Michael Wiseman, 24, who works as a server at Red Stripe, a bistro on the East Side of Providence, resets tables after the lunch rush.
They’ve been called the “Net Generation,” “Echo Boomers” and the “Millennials.” People have described them as impatient, disengaged and skeptical.
Meet the children of “Generation Y,” a group of 18- to 24-year-olds who have never played solitaire with a real deck of cards or known a world without Madonna. Or, if you will, the group of young adults that will be applying for jobs with your company soon – if they don’t work there already.
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On Wednesday, to help employers who want to keep, motivate and manage these young people as more and more of them enter the work force, the R.I. Hospitality and Tourism Association hosted a seminar titled “Generation Why?”
Eric Chester, a Colorado-based motivational speaker who specializes in the subject, said it may be hard for bosses to relate to Generation Y because of their different life experiences.
Half of the young adults in the age bracket come from single-parent homes, he said.
Four-fifths of them have working mothers, and 75 percent have Internet access at home. Those experiences, he said, have given them a different generational mindset.
“Can you imagine meetings like this taking place 20, 30 or 40 years ago, where businesspeople give up their day to understand how to employ kids?” Chester said.
A major difference between baby boomers and the younger generation, he said, is the need for rewards. Where baby boomers got much of their work ethic from their Depression-era parents, the people of Generation Y have largely come to question whether they need to work.
Part of that comes from watching their parents become victims of work, Chester said. But today’s young adults also need more incentives to apply themselves, he said.
As an example, Chester noted that employees of chain sandwich or pizza shops earn the same low wage whether the restaurant is packed or empty. “It’s a digital mindset getting paid an analog wage,” Chester said. “And, if you ask me, there’s no better definition of a bad thing. … Make your success their success.”
Employers also need to find a way to engage the younger workers more, he said.
Generation Y members tend to get bored and disconnected very easily.
In addition to incentives and engagement, Chester offered a number of other pointers:
•Be honest with new hires – i.e. don’t tell them a job will be “fun” and then hand them a mop.
•Take the time to understand Generation Y-ers, whether it be their home life or personality traits.
•When telling them what to do, tell them why it needs to be done.
•Look beyond “potholes” to see what positive aspects of the job can be commented upon.
The state has recently started a discourse about the impatience of the generation, which is believed to have added to the so-called “brain drain” – the idea that some of the brightest young workers leave the state because they can’t find what they are looking for here.
Adelita S. Orefice, director of the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, said the drop-off in the amount of available workers is real. Part of it is national demographics: In 2000, the United States had 3.9 million fewer people in the 25-to-34 age bracket than it had in 1990.
Rhode Island alone lost 35,000 people in that age bracket, she said; an estimated 27,000 moved to other cities such as Washington, D.C., and Boston, but another 24,000 moved into the state. To ensure more young people stay here, Orefice said, the state needs to make them feel that they are part of a vibrant, growing city.
Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, said employers may have to adjust to meet the needs of younger workers who show up to jobs wearing flip-flops and listening to their iPods.
White said that there is a need for the younger workers, especially in growing sectors such as education, travel and leisure, business services and health services.
“Despite the many amenities and the great attractions of our capital city – all of Rhode Island – we are in fact having a very difficult time hanging on to our college graduates,” White said. “The Chamber has made [keeping them in Rhode Island] an important centerpiece in our strategic plan. This includes connecting students with jobs and making sure that they are equipped with the skills that employers are looking for.”
