Survival Guide
Attracting Gen Y employeesIt's that time of the year when thousands of college and university students say so long to their studies and start looking for jobs -- some just for the summer, while others are starting their careers. |
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Razor Suleman is chief executive of I love Rewards, a Toronto-based company that builds online point-based reward programs designed to increase productivity in companies with 100 employees or more.
He says this is a good time to take a good, hard look at who these graduates are, what they want and what businesses are doing to attract and retain these young employees.
"Generation Y employees -- '80s babies -- know what they want and they aren't afraid to ask employers for it," Suleman says. "This group of smart and talented individuals is in high demand, and if you won't pay attention to their unique wants and needs, another company will."
Suleman, who counts Rogers and KPMG among his clients, explains that most Gen Y kids grew up in a society where most families had just one- or two-child homes.
"They got a lot of attention and a lot of praise while they were growing up," he says. "They had a lot of choices, they have always been plugged in and they want you to communicate with them the way they want to be communicated with."
I Love Rewards hires a lot of those in Gen Y because they are knowledge-based employees, they work hard and they can be energetic.
"I think there's a big misconception out there that this group of people are lazy and have a strong sense of entitlement," Suleman says. "What they really need is a reason to buy in to a strategy and they want to know the bigger picture, not just what they're supposed to do and what's expected of them."
A couple of years ago, Suleman changed how his company doled out vacation time -- the usual two weeks for everyone.
Instead, he altered it to a work year consisting of 48 weeks, meaning each employee gets at least four weeks off work, including 10.5 days off that are used before long weekends.
"This is a generation that works hard and plays hard," Suleman says. "This group largely uses their minds, and they need that time to recharge. We noticed that productivity increased right after we changed our vacation policy."
Another thing that changed is the company's human resources department -- it was eliminated and replaced with an employee experience department that is largely responsible for marketing the company to the best job candidates.
"We had 2,700 applications for just 13 positions -- I'd say we do a pretty good job of getting the word out about our company," Suleman says.
I Love Rewards' average employee age is 29 and the company has been named as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers over the last two years, a designation that Suleman says is a direct result of his company's best practices.
"We have an up or out policy," he says. "One thing we're really good at is putting the right person in the right seat at the right time. Sometimes they have to move into a new seat because they can better benefit the company that way.
"The only way to grow a business is to grow your people -- by giving them challenges and new responsibilities."
His company has an employee retention rate of 94%, so he must be doing something right.
For more information on Suleman's company visit iloverewards.com on the Internet.
Which job-searching mistake have you made?