10/ 01/ 2004
by Scott D'Entremont
I started my career right out of high school, and oftentimes was the youngest employee on my team. While many questioned my expertise, most were infected with my energy and obvious enthusiasm for the company I represented.
So when I started my own company with my friend, Eric Murray, we decided a youthful energy was critical to getting our then startup off the ground. The raw energy, enthusiasm and ambition younger-minded employees bring to a company drives results and ultimately success. That’s why every employee at our company – from the high school graduate to the 20-year veteran – is youthful and energetic, whether on paper or in attitude. As a management team, we highly encourage these characteristics, because we’ve seen it work.
But managing the younger portion of your workforce requires some thought and careful planning to ensure unity among your staff.
Here are some tips we’ve learned on how to effectively manage younger employees:
Manage expectations -- During the interviewing and recruiting process, create a clear picture of what your company will expect of this employee. Fully explain performance goals, appropriate office behavior, dress code, office hours, etc. This will open the potential employee’s eyes to the job requirements and what it takes to succeed.
Find the passion -- We look for employees, no matter what their age, who have a sincere interest in technology, how it works, what it means for the future and how it can help customers. Younger employees should be excited about the opportunity to learn as much as possible.
Foster business maturity -- Employees in their first real job may never have been responsible for meeting strict goals and might not understand the consequences of actions such as using inappropriate language in a business e-mail. Train employees from day one about your company’s standards to avoid gaffes.
Be socially responsible -- Young workers create lasting friendships with their peers. These bonds can work to your advantage because happy employees mean happy workers. Create regular social events that appeal to this age-group (beach parties, sporting events, competitions) to help foster these relationships.
Create incentives with real-time rewards -- Incentives encourage exceptional performance, especially when you offer rewards on-the-spot. We’ve found younger employees welcome extra cash or gift certificates and are typically spontaneous enough to quickly take advantage of the reward.
Working with a younger-spirited crowd has given my business more rewards than disappointments. Our younger employees bring a fresh perspective, as well as a pure desire to learn, and they offer an infectious energy. The more seasoned employees get immense satisfaction from watching a junior associate grow into an industry veteran. And -- in the spirit of all things young -- it’s not so bad to hold mandatory staff meetings at the beach or a Red Sox game.
Scott D’Entremont is president, CEO and co-founder of Woburn, Mass.-based Netspoke, http://www.netspoke.com Netspoke delivers unified Web and audio conferencing capabilities through its Conferencing HubTM.
