Generation gaps: millennials may be out of touch with the basics of workplace behavior

HR Magazine, Jan, 2008 by Kathryn Tyler

Newly hired millennial employees at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Va., were creating an impression, and it wasn't good. Some were showing up for work in "flip-flops and revealing clothing," says Lori Ann Roth, Ph.D., director of training and development. "The gentlemen were wearing jeans with boxers showing; the ladies were wearing low-cut jeans with thongs showing and spaghetti strap low-cut tank tops."

As a result, Roth continues, "we received many requests [from managers] for a class we call Professionalism at Work. One of the issues covered in the class includes dressing as an office professional and not as a student."

GMU took a proactive approach to integrating millennials into its workforce, an approach that other HR professionals could adapt, if necessary, for the younger employees in their organizations.

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The millennial generation, also known as Generation Y and the Net Generation, consists of 80 million people in the United States between ages 8 and 29. They have been exposed to more technological advances than any previous generation. Most do not remember life without pagers, cell phones, computers or personal electronic entertainment.

As millennials flow into the workforce, they present HR professionals with unforeseen training needs. Unlike new hires of previous generations, who may have benefited from training in diversity or technical matters, experts say, millennials need other types of training--in professional behavior, for example, or in basic writing, confidentiality issues, critical thinking, or how to give and receive constructive criticism.

The Syllabus

Millennials generally account for the majority in a group of new hires, so training in the ways of the workplace during new-hire orientation can be useful for such groups. Among the topics:

* Dressing professionally. Some managers say guidance on appropriate work attire is the training need that surprises them the most. "I did a talk for a donation center recently," says Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University. "The manager said she was interviewing for a receptionist position. Two young ladies showed up for the interview, and she sent them both home because they were showing too much cleavage."

Twenge, author of Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before (Free Press, 2006), says: "You need to explain [how inappropriate attire] hurts your business and the way co-workers relate to each other. It's distracting to other people when they're looking at your navel all day."

* Professional etiquette and good customer service. Raise millennials' awareness of how different behaviors are perceived, says Arlene Arnsparger, co-author of 4genR8tns: Succeeding with Colleagues, Cohorts and Customers (Claire Raines Associates, 2007). Millennials are good at multi-tasking, she says. "It doesn't occur to them that it could be offensive. If you're wearing your ear buds hooked to your iPod while talking to me, as a customer, I assume you're ignoring me."

Arnsparger recommends providing millennials with training in cell phone and technology etiquette. When and where, for example, is it appropriate to make and receive cell phone calls? Are there times when it is permissible to wear an iPod while working? Is it OK to surf the Internet while talking on the phone? How much time should millennials allow for a response after sending a colleague an e-mail or an instant message (IM)? Issues have arisen when millennials have expected an instant reply to a message. Arnsparger advises telling millennials clearly "what is expected of them and what they can expect from others."

For example, GMU's Professionalism at Work course covers e-mail and instant-messaging etiquette in the business world. "We give the class participants five different examples of an e-mail, and they choose which is appropriate," Roth says.

Lisa J. Oliver, vice president for training and quality assurance at PRC, a customer relationship branding company with 14,000 employees, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recommends coaching millennials on customer-service skills such as "how to build rapport, effective word choices and loyalty statements. For example, 'We appreciate your business.... Thank you for calling. Please call again.'"

* Written communication. Many millennials are so accustomed to using shorthand for text messaging--B/C for "because" or BTW for "by the way"--that they may not remember how to spell words correctly.

In business, Twenge says, "you can't spell 'you are' 'u r.' Some people might be insulted when you tell them this, but for many it needs to be spelled out. I've gotten e-mail from students with spellings like that. Preface it by saying, 'You may already know this, but IM shorthand doesn't give a good first impression, even in e-mail.'

"Young people may be surprised to learn that for a lot of older people--even people in their 30s--the impression you give when you use shorthand is illiteracy. I'm not impressed with a student when he uses that spelling. When I hire for my research lab, the one [applicant] who spells correctly is rare and often the person who gets hired."