Young workers are seeking more demonstrative feedback from their employers.

That was among the messages conveyed Thursday by The Persimmon Group founder and CEO Bill Fournet, who was keynote speaker of the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s State of Workforce and Talent event at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tulsa-Warren Place.

“For a lot of us (leaders), we came in at a time when we were fairly unified in our technologies, in our media, in our conversations,” Fournet said. “We were pretty common in some of our mores in society.

“We can’t assume that anymore. So, you need to be focusing on, instead of just telling them what they are doing wrong at times to try to improve performance, increasing their knowledge of what ‘good’ looks like.”

Fournet and a pair of business-laden panels entertained a crowd of about 400 people at the State of Workforce and Talent, a signature Chamber gathering that convenes area education institutions, career tech and workforce training partners to learn about trends, innovation and opportunities in the talent and education ecosystem.

The event also celebrated National Intern Day with three videos focusing on interns working locally

This is the first time in American history that four generations -- Gen X; Millennials; Gen Z and Baby Boomers – are toiling side-by-side in the workforce.

Fournet compared the attitudes and work habits of the age groups, spending considerable time on Gen Z-ers, people born between 1997 and 2012.

“Things like the Parkland (Fla.) massacre have really shaped profoundly this generation,” he said of the 2018 high school shooting that killed 17students and staff. “There is real frustration coming from them toward the older generations in the sense that their view is the adults aren’t making change. And change needs to be made. So, get out of the way and let us lead.”

Fournet also moderated a four-person panel on the multi-generational workforce.

“For myself and most Gen X-ers, I’ve been paid to do work since I was 10,” said panelist Liz Brolick, general manager at ProRecruiters. “So, I don’t need you to give me specific play-by-play, blow-by-blow directions. Tell me what the goal is, what the outlook needs to be. Give me boundaries that you need me to work within, and I just want to go and get it done.”

Brolick added that flexibility is important.

“Early career, I was go, go, go, go, go; sixty, 70 hours a week…that was normal for me,” she said. “I’m at a point now where I’m not going to miss my kids’ stuff. We’re coming up on the last of their things, and I missed a lot of their firsts, so I’m not going to do it anymore.

“I value organizations that allow me to do that.” 

Reagan Mitchell, member engagement manager at 36 Degrees North, graduated in May 2020, just as COVID-19 was beginning to take holdand stay-at-home work dominated.

“My first job was like me on my couch watching Tiger King,” she said. “…I do think sometimes people my age, when they say what they need, they say I actually only want to come to work when I want to. And then you don’t really want to.

“Flexibility doesn’t mean I get to do an a la carte. Flexibility means I’ma person before I’m a product.”

Rue Ramsey, vice president of workforce and talent strategies for the Chamber, moderated a second “Skills for the Future” panel.

Leonelle Thompson, manager of early career development at Williams, said empathy and resilience are essential qualities for employees, as well as the ability to cope. Joel Dougherty, vice president of human resources and environmental health, safety and security at NORDAM, said patience also is key.

Thompson added that workers need to prepare for ambiguity in the workplace.

“I was in higher ed for about five years, and in education, we usually have a rubric,” she said. “This is a paper. If you get all these points, you’ll get an A. We don’t have that in the workplace.

“That does confuse a lot of our interns, and a lot of our new hires. Somebody asked me that: ‘What’s my rubric?’ Give us the chance to have the conversations and talk through how you can get there as opposed to backing us into a corner so we say ‘no.’ Then you don’t know how to cope with that and then it gets really weird.

“It’s just making sure they know the real world is not based on a rubric or ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.”