One of the things managers tell me about their young employees nowadays is that they seem to have such high expectations: "They walk in the door with such high expectations!"

That is... if you have hired the right person. Of course, some Gen Yers walk in the door and their goal is to hide out. We call this a 'weigh-station employee' or a 'safe-harbor employee'. If you've got a Gen Yer who wants to be left alone at work, there's a pretty good chance you've hired somebody who is hoping to hide out and collect a paycheck while he or she figures out what they really want to do next. Or that person wants to hide out, collect a paycheck and hope that nobody notices them for a while until they have to move along to somewhere else. If you've got a Gen Yer who doesn't have high expectations, you probably hired the wrong person.

If you've hired the right person, he walks in the door with such high expectations. Managers tell me every day about young people coming in for their first day of work, arriving on the scene saying, "I'm here!"

And the manager says, "Oh, right, we forgot you were starting today."

And the Gen Yer might say, "But don't you remember me from the interview? It's me! It's me!"

And the manager might say, "Oh, I remember you. I just forgot you were coming today. Believe it or not for me this is just Monday. I've been here for twenty years."

And then the classic story you hear about Gen Yers is that they take a list out of their pockets and say, "I've made a list of 17 things we need to change about the company right away and I'd like to lead a task force to make these changes."

And you want to say, "OK. Well, you've been here for about five minutes so why don't you sit here and go over these documents from HR while I figure out where you're going to sit."

So here's the question: Do they really have higher expectations than those of previous generations? The answer based on our research is: "Oh yes, they do." Do they have greater wants and needs? Of course not. See Maslow. They are human beings. I know their parents have been trying desperately to raise a new species of super-humans, but they are still humans. And they have the same basic needs and wants that people have always had. But they do have greater expectations.

The good news is that first and foremost they have greater expectations for themselves. The number one thing, if you've hired the right person, is they want to make an impact. They show up on day one and they want to make an impact. And that's good news!

That's good news. But it's high maintenance.


BONUS MANAGEMENT TIP - HOW TO MANAGE GENERATION Y

IN LOCO PARENTIS: DON'T PRETEND. BE AUTHENTIC. TAKE A STRONG HAND

Focus your relationships with GenY employees on the authentic common interest between you two, which is the work at hand. Focus on playing your authentic role in their working lives: that of a manager. Lead, but don't pretend to be a cheerleader. Sympathize, but don't pretend to be a therapist. Be authoritative, but don't pretend to be a tyrant. You can lead in a demanding and supportive way and be real all at the same time.