing well today; tell them how to improve today. That’s what the best coaches do: They observe and give immediate feedback.
4. Tie rewards and incentives to one thing only: performance. And make sure to deliver praise, recognition, and rewards in close proximity to the contribution.
5. Facilitate helping Millennials meet their high expectations of themselves. They want to make meaningful contributions immediately. This is an admirable goal, and it may take some investment of your time to teach them how to get there.
Friends Link : turnstile gate proximity card reader suppliers
Check it out: Managing a Gen X and Gen Y Workforce
The Cat and Mouse Game - SEO vs. Google
The Cat and Mouse Game - SEO vs. Google
After the end of the holidays some Internet merchants are smiling so wide they could eat a banana sideways. Other Internet merchants are screaming mad. Most have visibly noticed the recent changes in Google’s rankings. Google, a search engine company based in California, quickly burst onto the Internet in 1998. It quickly became a very popular choice for indoor surfers. Google’s innovative way of ranking sites based on an algorithm they developed gave sites a rank based on how relevant their website is to the competition based on a word of phrase of the Internet user. Every Internet website cherishes a top 10 listing under a widely searched keyword. Now to be listed on page one under a popular keyword can be worth millions to an internet business.By the end of 2005 most Internet businesses have noticed changes for better or worse. Those changes in ranking were based upon an update Google made. When Google updated, certain industries noticed a large number of sites that were affected, while others noticed no change at all. While really no one but Google knows all of the changes it introduced in that update, it now appears that some of these website owners may have taken part perhaps unknowing in an artificial linking strategy.
When Googlefirstlaunched, the birth of a new business, search engine optimization was formed. Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of designing or redesigning a web site so that it matches up as closely to possible to how Google ranks a web page. SEO experts know that inbound links, links that direct you to their website, play a large part in the rankings game.
Because of this, there were many sites that would spring up over night, that had little to no relevance to the actual word they were obtaining placement under. As SEO experts developed their techniques they even ended up selling Google’s own advertising back to them through Google’s Adwords Campaign. Linking basically works like this. If website A links to website B, that link is telling Google that website A thinks website B is important. If a large amount of important websites linked directly to Website B, Google would see this as a good thing give would give Website B a better positioning.
And Google’s original ranking of votes worked extremely well for a while. That was until the birth of a internet fad that is only gaining momentum. Blogs, a short form for the word weblog, is usually an online journal of comments and thoughts on the web. They usually include philosophical reflections, opinions on the Internet and social or political issues. Since a Blog is usually a journal, its daily or semi-daily entries are always being added. The content is constantly changing. Another important factor on how Google ranks websites.
Once SEO experts caught on to this, a few decided to use this as the sole way to manipulate rankings and achieve results. In some cases, SEO experts get rankings in fractions of the time it would usually take to get placement. After the update this has left some internet business owners left with only fond memories of a top ten placement.
It is assumed that Google will continue to evolve their algorithms in an attempted to remove irrelevant content. As the cat and mouse game of SEO versus Google continues one thing is for certain. Google intends to stay on top as a leading search engine by focusing on the one thing that made them successful, relevant searches.
For more information about this press release contact Caveman Technologies a leader in SEO marketing.
Call (702) 733-1716 or visit us at http://www.cavetech.net
Author Information
Clark Jensen
CAVEMAN TECHNOLOGIES LLCUnder millennials crisis August 12th, 2010
Managing the Millennials
Managing the Millennials
Adapted from “Managing the Millennial Generation,” by Robert C. Bordone (professor, Harvard Law School) and Matthew J. Smith (lecturer, Harvard Law School), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
DEAR NEGOTIATION COACH: Over the past few years, employees who have joined my firm directly from undergraduate and graduate programs have seemed to me like creatures from a different world. In particular, they don’t expect to have to struggle to get ahead, and they don’t take criticism well. How can I negotiate with them in a way that will be effective, while keeping them happy and me sane?
ANSWER: As compared with the baby boomers or the Generation Xers who followed, many members of the Millennial Generation—adults born after 1981 who have been entering the workforce since 2000—seem to approach work life with a sense of entitlement, a craving for praise, and an expectation that they will ascend the organizational ladder quickly.
More-seasoned supervisors are sometimes taken off-guard by these young upstarts. For example, efforts by law firms to slow the attrition rates of young associates by raising base pay and increasing bonuses have had little impact, Alex Williams of the New York Times reports. In response, some firms have unveiled new approaches to keeping Millennials satisfied. These range from “happiness committees” that offer candy apples and milkshakes to concerted efforts by partners to thank and commend associates for their hard work.
Negotiating with Millennials can be challenging, but keep in mind that this generation of workers is a highly motivated, creative, and fast-thinking group. The key to dealing with them is to understand that they’ve been raised to expect a workplace that is worker-focused, transparent, and collaborative. In particular, aim to do the following three things when negotiating with Millennials in your organization:
- Educate yourself about generational differences and trends. Though it’s safe to assume that most employees would prefer more money and benefits rather than less, many Millennials prioritize their interests differently. For example, they may be more likely to value autonomy and flexibility in the workplace than their predecessors. While inwardly respectful of experience, Millennials may not defer immediately to authority and may respond more favorably to a less-formal workplace. Before making assumptions about their interests, take time to inquire about what matters most to your younger staffers.
- Increase transparency. Consistent with research extolling the value of individual participation in decision-making processes, Millennials will be more inclined to respond cooperatively to decisions, even unfavorable ones, if they’ve been consulted as part of a transparent process. Raised to believe that their views matter, they respond negatively to decisions made without broad consultation. Thus, when negotiating with them, focus on being open and clear in your communications. To bolster the legitimacy of your decisions and convey the respect that Millennials require, take time to describe the reasoning behind your thinking.
- Address problems jointly. When negotiating with Millennials, stress the value of working together to find solutions to tough problems. In addition to appealing to Millennials’ desire for inclusion and autonomy, this approach may generate options you wouldn’t have come up with on your own.
By taking the time to learn Millennials’ interests, increase transparency, and include them in the problem-solving process, you will increase productivity, prolong job satisfaction, and create better intergenerational business relationships.
.
