千禧一代职场新人的培养之道

    该报告指出，强生公司（Johnson & Johnson）为千禧一代设立了团队，作为年轻员工的教育、职业成长和交际资源。据报告显示，索迪斯集团（Sodexo）拥有i-Gen员工网络团队，提供网络、社交媒体培训、辅导机会和职业管理培训。

    企业租车公司（Enterprise-Rent-a-Car）制定了内部晋升政策，因此，他们的培训计划必须为渴望建议的年轻员工提供指导和反馈意见，这对培训计划至关重要。因为这一代员工从小就已经习惯了生活中充满了各式各样充实的计划。负责人事招聘的企业租车公司高级副总裁玛丽•阿蒂姆称：“我们根据他们的需求调整了培训方案，提供结构更清晰的培训环境。”

    企业租车公司已经开始培训实习生应该掌握的具体技能。比如说，如果他们想学习如何管理一个车队，满足客户的需求，经理就会指出这属于物流管理的经验。她解释说：“我们在一线业务环境下进行培训，表面上看来，员工可能是只在履行自己的职责。”

    这些措施，加上根据几代人的不同视角进行的教育和培训，都有助于管理者和千禧一代尊重彼此的差异，而不是把这些差异看做彼此之间的障碍。劳伦•斯蒂勒•瑞克林和其他职场专家都表示，外界对Y世代的刻板成见通常都是源于误解。

    芝加哥培训服务公司JB Training Solutions总裁布拉德•卡什开办了名为“哥们，要我做什么？”（Dude, What's My Job?）的培训班，帮助经理人更好地理解和管理千禧一代的员工。卡什说：“他们可能是世界历史上最容易被误解的一代人。”

    就外界对千禧一代以自我为中心、雄心勃勃的抱怨而言，他们只是希望在职业生涯中尽早肩负巨大的责任。年长的经理人希望年轻员工像他们当年一样，做好本职工作，保持低调，等待升迁。

    但是，这些年轻员工亲眼看到他们的父母丢掉长期工作，任何工作职位都看起来岌岌可危。咨询顾问布鲁斯•图尔甘著有《不是人人都能夺冠》（Not Everyone Gets a Trophy），这本书介绍了管理Y世代员工的方法。图尔甘说，他们并不指望从第一天开始就管理组织。如今的职场更不稳定，他们只是希望能够掌握在职场立足的技能和经验，能从每份工作有限的时间里有所收获，不断成长。

    图尔甘表示，他们从第一天起就希望能够有所作为，利用组织的资源锻炼自己。他们想建立可以帮助自己的人脉关系。他们想学习对自己有利的技能。他们希望自己的名下能够拥有具体的工作成果。

    Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) created a group for Millennials, to serve as an educational, professional growth, and networking resource for employees. Sodexo offers an "i-Gen" employee network group for networking, social media training, mentoring opportunities, and career management training, according to the report.

    Enterprise-Rent-a-Car has a policy of promoting from within, so it's important for their training programs to offer the structure and feedback that Millennials tend to crave, having lived fully scheduled lives since their diaper days. "We've adapted it to their needs, which is a more structured training environment," says Marie Artim, Enterprise's senior vice president of talent acquisition.

    Enterprise has begun to name the specific skills that trainees are acquiring as they master them. If they're learning how to manage a branch's fleet of cars to meet customers' needs, for instance, managers will point out that it's experience with logistics. "We put it into a business context when, on the surface, it may seem like it's just doing your job," she explains.

    These initiatives, coupled with education and training on the distinct perspectives that different generations are likely to have, can help managers and Millennials appreciate each other's differences rather than viewing them as obstacles. The commonly repeated stereotypes about Generation Y are often based on misunderstandings, according to Rikleen and other workplace experts.

    "They're probably the most misunderstood generation in the history of the world," says Brad Karsh, president of JB Training Solutions in Chicago, whose workshop "Dude, What's My Job?" helps executives understand and better manage Millennials.

    Take the complaint that Millennials feel entitled and are too ambitious, wanting to be given tremendous responsibility early in their careers. Older managers expect younger workers to do their jobs, keep their heads down, and wait for their careers to advance, as they themselves did.

    But these young workers have seen their parents laid off from long-time jobs, making any given position seem precarious. Rather than expecting to run the organization from day one, they merely want to start building the skills and experience they'll need to survive in a working world that is more precarious and built on shorter-term stints at each job, says Bruce Tulgan, consultant and author of Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, about how to manage Generation Y.

    "They want to make an impact on day one and they want to start building themselves up using the organization's resources," Tulgan says. "They want to build relationships that will help them. They want to learn skills that can help them. They want tangible results with their name on them."