Motivating the PlayStation Generation

John Sylvester executive director of marketing communications company P&MM, outlines strategies to motivate a younger workforce

Communicating is all about the message being received and understood not just about sending it. So with the explosion in digital media over recent years how can we be sure that our messages are getting through to everyone?

‘We need to find a way to motivate the whole team’, is a phrase I have often heard from HR directors when being briefed to produce a motivational programme.

Quite right: companies should want to inspire all their employees to achieve and exceed their best, whether they are the 18 year-old trainee designers or the 64 year old administrator about to retire – and companies who employ a substantial number of 18-30 year olds should look at ways to tailor their motivation communications to make the most of this audience.

Call centres, for example, are often staffed by a young team, one which could be described as the PlayStation generation: they are the first to have had mobile phones, electronic games and the internet at the centre of their lives from a very young age.

Games consoles, computers, mobile phones, iPods and MSN Messenger as well as TV shape the way they think and communicate. Text English, computer game jargon, street culture and internet speak have shaped their language.

The difference is radical and, in reality, to motivate them effectively, communications must use their language and media, either additionally or instead of traditional approaches. Gaining and holding people's attention is now harder than ever.

The essence of the solution is to join the race. Instant gratification is key, which means the motivation programme needs to be based on real-time data and feature interactive elements to gain involvement and buy in.

For instance, we send text messages with dot coded messages to call centre staff. The messages can only be read on a special scanner sited in the centre, which will determine whether they have won a prize.

We've also set up dedicated websites as incentives, with content and blogging areas, as well as structuring online interactive sales incentives and peer nomination programmes using an online product called rewardbanking.com which allows employees the freedom to choose from a variety of rewards to suit their tastes.

Clever motivation programmes have adopted themes and ideas which people perceive as fun. The language has to have more street cred and the themes and ideas need to reflect the culture in which these people live. I've also come across motivation schemes with popular themes adopted from MTV and reality TV.

How do we know it worked? We have the results to show staff retention increased, general performance improved and new targets were met. Greater performance improvement can be achieved simply by tailoring the language and communication methods we currently use.

Giving employees a greater freedom of choice and the right stimulation holds the key to motivating people. Rewards need to be structured to suit the audience and, in this age group, the communication needs to talk their language.