News You Can Use: Time for Gen Y to grow up and buy up

I recently read news from MetLife that many Gen Y workers lack disability and life insurance and thought, "There go those youngsters thinking they're invincible again."

Less than half (46%) of full-time Gen Y employees have disability insurance, compared to 59% of their older colleagues, and about one-third of Gen Yers have no life insurance, MetLife reports.

Even more disturbing is that MetLife finds 49% of surveyed Gen Y employees are married and 46% have children. I know times are tough (53% of Gen Yers told MetLife they're living paycheck to paycheck), but young workers at least need to be getting basic coverage.

Income protection is important enough when you're single, but when you have someone else (especially little someones) depending on your income, it's time to grow up and buy up, so to speak.

What do you think? Do your benefit communications for disability and life insurance specifically target Gen Y? Are such customized efforts working? Comment and let me know.

Wish You Were Here: Make your company stand out to new grads

Research from TMP Worldwide has tapped into what new grads want from a job. Despite the recession and a corporate environment where layoffs abound, "just lucky to have a job" is not an attitude young workers appear willing to take. On new grads' list of "never, ever will I ever" job points, according to the survey:

71% won’t compromise on training.
52% won’t accept a job with poor work-life balance.
31% refuse to accept a lower starting salary.
33% would not relocate for a job.

To help your company, benefits package and employee communications attract and retain young workers, see extended coverage in EBN:
- Leveraging Blackberries and buzzwords
- "Five Minutes With ..." podcast with Tim Vigue on Gen Y retention
- EBN Web exclusive: What sets your Gen X and Y employees a-Twitter?
- Young even more restless than imagined

News You Can Use: What sets your Gen X and Gen Y employees a-Twitter?

In collaboration with Editor in Chief Kelley Butler's article in the December issue "Leveraging BlackBerries and buzzwords," EBN conducted its own (albeit unscientific) research to figure out how your Gen X and Gen Y employees best communicate.

Following the model set forth in the original study, published by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, we asked a number of employees what terms they most did (and didn't) identify with.

Meaghan Lynch, second year medical student at Boston University

Disciplined: Very
Carefree: Not so much
Family-Oriented: Very
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Not at all.
Charitable: Very
Optimistic: Very

Other words: Happy, honest, social, motivated, practical

---

Gina Anderson, researcher at Corporate Executive Board

Disciplined: Yes
Carefree: Somewhat
Family-Oriented: Not very
Hard-working: Yes
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Yes
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Extremely

Other words: energetic, intelligent, intellectual, organized, and conscientious

---

Alison Noelker, field sales representative at Eli Lilly & Co.

Disciplined: Very
Carefree: Not at all
Family-Oriented: Somewhat
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Very
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Very

Other words: driven, energetic, determined, go-getter, empathetic, loyal

---

Molly Bernhart, associate editor at Fierce Markets

Disciplined: Somewhat
Carefree: Very
Family-Oriented: Very
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Not at all
Technologically Savvy: Somewhat
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Very

Other words: poised/tactful, creative, principled

---

Kristina Libby, U.S. Program Coordinator, Global Entrepreneurship Week

Disciplined: very
Carefree: somewehat
Family-Oriented: not yet
Hard-working: yes
Expensive Taste: relative to my income range
Technologically Savvy: Exceptionally
Charitable: yes
Optimistic: sickeningly so

Other terms: occasionally ambivalent, determined, open minded, fast paced, detail oriented, creative, knowledge hungry, bored with static nine-to-five hours, overachiever

---

In keeping with the idea that the Gen X and Gen Y audience best respond to messages distributed via Web 2.0 material, EBN has also begun distributing its own messages through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, and a corporate blog, the Employee Benefit News Daily Diversion. If you're looking to get up to speed with your own employees, we'd suggest developing a familiarity with our own materials through these free and easy-to-use channels.

Overheard At: Keep those Gen Y Employees

Gen Y employees decide within six months if they want to stay with an employer. Tim Vigue of the Novations group talks about ways to engage employees in a productive manner. For more information, visit "The young are even more restless than imagined" in the October issue.

Tip of the Day

Don't assume Gen Yers that leave your company are lost forever. They may "boomerang" back, if your company culture is right.

News You Can Use: Grads’ salaries spike 7.6%

I’m not sure I understand. New graduates – who have little experience and are most likely to leave your organization after a year or two – are seeing the highest salary increases? Apparently, according to a new survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which shows starting salaries for newbies is up 7.6%. Explain this to me, please.

Scone: At least an iPod comes with instructions

The American Savings Education Council (the nonprofit arm of EBRI) and AARP have released a new report examining the retirement readiness of Gen X and Gen Y workers. The report makes all of the usual observations about these two groups -- among them, that they aren’t saving as much as they know they should, yet remain confident that they will ultimately achieve a secure retirement.

However, the report goes off the rails a bit when it not-so-subtly observes that the younger generations know more about operating an iPod than about saving for retirement. According to the report, 40% of workers age 19 to 39 say they are “very knowledgeable” about how to use an iPod, while just 15% say the same about both saving for retirement and how to invest outside of a workplace plan.

Okay, I admit I’m biased -- as a member of the demographic being studied, I feel the need to defend myself and my generation -- but let’s compare apples to apples here. Putting the complex considerations of investing effectively over the course of decades to prepare for an unfixed date in the future on the same plane as operating a gadget that -- in its tiniest model -- is slightly larger than a postage stamp is unfair and ridiculous.

First, as employees of all ages will tell you, saving for retirement doesn’t come with explicit written instructions, 24-7 tech support and a user-friendly interface like the iPod does.

Second, you only need to learn how to operate an iPod once, and then never again. The instructions never change, unlike the laws, plan designs and investment options surrounding retirement plans.

And third, if you’re using an iPod wrong, you’ll know -- it won’t work. Unfortunately, if employees save ineffectively for retirement, the consequences may not be known until it’s too late.

Perhaps, ASEC and AARP should help employers and lawmakers increase the ease of use and understanding of retirement plans for employees, rather than give the impression they’re shaking their heads, thinking, “Silly youngsters -- can't even navigate saving for retirement.”

Because in truth, no one of any age is saving for retirement well, made plain by paltry overall savings rates as well as a nugget in the survey that says younger workers learned their financial know-how from guess who? Their parents.

Overheard At: Recruit a younger, more mobile workforce

Sadly, our super intern, Dan, has left for the summer, but before he headed back to University of Ohio, he left us this great podcast with Andrea Jackson of IBM. She talks about how to recruit a younger, more mobile workforce.

Scone: You're good enough, you're smart enough. Now get to work!

Here’s something to chew on with your morning coffee:

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but a new survey from Boston-based Novations Group reveals that when it comes to Gen Y workers, your window of opportunity to make a lasting impact is pretty small.

After polling more than 2,500 senior HR execs, Novations finds more than half (51%) believe employers have less than six months to “prove” to Gen Y employees that the company is the best place for them. Even more startling, one-quarter of respondents say they have less than a month.

Good grief! A month? Seriously? Okay, we all know Gen Yers want to walk across the stage straight into a corner office with a view. They want a boss that will mentor them and tell them daily how great they are, all so they can turn around and take said mentor’s job in under a year. And they want a high salary and flexible hours as they save the world one blog, Twitter and text message at a time. Kinda hard to lay the groundwork for all that in 30 days, dontcha think?

Novations Executive Consultant Tim Vigue feels employers’ pain. Noting that Gen Yers “tend to be impatient when told they have to wait and pay their dues, HR departments are seeing unusually rapid turnover among Gen Ys and they’re not sure what to do about it.”

He offers some tips for Gen Y retention, among them explaining how the work they’re doing makes a difference and outlining early on opportunities for them to learn and grow. It’s certainly legitimate advice, and in Gen Yers' defense, no one should stay at a job that truly isn't right for them.

But at what point, if ever, should employers hit these youngsters with a cold dose of reality? That it's not the company that has to "prove" itself to you, it's the other way around? That in this life, you have to work hard to get ahead, and it just might take a little longer than six months?

Vigue blames Gen Yers’ parents for the life affirming messages that have spawned their children’s entitlement attitude. “Gen Y parents taught them they’re special, that they can do anything, and as such should not settle for less than what they deserve.”

I know it’s hard to find polished talent out there, particularly in this economy. But I’m of the mindset that an employer is an employer, not a life coach. I say let the deprogramming begin.

Sites We Love: The Gig

As the Benefits Group's resident Gen Y staffer, I also seem to be the one most interested in learning about what's being written on the Millenials. In addition to some recent coverage (podcasts, articles, and even a Web seminar), I'm absolutely in love with Nadira A. Hira's blog from Fortune Magazine entitled "The Gig."

The Gig covers Gen Y news, geared towards a Gen Y audience. It's an interesting read for those who are members of the Millenial generation, but also for managers and professionals who fit into the X and Baby Boomer categories.

After all, knowledge is one of the first keys to understanding.

FYI: Do you know what buzzword Gen Yers love? Social Networking. Check out our Friday Fray on the subject, tomorrow, July 18, at 1 PM.

Tip of the Day

Have you tried to engage your Gen Y workers in retirement planning and education only to be told they'll TTYL? If trying to create effective retirement messages to reach this generation of texters doesn't have you LOL, click here for help.