1. Saying that the employee is on salary. Understand that even salaried workers must be paid overtime IF their jobs meet certain exemption criteria. Put simply, if they are not entrusted with very many independent decisions, then chances are they may qualify for overtime.
2. Saying that longer hours are already in his/her contract. Some employers try to avoid paying overtime by ‘building’ extra hours into employment contracts. Note though, employees can’t ‘opt out’ of overtime pay.
3. Saying that he/she already makes a lot of money. White-collar workers who earn more than $100K per annum and meet the ‘independent judgment’ criteria are ineligible for overtime ONLY if they make at least $455 per week in guaranteed salary. In most cases, bonuses don’t count.
4. Saying that he/she is an outside sales rep. Outside sales persons are generally exempt from overtime pay. However, if they spend more than half their time in the office, they may actually qualify.

Employees … know your rights. Employers, treat your employees right!

So how do you older workers deal with your co-workers that you refer to as “Generation Y slackers” … and get them working the way you used to work when you were their age? Here are a few pointers:

• Try to understand them. Get to know those that work closely with you, try to see what makes them tick and how their minds work. It will go a long way towards helping to guide your decisions and mental processes as it relates to dealing with them on a daily basis.
• Think idealism and mentoring. Some Generation Y-ers are leading the charge on going “green”. Work with their strengths … look for areas of particular interest to them such as recycling.
• The reality is that they are typically high-performance. Understand that this generation stands to be the most productive of all prior, so yes they may seem high-maintenance, but that will typically come with high-performance, so try to find the balance.
• They are typically tech savvy, and this usually brings more pluses than negatives. Find the way forward with this in mind.
• They are typically most productive in environments where creativity and independent thinking are looked upon as positive and appealing. Where possible at all, this should be included in the way forward for your department / company.
• They have financial smarts and care about benefits such as 401(k) retirement plans. Use these benefits as motivators for Generation Y-ers.
• They typically like to multi-task, and don’t like to stay too long on any one assignment. Challenge them in this regard.
• Be flexible. Yes the standard was to wear a tie or heels when you were their age, but if these dress code requirements are simply just that, and presentation is not that critical (for e.g. they don’t interface with clients / customers), then you should consider relaxing the dress code. Not go grunge .. but make it less stiff and more comfortable / relaxed.

Basically you should look at Generation Y-ers as Generation X on steroids. Some may seem like “slackers”, but ultimately Generation Y employees can be a powerful force in your department / office … more powerful than all other classes of workers. Set the bar high, motivate them and reward them well, and you should be seeing a serious improvement to your bottom line. We hope the tips above were useful.