Engaging workers from all generations.

Introduction It is a privilege to provide commentary for the two excellent and timely feature articles about leading the multigenerational - and specifically, the generation Y - workforce in our industry. Part of any chief executive's role is to create a work environment in which each person is able to reach his or her full potential. This effective environment is a key goal in healthcare, whose leaders are tasked to develop strategies that engage their team members. The authors of both articles (Terrence Canili and Mona Sedrak, Llewellyn Piper) categorize generation Y characteristics and discuss the pitfalls of stereotyping. Describing the younger generation in this way is helpful in framing the discussion, but it could be misinterpreted as the older generations' way of labeling (maybe even criticizing) our youth. In this commentary, I offer my responses to each of the articles and share some of the initiatives Henry Ford Health System has implemented to engage not just our generation Y employees but all of our multigenerational stakeholders, including our community. Cahill and Sedrak's "Leading a Multigenerational Workforce" The authors make valid points regarding the differences in how each generation approaches work. Socioeconomic status, however, does complicate this basic assumption. Specifically, members of generation Y are diverse in many ways, including socioeconomic background. While some millennials grew up with "helicopter parents," who were present all the time to defend or support their children and who offered constant praise, others did not receive that level of attention because their parents may have had to be at work. Generation Yers with two working parents may have a different work ethic and level of loyalty and self-reliance than those who had at least one parent available to meet their needs or "hover" at all times. Preferences in "dress, cosmetics, body art and communication patterns" also diverge between millennials and other employee groups. This may explain why the organization's efforts to make policies more liberal are often met with resistance. In addition, many generation Yers believe that they are often not given a good (if any) reason for the requirement to change their appearance. However, generation Y staffers also seek social acceptance, and their ambition motivates them to model success. The lesson here for leaders is that millennials will adopt the styles and behaviors endorsed by the organization if the entire culture is compliant and displays consistent social cues and if leaders allow reasonable flexibility in their dress-code policy. The authors mention a strategy to give employees who are approaching retirement age an incentive to keep working in the organization, on either a full-time or part-time basis. What we suggest is to provide opportunities for retiring employees to mentor their younger colleagues. This is a great chance to capture the senior staffs technical and institutional knowledge and transfer their insights and expertise before they leave. The Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Institute of Medicine, and many other healthcare institutions recognize the value of teamwork in patient care. Much can be learned from younger employees who are veterans in this team structure. Because many generation Yers have been on organized teams since they were in preschool, they gravitate toward working together. However, when these workers enter the workforce, they sometimes find that many of their older colleagues like to work alone or that they are simply not welcomed to participate on already established teams. Younger employees could help them in this regard and, in the process, strengthen the patient care-required team orientation within the organization. As the article states, "millennials see themselves as customers, even in their employment relationships." This mind-set may be the result of their parents and social circle telling them they are "special" or the result of the rise of a consumer-driven society, but it is an expectation that counters the reality in healthcare organizations - where the patients are the customers, and the employees are the providers of services. …