Dan Hull at What About Clients? is in far closer touch with his nurturing soul than, say, his mirror image, Ernie Hemingway. Yet even Hull has his limits, one of which was surmounted upon receipt of a solicitation from Rosie O’Donnell look-alike, Lisa Orrell. No. not the typical drinks and a cheap motel solicitation that Hull is used to, but one far more insidious. Lisa Orrell wanted Hull to hire her to learn how to Get a Grip on Gen Y.
Hull was intrigued. Far too often, he would think he had some millennial firmly by the scruff of the neck, only to have the wriggle out and run away. Much to his dismay, Hull realized that he misapprehended the type of grip Orrell was talking about. He felt angry. Cheated. Used. Dirty.
Orrell brazenly offered to explain the facts of life to Hull.
The Millennials were raised with unique values, and are turning many corporate cultures upside down. Companies are being forced to reinvigorate their recruiting strategies to reach and attract this generation, and front line managers are having to step up their game to successfully manage, motivate and retain their Millennial talent.
But what are smart companies doing? And what are successful managers and leaders doing to best communicate and engage with their Millennial team members? The short answer: A lot. Visionary companies, large and small, understand the US is facing a significant labor shortage of skilled and educated workers. To remain competitive, it’s critical to attract and retain Millennial employees.
Reading these words, over and over and over, Hull stiffened up like to board. He didn’t begrudge Rosie her chance to scam a buck from whatever source she could, Hull being a died in the wool capitalist and true believer in the virtue of female entrepreneurs. But to usurp his role as visionary was more than he could stand.
Want a vision, Orrell? [photo of Hull at Geeklawyer party deleted]
But Hull, ever the mother-lode of calm and contemplation, was not satisfied with mere visceral visuals. He has chosen to present a counter offer to any entity struggling with the question of how to deal with the slackoisie and to express his thoughts on the receipt of Lisa Orrell’s solicitation:
I would gladly pay $249 just to never get that ad by e-mail again. My course? Starting with the interview, tell new recruits to zip it, listen and take notes. Work-life balance and “I’m special” are officially over.
Good advice. No charge. And new employees may actually do the job for which you’ve hired them without having to give them pretty balloons on Wednesdays. How’s that for a solution.
Discover more from Simple Justice
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I have to defend a Gen.Y probation violator. Would Lisa want to help?
For $249, you betcha.
Sure we’d pay her. But it wouldn’t make any difference, because it has to come from inside, not outside. Control, that is. Doesn’t it?
“the US is facing a significant labor shortage of skilled and educated workers”
Really? ‘Cause the financial industry just laid off about 100,000 of them, and the auto industry is right behind.
Hey, if the “millenials” or whatever prefer to get some of their compensation in the form of better working conditions, good for them. But I can’t see them finding much bargaining traction in this employment market.
WP–Your last sentence. That’s the genius, beauty and joy of the Recession.
Only for the enlightened folks. A middle-level manager who is looking to polish his/her resume to show the ability to squeeze more profitability out of the serfs for the next move when the recession is over isn’t going to care; somebody taking a longer view will understand that while technoserfs are fungible, people remember.
So, basically: yeah.
Wow.
Hull sounds like a doofus. I wonder why so many of us coddled, miscreant slackers are fleeing the hell away from him.
Maybe because we know we can get a similar paycheck from someone who’s not a doofus.
Maybe because we know that even in a bad economy, unemployment checks are better than hypocrisy.
Maybe we know that good, hard work can be done without sacrificing work-life balance, our self-respect, our souls, or our moral and ethical integrity.
When the economy turns around, you and your ilk will be paraded through the streets… or at least your heads will be.
Enjoy the sweet stench of impending failure as many of us ignore your inane ageist babble and start our own companies.
Maybe you need a little more work-life balance. Or do you actually enjoy 8 hours a day away from your children, your significant other? When’s the last time you went to the park? When’s the last time you and your significant other had a picnic over lunch on a weekday?
The view might be pretty sweet at the top, but you’re standing on the backs of your employees to get there – young or old. The measure of a company is how well it treats the lowest of the low. If they don’t support you because they don’t feel supported (and if you’re smarter than a goldfish you know that $$$ just isn’t enough – no matter WHAT the economy looks like, this isn’t communist China for God’s sake) then you’re going to topple faster than a pyramid built of drunken cheerleaders.
Cheers!
Nick Armstrong
I’m a big proponent of work-life balance. But I don’t feel so entitled to it that I would expect someone else to give it to me.
If someone tells me he’s going to start his own business to get the work-life balance he needs, I’ll wish him well — that’s how I did it, how Scott did it, and — I suspect — how Dan did it.
I believe that the Protestant work ethic is overrated, and that America’s 40-plus-hours-a-week office culture stifles inspiration and breeds inefficiency and ineffectiveness. But I would rather work for a living than latch on to the government teat in a bad economy — an economy that only a fool has any confidence will “turn around” anytime soon.
But if you are looking for a _job_ in the current market, you had better look for one that can’t be offshored, and you had better be prepared to work just as hard as the employers want. Because if you’re not, there will always be somebody else who is.
Maybe. Or maybe you’re an “interview coach” sucking up the few dollars mommy gave to skippy to go out and find a real job and get his sorry butt out of the basement, using the child-like promise of “having it all” on a platter, without any effort or compromise of your work-life balance, playing on their feelings of entitlement and low self-esteem? So are you making a good living preying on your own, with plenty of time to enjoy your work-life balance?
Nick, have you ever been on unemployment? Have you ever had to live off an unemployment check as your sole source of income? Have you ever tried to pay for food, shelter, and medical bills out of a shared unemployment check?
I have.
I don’t wish it on you or anyone else.
Shaula,
In the imaginary world of the Slackoisie, they can be very bold, as the worst they will ever endure is humiliating return to Mom and Dad’s basement, eating chips on their Spongebob comforter. Nick doesn’t mean to slight those who suffered and persevered to survive and ultimately succeed. He thinks suffering is when Grey’s Anatomy is pre-empted by a Presidential speech. They just don’t know any better, having never experienced hardship and despair.