Recall their unique skills. In the Indian context, Gen Y’ers have grown up through the spectre of terrorism, cash for votes and the cynicism of post poll coalitions. The prevalence of 24x7 cable has made more obvious than for their parents the injustice and unfairness that can exist in a poor country, but Gen Y has not lost hope.
More numbers than ever have kept the faith in education as the prime mover of advancement. As Bruce Tugan and Carolyn Martin indicated a decade ago in their book, Gen Y “usurps” intellectual authority because they are more education-minded than their older cohorts. The same is true of Gen Y in India now.
Equally relevant in our country, Gen Y is perhaps the most widely travelled and culturally open group we have seen in a country notorious for fine ascriptive distinctions. These are significant strengths, which are often overlooked in the alacrity to be critical of youth.
Bruce Tulgan, in his recent book, Not everyone gets a trophy, concludes that the response to Gen Y is not to say yes to what may seem to be a long wish list, as many managers seem to have been doing, but instead to provide strong leadership. This entails not fooling them about the challenges of the job, to not let problems hang, and also to set high standards for praise.
These rules of thumb are now getting formal recognition as part of HR practice. Well-known management firm Towers Perrin suggests that managers should be highly engaged in personal development of the employees, treat employees directly, offer some immediate responsibility and provide a level of work-life balance.
We at Tata Capital have attempted to leverage our relative newness as an organization to provide an atmosphere more conducive to Gen Y than might have been possible in more entrenched companies. These have included a much greater level of work-time and parent-friendly options as well as enhanced involvement of our Gen Y in hiring programmes. Similarly, a strong focus on the annual goal-setting process as well as frequent and direct interactions between the senior team and younger colleagues have sought to provide the role alignment desired by Gen Y.
Those who are on the wrong side of 40 will probably be frustrated at the extent of maintenance that is required to manage this group. Several managers who themselves have had to grow up within the more buttoned-up world of the 1980s and 1990s will be surprised at the level of freedom expected by Gen Y.
Gen Y is any company’s greatest resource. Arguably the highest returns on equity will occur from managing this group well. Since the boards of directors are expected to maximize returns to shareholders, only an imprudent board would not review the companies strategy to attract and retain Gen Y.
Govind Sankaranarayanan is CFO, Tata Capital Ltd. He will write on issues related to governance. The views expressed in this column are personal. Write to him at ruleofthumb@livemint.com