Gen Y High Turnover Rate

I feel that Drucker's thoughts on how employees should be managed as volunteers is extremely important for the Gen-Y generation.  It seems that it is the norm for young educated employees to leave their jobs after only a few years.  I graduated just 3 years ago, and plenty of my classmates have already had multiple jobs where they have always left their job for another.  I found an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on how Gen-Y workers may be hurting themselves with this trend.  They found that it costs companies 15,000 to 25,000 dollars to replace Gen-Y employees when they leave the company (Marte).  And this cost can give negotiating power to the employee to reward them for staying with the company.   

One consulting firm surveyed its workforce to figure out why the younger employees were leaving after a short duration while older employees stayed loyal.  They found several things to change in order to retain more employees.  Mainly, they were trying to maintain the satisfaction of the employees.  Many companies have started using mentoring programs and providing feedback on job performance more (Marte).    Drucker mentions the success of nonprofits and explains volunteers are assigned both a mentor and a supervisor with whom they work out their performance goals (Drucker, 48).  These companies are adding these mentoring programs and performances goals and evaluations just as the successful nonprofits in order to give their employees more purpose and thus more satisfaction in the job.

I am a Gen Y employee and when it is time for performance evaluations and I am excited about it and I really get enjoyment about out of the process.  The older generations, in general, tend to think it is a big waste of time.  Our company has a mentoring program for new hires, but it is week and unstructured.  I really do think that a more structured and involved mentoring program could help with Gen Y retainment, helping more employees to believe in the organizations purpose.

There are many factors for the high turnover rate of Gen Y employees, but employers should look to volunteer organizations as examples to keep employee satisfaction high.  It would be beneficial to the businesses to retain their employees.



Marte, Jonnelle.  "How Gen Y workers miss out on money, perks" Market Watch.  The Wall Street Journal.  Aug 15, 2013.  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-gen-y-workers-miss-out-on-money-perks-2013-08-14

Drucker, Peter F. (2001). The Essential Drucker. New York, NY: HarperCollins

Success of non-profit for caddy scholarships

While reading chapter 4 of Drucker, which gives great praise to nonprofits and their successful business practices, I immediately thought of the success of the Western Golf Association and their business model (Drucker 2001).  For some background on the WGA, which was founded in 1899, they run a few small tournaments and most notably the BMW championship, which is the second to last tournament in the FedEx Cup playoff for the PGA in September.  The tournament was played in Carmel last year at Crooked Stick GC and it is going to be played at Conway Farms in northern Illinois this year.  The WGA used to run the Western Open until the PGA started the FedEx Cup playoff a few years ago, which was almost always at Cog Hill CC in Lemont, IL.  I have been to this tournament every year since I could walk.  The main thing that the business does it give scholarships to caddies with high standards in academics, extracurricular, volunteer work, leadership roles, and from low income households.  These caddies must meet all of these criteria.  There are Evan Scholars houses at 14 universities, mostly in the Midwest, that the scholars stay at (WGAESF.org).  The houses do activities and charity work similar to other fraternal organizations.  From the ones that I have seen, they are one of the nicest houses at the schools  I have friends and family that have received the Evans Scholars scholarship or are associated with the foundation in some way.  So I have gotten to know the Evans Scholars foundation over the years. 

The business has officers, a board of trustees and a board of governors that are donators, volunteers, and mostly Evans Scholars themselves.  They are successful business that are volunteering their time and money for the cause.  These boards are the "managing' organ of the corporation" (Drucker, 2001)  Drucker mentions having a function board and with a lot of knowledge of business and management are the reasons for the success of nonprofits.  Of course, they have the CEO, VPs and other management as well.

One of the great things about this company, is that they are giving these scholarships to high achieving individuals that know the value of money because they came from low income families.  These individuals are graduating from college debt free and are usually very successful when they enter the job market.  The scholars are so appreciative of the aid received from the foundation that they are some of the most prominent donators into the foundation as well as volunteers of their time and efforts. 

Another great thing about the business is the recognition to the people that support with their time, effort, money, and usage of their managerial expertise.  They give green blazers to the deserving individuals and recognize them as Directors with ceremonies giving some level of prestige.  The business and volunteers spend much of their time running events to promote the foundation and get donations.

Last year the supporters donated a record $18.8 million in 2012 (WGAESF.org).

I feel that if Drucker would have high praises towards the business of the Western Golf Association if he had examined it.

Below is their mission:

The Western Golf Association's championships rank among the oldest and most prestigious in the United States. We use our tournament legacy and reputation to further our charitable mission: the Evans Scholars Foundation, which awards college scholarships to caddies from modest means.

Drucker, Peter F. (2001). The Essential Drucker. New York, NY: HarperCollins

Western Golf Association, Evans Scholars Foundation.  2013. WGAESF.org