八零、九零后已經成為工作場所中最大的人口群體。但各個年齡段的經理們都難以找到和這批二三十歲的人建立聯系的最佳途徑。他們的打字動作大多由大拇指完成，上班時耳朵里塞著耳機，瞄著電腦上的五個瀏覽器窗口時還說自己可以正經地討論工作。對于這一代人，許多領導者靠的都是固有印象（請參見前一句話），結果卻發現這些印象要么不對，要么在管理中用不上。

那么，該怎么辦呢？

現在對八零、九零后該使用2.0版管理方法了，它基于由多年經驗和當前數據得出的更細微的差別，其中最突出的見解有三條：

不同的一代人并非不同的物種

就許多重要角度而言，八零、九零后和六零、七零后以及嬰兒潮一代非常像。在IBM最近開展的調查中，只有18%的八零、九零后表示“讓工作和生活達到平衡”是其兩大職業目標之一，在六零、七零后和嬰兒潮一代中，這個數字是22%和21%——這就和既定觀念背道而馳。該調查還指出，和六零、七零后相比，八零、九零后把個人社交媒體賬戶用于工作的可能性較低；此外，在學習新工作技能時，八零、九零更喜歡——注意了——面對面接觸的方式。

文化差異掩蓋了代際差異

八零、九零后有一個眾所周知的壞名聲，那就是一只腳跨在門外，不斷搜索可能提供更好待遇的用人單位。但這一點并非放之四海而皆準。德勤的新研究發現，在秘魯，82%的八零、九零后預計會在五年內離職；在比利時，這個比例則為51%。另一個衡量企業認同感的指標顯示，在拉丁美洲的八零、九零后中，因為和自身價值觀或道德觀相悖而拒絕某項工作任務的員工占比普遍較高。在哥倫比亞，這個數字是71%，在日本則只有20%。

在任何文化中，年齡和性別不同的八零、九零后都有很大差異

在這個群體中，年紀最大的生于1982年，當年的《時代周刊》年度人物是“計算機”；年紀最小的生于2000年，也就是互聯網泡沫破裂之時。本特利大學的研究者指出，在八零、九零后中，年齡較大的人和女性做同一份工作的時間會長于年齡較小的人和男性。同時，就八零、九零后這一群體而言，男性想當首席執行官或公司總裁的幾率（17%）高于女性（9%）。普華永道的研究發現，和八零、九零后中的男性相比，女性更有可能愿意用降薪或放棄升遷機會為代價，換取更短的工作時間。

八零、九零后管理方法1.0版有兩大關鍵失誤：它過于強調這一代和其他代人的差別，而且過于強調這些差別的相似性。對任何一代人的領導者來說，結論都是要接受一個現實，那就是八零、九零后群體的多樣性和你遇到的任何群體都不相上下，而且你需要采取多種多樣的激勵措施，以鼓勵他們貢獻最佳表現。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：詹妮

Millennials have become the largest demographic in the workplace. But managers of all ages have struggled to find the best way to connect with a wave of twenty- and thirty somethings who do most of their typing with their thumbs, work wearing earbuds, and claim they can hold meaningful conversations while monitoring five open browser windows. Many leaders have fallen back on stereotypes about the generation (see the previous sentence), only to find that they’re neither true nor useful in managing.

So now what?

It’s time for Managing Millennials 2.0, based on finer distinctions derived from years of experience and current data. Three helpful insights stand out:

Different Generations Aren’t Different Species.

On many important dimensions, millennials are remarkably like Gen Xers and baby boomers. Contrary to stereotype, in a recent IBM IBM -1.22% survey only 18% of millennials said “managing my work/life balance” is one of their top two career goals, vs. 22% of Gen Xers and 21% of baby boomers. Millennial employees are less likely than Gen Xers to use personal social media accounts for work purposes, says the same research. And millennials’ preferred method of learning new work skills is—brace yourself—face-to-face contact.

Cultural Differences Swamp Generational Ones.

By reputation, millennials are notorious for having one foot out the door, scanning other potential employers for a better offer. But that doesn’t hold true everywhere. In Peru, 82% of them expect to leave their employer in the next five years, while in Belgium only 51% do, finds new research from Deloitte. In another gauge of identification with an employer, the share of millennials who have refused a work task because it conflicts with their values or ethics is generally high in Latin America—71% in Colombia—but only 20% in Japan.

Within Any Culture, Millennials Differ Widely by Age and Gender.

The generation’s oldest members were born in 1982, when Time’s Man of the Year was “The Computer,” while the youngest were born in 2000, when the Internet boom busted. Older and female millennials expect to stay in their jobs longer than younger and male millennials do, say Bentley University researchers. Men of the generation are more likely than women (17% vs. 9%) to aspire to be a CEO or company president, says the same study. PwC research finds that women are more likely than men to say they’d take a pay cut and fewer promotions in order to work fewer hours.

Managing Millennials 1.0 goes wrong in two critical ways: overstating differences between this generation and others, and overstating similarities within it. The takeaway, for leaders of any generation: Accept the reality that millennials are as varied as any group you’ve encountered—and that you’ll need a diverse range of incentives to get them to perform at their best.