Last week I wrote about younger workers’ career impatience and suggested ways employers could keep them engaged to stay longer.

We discussed this generation’s need to “make a difference” and desire to know where they fit in.  I cited the  JFK and the janitor story (while visiting NASA, JFK asks a janitor, ”What’s your job here?” the janitor responds, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.”) to illustrate the importance of every worker –younger ones especially— knowing their part in the larger picture.

This week I want to share a personal example about how I tried to engage new hires (of all ages) and why you should too.

One of my favorite jobs in my HR career was working for a newspaper for almost a decade.  Times were good in the industry, before the Wild West of digital media overtook journalism.

During every new employee orientation,  I would take the small group on a walking tour of the building.

First, we’d visit an area housing the gigantic, 3-stories-high press machine. They’d see workers with grease and ink-stained hands tending this mechanical beast that cranks out thousands of papers per hour.  Then off to the warehouse, where the newsprint paper rolls were so large and stored so high only a forklift could move them. Then over to see how the already-printed, folded papers -moving on separate conveyer belts- got bundled for delivery.

Next, we’d walk by the newsroom with reporters and photographers busy at their computers. Then to the sales department, where people sold ads that paid for news gathering.  Then to graphic designers who created the ads, and then on to the phone room where reps in headphones took classified ads.

By the end (I left out a lot), each new employee  (reporters, ad sales reps , mechanics) would know the basics of the newspaper: how the news is gathered; written and edited; how the ads bring in the revenue; how the paper gets  printed and gets distributed.

New hires not only knew our interdependence, but also knew the role they played and how they  contributed to the whole.   Employees would later tell me the tour had made their job more meaningful.

So what’s your company’s equivalent of my tour?

Regardless of size or type of business,  whether you provide a service, sell a product, or serve a cause,  -if you’re trying to engage younger workers to have patience and stick around for more experience– DO come up with a way you can make workers feel proud, engaged and valued.

Just like that janitor at NASA.

©Copyright Eva Del Rio

Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to [email protected]