An Uncomfortable But Interesting Conversation Around Young People and Paychecks

By Grant Sheehan

Sometimes the most interesting conversations at a conference aren’t the ones on the agenda.

They happen over breakfast, in the hallway between sessions or sitting around a table with  people who have spent years running businesses and managing people.

That’s where this conversation started for me at our conference in Tucson.

We were talking about hiring young people, and a familiar concern kept coming up. Employers  are finding that some young people entering the workforce don’t have some of the basic skills  that used to be expected when someone walked through the door for their first job.

How do you answer a telephone professionally? How do you write a business email? What does  it mean to be on time? How do you take direction? What do you do when someone tells you that  your work needs improvement?

And perhaps the question that generated the most discussion was this: Do some young people  today believe that simply showing up for work entitles them to a paycheck?

The Question Worth Asking

It’s an uncomfortable question, but I think it’s one worth asking.

A paycheck, after all, isn’t really a reward for occupying a chair for eight hours. It’s  compensation for doing a job, accepting responsibility and contributing something of value.

But as we talked about it, I also found myself thinking about the other side of the equation: Who taught them?

A lot of young people have never really had a job. They may have never had to call a supervisor  and explain why they’re going to be late. They may never have had someone depend on them to  show up at a certain time. They may not know how to deal with an unhappy customer, how to  admit they made a mistake or even how to ask what they should be doing when they finish their  assignment.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re lazy; sometimes it just means nobody has taught them yet.

Employers & Their Responsibility

And maybe that’s where employers have some responsibility, too.

If we’re hiring an 18- or 20-year-old, we probably shouldn’t expect them to walk through the  door with 20 years of work experience. We have to teach them some things that may seem  obvious to us.

Teach them how to answer the phone. Teach them how to write an email. Teach them how to  talk to a customer/member who is upset. Explain why being five minutes late matters when someone else  is waiting to go home. Show them what professionalism looks like.

But teaching doesn’t mean lowering the bar.

If anything, I think young employees need to know where the bar is. They need to know what’s  expected, why it matters and what happens when they don’t meet those expectations.

And that also means talking to them about their progress along the way.

Don’t Wait

Too often, we wait for the annual performance review to tell someone how they’re doing. By  then, you may be telling them about things they did six, nine or twelve months ago. That’s not  particularly helpful to a young employee who is still trying to figure things out.

Why not talk about it quarterly? Or even more often when someone is new?

Sit down with them and ask, “How do you think you’re doing? Here’s what I think you’re doing  well. Here’s where I think you need to improve. These are the things I need from you, and these  are the things you told me you wanted to accomplish.”

That gives both sides a chance to see whether they’re moving in the right direction.

It’s not about constantly looking over someone’s shoulder. It’s about making sure they don’t  spend a year heading down the wrong road before someone tells them they missed the turn.

And that’s especially important in a credit union.

What is Expected

We’re dealing with people’s money, their personal information and sometimes some of the most  important financial decisions they’ll ever make. A member walking into a credit union doesn’t  know whether the person helping them has been there for 10 years or 10 days. They simply  expect to be treated professionally and with respect.

The first job also shouldn’t be viewed simply as a way to collect a paycheck. It ought to be a  place where you learn how the working world actually works.

You learn that sometimes you have to work with people you don’t particularly like. You learn  that not every job is exciting. You learn that mistakes happen, but you have to own them. You  learn that if you want more responsibility, you have to first prove that you can handle the  responsibility you already have.

And eventually, you learn something pretty important: people begin to trust you.

When Things Start to Change

That’s when things start to change.

The young employee who consistently shows up, does what they’re asked, learns from their  mistakes, takes an interest in the business and can be counted on becomes valuable. And when  you’re valuable, opportunities tend to follow.

Maybe that’s what stayed with me after that conversation in Tucson.

Young people have some things to learn about work. But employers have some things to learn,  too. We can’t complain that young people don’t know how to work and then expect them to  somehow figure it all out on their own.

Teach them. Give them a chance. Set the expectations. Check in with them along the way. Let  them know where they’re succeeding and where they need to do better. Don’t wait until the  annual review to have a conversation that could have helped them six months earlier.

What to Do if We’re Serious

Because if we’re serious about developing the next generation of employees and leaders, the goal  isn’t just to tell them whether they succeeded or failed.

It’s to help them understand what success looks like—and give them a chance to get there.

The paycheck is important, but it is not a prize!

But learning how to earn it, and becoming someone people can count on, may be worth a whole  lot more.

Grant Sheehan is CEO of the National Council of Firefighter Credit Unions.