I recently wrote my first opinion column in Spanish, for the website of a Chilean human resources consultancy called Conexo.

I met Matías from Conexo when I spoke at the Meetup in Viña del Mar, and he wrote this nice piece about my talk. 

He invited me to write an opinion column for his site. My article is called “Los cambios que ha traido La Generación Y, en el mundo laboral.

The original article is in Spanish. (Thanks Marcelo for your ideas and help with editing!) I back-translated it into English with some help from Google Translate. What follows is the English version.

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Leslie Forman is an American entrepreneur, who in just 27 years has traveled much of the world for her professional development.

She did her first studies at the University of California, Berkeley, then in 2005 through came to Chile to study at the Pontificia Universidad Católica. Then she traveled to China, where she lived four years, working in industries such as consulting, advertising, education and corporate social responsibility.

This year, she moved to Santiago to join a solar energy startup and be part of the government program, executed by Corfo “Start-Up Chile.” She also has served as a independent interpreter for Chinese, English and Spanish.

Generation Y (also called the “Millennials”) refers to the young people born between the late 70′s and mid 90′s. This generation is entering the workforce with different expectations than previous generations.

Marcelo Peralta, a project manager at a finance company in Chile, explains his personal point of view based on his work experience, especially in the last five years.

Generation Y has come to contribute positively to the twenty-first century job market. Characteristics that are worthy of admiration in this segment of the workforce are, for example, the familiarity with new technologies, the latest academic knowledge, openness of mind and thought, languages, etc. and these are positive contributions that are highly appreciated by companies in the modern world.

However, these same qualities could become disadvantages for businesses, particularly for the departments of Human Resources, because for they have become a difficult problem to address and solve. The latter is related to the behavior of Generation Y, whose independence and constant exposure to change, make hiring / resignations very frequent, with the consequent cost for companies.

Many times, the uncertainty of these young employees complicates the planning of more complex, long-term projects. And finally, there are cases in which the personalities associated with these professionals denote lack of commitment towards the company and / or employers.

I am part of Generation Y. I was born in San Francisco, California in 1984. I grew up in an atmosphere of infinite choice and constant feedback. I played water polo, soccer and other sports, with the support of professional coaches.

When I graduated from college in 2006, I entered a professional world that was very different than the environment I grew up in.

I’ve done many different jobs: I taught English classes at a university in China, did a corporate social responsibility internship in the Chamber of Commerce, wrote advertisements for a multinational company, worked in customer service for a software company, and more.

Opening the door of our hutong office in Beijing in 2009, as mom looks on. Is this what the new wave of careers looks like?

None of these jobs have given me the kind of feedback I remember from my experiences in sports. This situation is common among “Generation Y” at work.

I found a novel and simple idea to promote this kind of feedback in a groundbreaking book on the future of work. The book is called End Malaria and its sales raise funds for the prevention of malaria. The book has essays from more than 50 psychologists, entrepreneurs, designers and leading writers, collecting countless ideas to innovate the world of work.

The suggestion that most caught my attention was something very simple authored by Daniel H. Pink. Pink, has written four books about the changing world of work, including his latest creation, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. His essay is called “What’s the Matter With Milennials?”

Here is an excerpt from the essay (as it appeared in The Telegraph in 2010 under the headline “Think Tank: Fix the workplace, not the workers.”)

Kimley-Horn, a large American engineering firm, takes a peer-to-peer approach. At this sprawling 60-office company, anybody at any time can award a colleague a $50 (£31) bonus.

Instead of once-a-year acknowledgment from a boss who may not remember your heroic deeds, these modest bonuses allow colleagues to recognise good work instantly – and that, in turn, can create an environment in which feedback more regularly bursts through the dry sands of office life. Last year, Kimley-Horn employees gave each other nearly 2,000 of these on-the-spot bonuses.

A person’s supervisor must sign off on each award. But ultimately the decision rests with peers, not bosses – which can make the feedback and recognition more meaningful. As Kimley-Horn’s Julie Beauvais puts it, giving employees a way to acknowledge a co-worker “puts the feedback control in the hands of the folks who are closest to the activity”.

The $50 solution would not satisfy all the desires of Generation Y, but is a simple, practical, and economical way to provide more feedback in the office. And that feedback could make a difference.