How can supervisors correctly adjust to the needs and motivations of diverse employees? Why is it important that they do so?

Diversity comes in many shapes and sizes. We often think of race and gender as the primary forms of diversity, but diversity of age is also prevalent throughout the workforce today. Just as assumptions are often made about older employees, assumptions are also made about younger employees, particularly those who are part of Generation Y (Gen Y), also referred to the Millennial Generation. This generation includes people born between the 1980s and the early 2000s. And Gen Y employees are often subjected to stereotypes in the workplace. Supervisors may accept as fact that Gen Y workers are disloyal and lazy. These are common assumptions made. Supervisors may not even do this consciously; it is all too easy, however, to generalize and draw conclusions based on what you think you know.
To diffuse this potentially problematic situation, global food and beverage giant PepsiCo has worked to bring diverse generations together and to promote understanding and growth among its employees. To that end, PepsiCo has created a mentoring program called Conn3ct, which enables younger employees to share their ideas with more senior staff—with the knowledge that they will be heard and taken seriously, which is something Gen Y workers are said to strongly desire. PepsiCo also benefits from this program. It is able to use this young talent network to support its recruiting events and to help orient new, younger employees joining the company. One unanticipated, but perhaps equally important, benefit is that it also lets supervisors get to know their younger staff better and to see what they really have to offer. Supervisors can see that their younger employees do not always conform to the stereotypes.