Page 89 - Retaining Top Employees

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Know Your Demographics 77

problem, are more likely to seek an answer within their peer
group than to seek clarification “from above.”
Smart organizations have recognized and benefited from this
sense of autonomy that’s inherent in Gen-Xers. When you
encourage Gen X employees to pursue their natural, lateral lean-
ing, they can act effectively as self-supervisors for each other.
This allows you to lighten the burden of routine chores of day-to-
day management from the manager-employee relationship, so
you can interact with the employees on a more strategic level.

Wassup? Planning for Retaining Gen-Yers
There’s yet another generation on the way!
People born after 1982 (currently called Generation Y) are
already working in your friendly neighborhood fast-food joint and
are beginning to enter the mainstream workforce. We may well
see the very first top employees from this generation emerge over
the next two or three years in industries such as high tech, enter-
tainment, and sports, where youth is a distinct advantage.
With internships and
weekend jobs already Retaining
behind them, Gen-Yers Generation Y
have their own clear expec- If you need to start planning
to retain Gen-Yers right away,then
tations for their employers
get the latest book in an excellent
and, although it may be too
series: Managing Generation Y by
early to tell what they’ll be
Carolyn A. Martin and Bruce Tulgan
like as top performers, here (HRD Press,2001),available from
are a few “thought www.amazon.com or rainmakerthink-
prompters” about Gen-Yers: ing.com.
• They’re typically
more upbeat and optimistic than Gen-Xers.
• They’re more at ease than Gen-Xers with other age
groups.
• They’ve reinvented their own version of loyalty (a con-
cept held by the Boomers, but rejected by Gen-Xers),
but to different institutions than before.
• They’re the most globalized generation to date.