I guess it’s always been true that employees ‘sell their labour but volunteer their commitment’.

I’m sure it’s never been truer than with those highly talented, highly sought after Gen Y’ers. On the basis that research suggests that in ten years time these people (who are currently aged up to 28) will make up the largest proportion of the workforce and that demographic trends suggest that in a few years we will have both a talent shortage and a people shortage, how to recruit and retain these people is proving a major challenge for many organisations.

Clearly this is a complex area. One way of exploring how we may need to adapt our management styles and practices is to probe Peter Drucker’s idea that we have to ‘accept the fact that we need to treat almost everybody as a volunteer’.

So here’s a question:

How would you manage your staff differently if, instead of being paid employees, they were volunteers?

I count myself lucky that as president of my local branch of a national charity I get to ‘manage’ volunteers. Reflecting on how I work with these volunteers compared to how I used to manage my staff I’ve identified some key differences:

1. People have much more flexibility around what they do and when they do it.
2. I thank and praise people much more often.
3. I spend significantly more time with our new ‘recruits’ exploring what motivates them – what their specific interests are, what type of work they feel they are most suited to, etc.
4. I spend more time discussing with people how important their work is, highlighting the value of their contribution in light of what we are aiming to achieve.
5. I use a more collaborative decision making process – all decisions are joint decisions in our group.

Now, I’m willing to accept that this list may say more about my lack of skills as a manager than anything else (and it’s been some time since I’ve managed a significant number of people – think Iron Age) and clearly I’m aware that there are some fundamental differences between both the motivations and responsibilities of paid employees and volunteers.

But it’s not difficult to see how the style of management outlined above could have a positive impact upon an employee’s commitment – irrespective of the generation they belong to.