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Employers Should Talk To Their Workers In The Style of Language They Understand

Communicating with your boss: Tips for Generation Y

By Katherine Spencer Lee
  • (Computerworld) Like every generation, Gen Y is subject to its share of myths and stereotypes as it enters the IT workforce. Sometimes painted as privileged, technology-obsessed individuals who avoid face-to-face interaction, Millennial workers actually have many basic needs in common with their more experienced colleagues, including recognition, constructive feedback and a healthy relationship with one’s boss. That said, there are some real differences in the communication styles of different generations.
  • If you’re like many of your Generation Y colleagues, you prefer frequent communication with your boss.
  • For the entire article go to ComputerWorld.com

Look, the most important thing about communication is the ability to communicate clearly. You can talk for hours, but if no one gets a word you are saying, then it all goes for naught. If you think this is overly simplistic, think of the jargon used in the business world and the other worlds that are supposed to enable a simpler form of communication. Sometimes sure the jargon works, but just as often in its generic quality we lose precise definition, which can make all the difference.

Since I am hardly a child at this stage of the game, although some may beg to differ, one of the things I have noticed when dealing with younger workers is that you must get to the point. Most are not overly burdened with abundant attention spans, and they have little tolerance for preambles. They may want to talk to you more often, sometimes because the information you provided the first time may have timed out somewhere in mid conversation. This doesn’t make the younger generation stupid by any means, just used to shorter inputs of information.

Whatever age group from which you are recruiting, a background check should be part of your pre-employment screening program. A solid interview, perhaps a psychological assessment and background checks covering criminal, education verification and even Motor Vehicle Records Searches to help determine behavior patterns.

As more than a few have said, let’s not resort to generic slogans as a means to communication. Spell it out sometimes, as if I was in fifth grade. You think you may be wasting time, but in reality you are saving yourself a bundle of it.

Check them out before you hire. Call Corra.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.