How Gen Y Employees Can Grow Your Business - Case Study Example

Generation Y Name: University: Course Title: Instructor: Date: Generation Y Introduction Generally, generation Y is a word that is used to refer to people who were born between the year 1980 and 1994 (Meares, 2010) although the year varies from one country to another. They are also known as the millennium generation and dot.com by other quarters (Amar, 2002, p.66). This generation of individuals is viewed as the managers and also holders of senior positions of companies in the near future. This is a generation of individuals that is viewed to be so dynamic in their requirements. It has been increasingly difficult to understand their mindsets and what they hold as priorities. They are seen as a generation that does not care much about such things as historical foundations of such things as computers or the internet. They would rather spend most of their time in doing such things as entertainment, communication or looking for potential employers. This paper explores on how to attract and keep employees aged between 25 and 35 years. The firm nominated is Ampcontrol. Generation Y For Ampcontrol, there are several ways that can be put in place to attract and keep the generation Y employees that the CEO desires to employ. The first means would be through the reinvention of the system of rewarding their employees. This would mean moving away from the traditional and conventional means of rewarding employees after they have accomplished a task in terms of end month salaries and wages. The reinvention would be by offering the new incoming employees with rewards such as sign up bonuses, non repayable bonuses among other incentives. This would make people belonging to generation Y attracted to the firm. At the same time, it would make employees feel important. This would even motivate them to exhibit behaviors favourable to the firm even before such roles that would enhance the exhibition of such behaviors are implemented. This would also be exciting to the generation Y individuals and encourage them to work for the firm for even longer periods (Amar, 2002, p.168). For most people who fall in the generation Y category, money is the main motivation that keeps them attracted to a particular job and at the same instance keeps them at it for longer durations. In order to attract and keep the best of people belonging to the Generation Y, Ampcontrol would offer them compensation that are slightly more than what other companies in the market offers. It is true that competition in the market is tight and that such engineers are scarce. It would therefore make much sense for the firm to offer competitive remuneration to the young engineers it intends to attract and keep. This is also coupled with the fact that the people belonging to this generation are accustomed to results that are instant. They are not willing to get an offering with a low salary with the possibility of having a raise on their perks with time. It would therefore be to the best interest of the firm to give them an offer that they would find difficult to resist (Sheahan, 2005, p.111). In order to also attract and retain the generation Y workers, Ampcontrol would also have to offer several trainings, development and even corporate cultures that are pleasant to this generation. In order to ensure that they are retained for a longer period and at levels where they deliver their set objectives, the company shall have to ensure that they are offered such trainings that are beneficial to their development. The firm shall also be forced to come up with a corporate culture that would be pleasant to the people belonging to this generation. This would be in favour of Ampcontrol since it already has a culture that is people first. Ampcontrol is already a strong brand too. This would work well for the firm as the people that the company wants to employ fall in the generation Y category. These are people who would rather be employed in a firm with a strong brand as compared to those that are not strong brands by themselves (Vaiman & vance, 2008, p.80). Another major thing that the firm would do in order to attract and retain these generation Y employees would be coming up with a strategy that offers a balance between work and life. This would be a situation where the firm offers a working environment that would balance the time that the employees have to stay at their workstations and the durations that they spend at home. This would be through the introduction of programs that would allow employees to be flexible enough to sometimes even work from the comfort of their homes. The firm would also come up with other strategies that would encourage working on part time basis. This would be a strategy that would be in favour of Ampcontrol even if the other competing firms offer more competitive salaries that cannot be matched by what Ampcontrol would offer. These solutions would differentiate the firm’s offer for employment from the others in the market (Vaiman & vance, 2008, p.80). The firm can also be giving its employees challenges that would seem interesting to them. It is not simple to determine the duration of time that an employee would spend in the firm. This is especially so for the generation Y who keep looking for other opportunities in the markets. It would therefore be to the benefit of the firm if it continually gave these employees new challenges. This would keep the employees on their toes and at the same instance keep them updated. Through offering these interesting challenges, the firm would be confident that their young employees have a feeling of overcoming new challenges. This would make them enjoy their work and have the charisma to keep working (Vaiman & vance, 2008, p.80). There should also be regular research activities in the firm that would help in understanding the needs and requirements of this generation Y. These would play a big role in keeping those in this category engaged at their work. There ought to be an understanding of the factors that leads to their motivation as they are not the same as the ones for the older employees. This is due to the fact that these people who are categorised in the generation Y are viewed to be independent to the other older employees and at the same time transient (Hor et al, 2008, p.8). There are several benefits and risks that are associated with the employment of generation Y employees into the firm. On the positive side, generation Y employees have the capability of delivering very strong and candid performance in their duties if they are offered the right leadership and management that favours them. On the other hand, there is the danger of the gap of the age groups between the older employees and the generation Y employees. This is due to the fact that the generation gap in their ages poses a great challenge to both the older managers and employees and the generation Y employees. There tends to be a failure in understanding by the older members of the firm the reasons why members of the generation Y behave and act the way they do (Dorsey, 2009, p.4) Another benefit that comes in with the employment of generation Y into Ampcontrol is in the fact that people belonging to this generation are very intelligent on matters of technology. Their intelligence can be used in a manner that would be beneficial for the overall development of Ampcontrol. The firm would have to come up with an environment that would be appropriate to harness this talent and intelligence. This would aid in the coming up of innovations that would lead to the coming up of new and unusually exciting products at a level of production that would be defying to containment. This would favour Ampcontrol in terms of increasing innovation on its products for their clients even more that what it has been doing. The risk that is posed with this technological intelligence owned by the generation Y employees is that if not harnessed well, they may disappear in a fast manner. Additionally, this intelligence might end up to be used in a counter organisational manner that would be detrimental to the firm (Amar, 2002, p.30). Conclusion The group making up the generation Y is a large one in the market. Due to the current shortage of engineers in the market, it would actually deem inevitable for Ampcontrol to employ people belonging to this generation. These individuals are often viewed by most employers to be bright people who are also individualistic. They are also viewed to be sceptical and aware of the social undergoing. Individuals belonging to this generation are more concerned about the truth about a firm that they are going to work for than what employers try to make the firm appear (McTague, 2001, p.57). They are difficult to maintain and keep. Due to this, it would be in the best interest of the firm to come up with strategies and a work environment that favours them. It would also be fundamental for the firm to ensure that it comes up with innovative ways to keep them engaged in their duties in a way that they would enjoy. This would ease both management’s and the other older employees struggle to cope with these young generation Y employees. References Amar, D. A. (2002). Managing Workers: Unleashing Innovation and Productivity. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Dorsey, J. R. (2009). Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Publishers Hor, J et al. (2008). Finders Keepers: How to Attract and Retain Great Employees. Sydney: CCH Australia Publishing Limited. McTague, T. S. (2001). Hiring In Good Times and Bad: A Comprehensive Guide to Entry-Level Staffing. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Meares, J. (2012). Reality Bites: Gen Y's Tougher Than You Think. Retrieved on 15th March 15, 2012 from http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/management/reality-bites- gen-ys- tougher-than-you-think-20111107-1n2ij.html Sheahan, P. (2005). Generation Y: Surviving (and Thriving) with Generation Y at Work. Victoria: Hardie Grant Books Publishers. Vaiman, V. & Vance, C. (2008). Smart Talent Management: Building Knowledge Assets for Competitive Advantage. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Read More