Last week, I spent some time out in Dayton, Ohio, speaking at the Executive Directors’ Conference of the National Association of Regional Councils about some of the challenges of recruiting and retaining Gen Yers. NARC is the umbrella group for metropolitan planning organizations and councils of government across the country — i.e., the people in charge of many aspects of urban planning, from transportation to environmental quality.
As cool as it was to appear in front of such a distinguished group, I have to tell you, I wasn’t expecting much. After all, local government and the industries around it aren’t exactly known for their staggering open-mindedness and willingness to change. Not to mention that this audience was our parents’ age. I’m glad to say, though, that I was pleasantly surprised, and extremely encouraged by everything these folks are doing to accommodate Yers. For instance, one gentleman shared how, in his office, every new hire’s first major project is a fundraiser for a major charity, which lets the young people try their hand at a big assignment, builds a great image for the organization, and allows lots of room for learning.
Many asked, though, how they could keep their Yers engaged — and frankly, coming to work — in the face of huge salaries from big corporations trying to poach them. The plans they work on have a huge impact on people’s lives, another attendee said, but is that enough for Yers? I’m inclined to say that, yes, along with lots of exposure to higher-ups’ passion, Yers will choose high-impact jobs like these over high-paying, but perhaps less rewarding, ones. (Leaving aside, of course, debt. The average college grad with loans has more than $19,000 to pay back, so s/he may have to choose salary in the short term.)
But I think the key is seeing the dedication of senior staffers. As psyched as these Boomers were about their work, I couldn’t imagine any Yer I know not finding it a little infectious. This seems to be borne out in the research, which Tamara Erickson — one of our recurring Gig experts and president of the Concours Institute — says shows that Yers value expertise above all else, including authority. Meaning that, a lot of the time, we’ll take the old guy with great stories and good advice over the younger one with a big title. So for those senior folks in the public sector or nonprofit world, retaining their Yers may just be a matter of sharing a few tales about the lives they’ve changed.
Then again, that may just be my own wishful thinking. Especially because, as a writer, I’m something of a sucker for all that touchy-feely stuff. I’d be curious to hear what you all think, though. How could one of these organizations keep you?
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On a related note, I and lots of the older people who write in about The Gig were encouraged by the great response to the activism post last week. But in light of that, I’d be totally remiss if I didn’t point you guys to this piece, “Narcissists in Neverland,” a “web exclusive” from Newsweek last week, the point of which, evidently, is to deride Yers for wanting to “pursue their passions” more than “make lots of money.” (Could be good for the NARC people…)
I’d hoped to avoid writing about this at all, mostly because — and I’m going to go out on a limb here — I found it a little ridiculous and more than a bit irresponsible. But who am I to deny you this kind of comedy? Among my favorite moments (aside from the fact that it uses an anecdote from organizational psychologist Mitchell Marks that appeared in Fortune’s Gen Y story six months ago — how exclusive is that?) was the following: Generation Me author Jean “Twenge has found that the gap between expectation and reality is immense for Generation Y. One example: in 1975, 24 percent of American high-school students believed that they would earn a graduate degree; today 50 percent of high-school students think the same thing. In reality just 9 percent of students both then and now actually go on to accomplish this goal.”
Shame on you people for hoping you’ll get an education! It’s not as if this were America or anything. Plus, young people may be more educated than ever before, but we’re actually going to need them to get more educated to do the jobs soon to be left vacant by experienced retiring Boomers. So keep dreaming, you crazy kids!
And then, there’s the blatant omission of the debt issue. Obviously young people are going home; you’d be going home too if you’d paid what we did for our degrees. And let’s be honest: That’s what our parents wanted us to do. Sure, there are the ne’er-do-wells, but there are also the going-to-do-wells. Supporting them now — even if they want to waste time doing, say, volunteer work — is an investment in the country’s future.
Just ask my own mom, who let me move home for six months after I graduated to see if I could make this whole magazine thing work. I’d venture to say she’d do it again, and barring any unforeseen degeneracy, I don’t have plans to empty her nest egg. And even our resident Boomer expert, Anne Fisher, has advised readers to follow their dreams in lieu of the big cash payoff in her column, so it isn’t just the indulgent moms of the world leading us up this garden path.
There’s so much more I could say, but I have a nice-person rep to maintain. So for the last word on this, visit the wonderful people at Gawker, who always succeed in saying precisely the things I would, if only my mom — narcissism-enabler that she is — didn’t read The Gig. What about you? Is this story unfair, or are we trying to live the impossible dream (and taking advantage of our parents in the process)?