SAF Wednesday E-Brief - 06/06/2007 (Plain Text Version)
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You're Phenomenal. Now, Get Back to Work.
Do your twenty-something designers deflate if you don't gush over their work? Is your high school help clamoring for "feedback," "guidance" or "reinforcement"? According to The Wall Street Journal, a stream of near-constant praise from parents, teachers and society at large has created a unique breed of workers -- the country's "most-praised generation" -- that expects employers to give them affirmation and direction, in addition to a paycheck. The result? "Bosses, professors and mates are feeling the need to lavish praise on young adults, particularly twenty-somethings, or else see them wither under an unfamiliar compliment deficit." Across the country, employers are responding to the trend, at times "dishing out kudos to workers for little more than showing up." Lands' End and Bank of America, for instance, have consultants to teach mangers how to compliment employees through e-mail, prizes and "public displays of appreciation." Scooter Store in New Braunfels, Texas, employs a "celebrations assistant" on staff "whose job it is to throw confetti -- 25 pounds a week -- at employees" and pass out 100 to 500 "celebratory" helium balloons a week. And, a simple "good job" isn't always enough because there also is "a runaway inflation of everyday speech," Linda Sapadin, a psychologist in Valley Stream, N.Y., said to the Journal. "'Nice' was once sufficient. That was a good word. Now it's a put-down." (Remember that celebrations assistant? The 22-year-old frequently gets end-of-the-day text messages from her boss -- "You were phenomenal today" -- by way of evaluation.) Rolling your eyes yet? Beware: Ignoring young workers' needs for praise may not be a solution. According to the Journal, young workers are so dependent on near-constant feedback, they'll leave a job if they don't receive it. The alternative is that some bosses are embracing, however reluctantly, the new praise culture, according to the story. "[Bosses] need to recognize improvement" Bob Nelson, who counsels 80 to 100 companies a year on "praise issues," explained to the Journal. "That might seem silly to older generations, but today, you have to do these things to get the performances you want." --Mary Westbrook
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