Ryan Stephens Marketing

Just because you’re the boss…

…doesn’t mean you need to yell or be abrasive to get your point across.

…doesn’t mean I can read your mind and write/design/build something based on your vague parameters.

…doesn’t mean you can’t get in the trenches and get your hands dirty.

…doesn’t mean you have to be perfect or know everything.

…doesn’t mean we want to hear all your random stories unrelated to work more than once.

…and choose to have no life doesn’t mean that your employees hate their nights and weekends.

…doesn’t mean you have to fly first class or get picked up in a Towne Car.

No boss is perfect. [Wait, is Jason Fried? Brazen Careerist is hosting a free webinar with Fried, 37signals founder and best-selling author of the book Rework today at 11am EST. You can sign up here.]

Employees don’t expect you to be. Chances are you’re the boss because you have a wealth of knowledge, experience, or both. Most employees would love to acquire a bit of both under your tutelage so…

… be patient when we have questions. Especially good ones.

… refrain from yelling (unless we’re one of those knuckleheads that only respond to that).

… provide constructive criticism. “You did (this) well. I feel you could’ve done (this) better. Here’s how I think I would’ve approached it.” I’ve never found a more successful formula.

… give ample direction so that we have a good feel for what you want us to accomplish. If we look lost, we probably are. We’d rather only do it once too.

… pull up a chair, brainstorm with the team, lend a hand. We’ll have a lot more respect for you. (My current CEO unloads furniture off trucks with the warehouse crew).

… admit when you don’t know something. Don’t get intimidated when an employee is more knowledgeable about something than you. That just means the team is stronger. You should be striving to hire people good enough to take your place eventually anyway.

(I see so many bosses trying to surround themselves with young, subservient employees that will suck up to them, won’t challenge the status quo, keep their heads down, and just be thankful for a job. Is there anything worse than an egotistical boss?)

… act like our boss. Maybe you can be our friend too, but that’s a fine line. We’re probably not inviting you to happy hour and we don’t want to hear an abundance of your personal stories in which you try to impress us. They don’t, and we certainly don’t care once you’ve recycled it multiple times.

… we’re all for working hard and paying our dues (eh, this is probably debatable for half the workforce), but there has to be some semblance of balance. Don’t get cranky on Friday afternoon because we’re anxious to go out with our friends and you’ll be working Saturday (by choice). And please don’t call us on our days off unless it’s important.

… transport yourself to your heart’s content, but I still think it’s dumb.

I haven’t been in the workforce that long so most of these I’ve collected via friends horror stories, but I do think that some of these solutions are fairly universal. I also think ego is often the root cause of a bad boss.

I want to hear what you have to say. What are things you’ve experienced that really turned you off/hindered your ability to do well? What solutions would you offer? If you’re a boss, how do you combat these negatives? How is your approach different? Where am I off base?

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This post isn’t justifying why you should job hop. Instead the intent is to explore some reasons why Generation Y bounces from job to job early in their career.

1.) Gen Y is inherently entitled.

If you’re in the tiny subset of rockstars in our little social media bubble, chances are you’re doing what you can to separate yourself from your peers. I know you are tired of hearing it, but you shouldn’t care because this doesn’t apply to most of you.

The truth is our generation IS totally entitled. People ask me all the time to connect them with X or give them a recommendation IF the salary is good. I have an idea. Get A job first, and then seek out that perfect fit with the fat paycheck and comfy benefits. Unless Mommy and Daddy are super rich this is the approach you should try.

Part of being a young worker, particularly in this economy, is grinding it out for a bit. You’ll be glad you did one day.

2.) Gen Y genuinely does want to make an impact, be challenged, etc.

Maybe it’s the entitlement talking, but Millennials really do yearn to make a difference. If their current employer is not providing this they’ll look to jump ship.

This young generation of workers are very educated and they want the chance to show what they can do. Running copies, fetching coffee and only doing grunt work that adds little to no value to the company is one of the fastest ways to frustrate a hungry young worker.

If you want to keep someone, give them work that matters.

3.) Companies are significantly less loyal than they used to be.

Too many Gen Y employees watched their parents get canned after years of loyal service to the same company. We’re witnessing big companies let great people go just because they can get cheaper labor to do work that is “good enough.” If they don’t take good care of employees after a decent amount of time (a year perhaps?), they SHOULD seek to hop around a bit.

If you work your tail off for a year, teach yourself lots of new things, assume more responsibility and bring in new business you would like to think your superiors would acknowledge that. And yes, that’s what supposed to do, but is a pat on the back too much to ask? A little extra flexibility? A small bonus?

Positive reinforcement does wonders for loyalty.

4.) Younger employees don’t know what they want or how to get it.

I think this might be the most common of the four reasons. Younger employees aren’t yet seasoned at the job search/interview experience, nor do they really know what they want to do often times. They often get in situations that are terrible fits because A.) they didn’t get a good sense of the culture/work, etc. or B.) they were terrified of this economy and took a job to pay the bills while they found the ideal fit.

I see it happen everyday. I get e-mails about it from people who’ve fallen into the trap. They go, they interview, they didn’t ask the right questions. They got excited because the company wanted them, and they forgot to ask themselves if they wanted the company. (Which doesn’t always matter. See #1)

This invariably leads to, “Hey I better take this job even though it’s not a good fit, because it will pay the bills until I find something that IS a good fit.” And I’m not sure there’s anything necessarily wrong with that. Who knows? It could turn out to be a great fit. You could make it a great fit.

I always thought employers would scoff at a job hopper, but I’ve actually found the opposite to be true with respect to young workers. Often times, a good hiring manager/HR person understands, and even experienced a similar path themselves.

What do you think? Are these valid reasons for the Generation Y job hopping epidemic? What are other reasons you’ve switched jobs?

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“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” — Epictetus

You can complain about long hours…

      …or you can choose to value your free-time more.

Your job might not be the perfect fit…

      …but it might make you appreciate the next one even more.

You can complain that your boss is arrogant, manipulative, and incompetent…

      …or you can take mental notes on how not to act for when you become a manager.

You can whine about annoying co-workers…

      …but you’d be better served to learn how to deal with all walks of people.

You can complain that you’re underpaid…

      …or you can learn to budget your money better and appreciate a less cluttered lifestyle.

You can get worn down by the grind…

      …or you can choose to feel self-satisfaction and a sense of pride for pressing on.

The bottom line is that you can choose to let yourself get discouraged, frustrated and beat down…

      …or you can react by finding the silver lining.

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