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Can You Opt Out of Hiring Gen Y?
Written by Buddy Hobart on April 9th, 2010
In the last few days, I have heard a few managers from two different organizations talking about “not hiring twenty-somethings” for job openings that have occurred. Each of these managers have cited a “lack of basic common courtesy” as the reason for not bringing them on board. When we probed into the issue deeper, we realized that each of these folks were repeating input that they’ve received from their team. In other words, their tenured employees simply didn’t want to work with “twenty-somethings.”
After a bit of research, we found that this is not unusual. Frankly, this type of thinking floors me. Not to be rude, but how can anyone allow the inmates to run the asylum? So we are not going to add talent to the team because other team members find it difficult to adapt? By 2025, 75% of the world’s workforce will be Gen Y. Are we going to simply refuse to evolve? I once heard the opposite of evolution is extinction.
Managers (I will not call them leaders) who refuse to infuse their team with new talent and ideas are dooming their team and organization to extinction. It is a statistical certainty that Generation Y will become the workforce of the future. There is no getting around it. Failing to incorporate this talented cohort into the organization is one of the worst managerial decisions a leader can make.
Since it is a statistical certainty that members of Generation Y are the future employees, why would anyone avoid trying to attract and retain the best talent available? I once heard that only a fool would fail to plan for inevitability.
I really don’t have any heartburn over the team members not wanting to hire twenty-somethings, but I have serious heartburn over the manager. A true leader would listen to the feedback and then figure out a strategy to get his team aligned appropriately. A leader certainly would not allow anyone, for any reason, to be discriminated against. A true leader would find a way to blend the talent across his or her team.
Raymond C. Wiley on April 9, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Your refusal to refer to those managers as a “leaders” reminds me of a “60 Minutes” interview that I watched in 1987. The interview was with Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who at the time was 80 years old. She pioneered many breakthroughs in the field of computing and information management, such as developing the first compiler for a computer programming language. She conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of the COBOL programming language, and she is also credited with popularizing the term “debugging”. Her accomplishments and contribution were made in both the military and private industry.
The interviewer asked her what she felt was the key to those teams that she worked on being so successful. Her answer was, “Keeping in mind that you ‘lead people’ and you ‘manage things’. You manage time, budgets, schedules, and inventory…’Things’. But people on the other don’t need to be managed. They need to be led.”
She passed away in 1992 at the ripe old age of 85. Her words on the need for leadership in business made a lasting impression on me at the time, and continue to ring true even today. The managers that you wrote about are stuck on the idea of “managing people”. As you state, a fundamental philosophical change is needed today in order for success tomorrow.
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