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Chuck Underwood of The Generational Imperative Inc. Click image to view a clip from his PBS series, American Generations

“The millennials are going to be great, but not until they have driven us goofy,” says Chuck Underwood during his PBS television series American Generations.

As millennials become a larger part of the workforce, HR managers in all industries are struggling to understand how best to manage them. Underwood’s career is to show them how.

Chuck Underwood is the founder and principal of the consulting firm The Generational Imperative Inc. and a pioneer in the field of generational study.  He provides consulting on generational business for Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola and hundreds of other companies.

“Although the great recession has pounded the millennials, they remain optimistic and idealistic, and they have an excellent career spirit,” Underwood says. Their attributes however, can be both good and bad for the workplace.

Among some of the things employers should know about millennials:

  • millennials are job-hoppers; the average 25-year-old worker has already had six employers.
  • They are good with tech, and they learn new technologies easily and quickly.
  • They are at ease with elders, having come of age surrounded by them.
  • They are environmentally green, and they want their employer to be socially conscious.
  • They have a strong self-esteem, which causes them to have “wildly unrealistic expectations” about entry-level positions.
  • They have a strong sense of immediacy and struggle with tasks that take a long time.
  • They struggle with self-sufficiency.
To help employers sort out how to approach this growing segment of the workforce, Underwood will be at NJBIA’s March 21 Education Equation: Strategies for Retaining New Jersey’s Future Workforce to provide specific, actionable tips, tactics, and guidelines to strengthen success with the millennial generation. Click here to sign up.