Special Report September 13, 2007, 8:45AM EST

The Best Places to Launch a Career

(page 4 of 4)

It has been said that Gen Y needs buckets of praise. In fact, in many cases these folks are looking for honest appraisals of their work. Boeing Co. (BA) (No. 14) is starting to move in that direction. The aerospace giant has one of the lowest retention rates in its industry (59%), and one way it hopes to improve upon this is by teaching managers how to deliver criticism—harsh, if necessary—along with praise. "We're starting to tell our managers that we want them to have very clear and candid conversations with their employees," says Julie-Ellen Acosta, vice-president for leadership development. And that's for employees of all ages. The company is retooling its training to reflect the new philosophy. The goal: more ongoing and personalized feedback and more honesty. "The managers are worried about hurting people's feelings," says Richard Stephens, senior vice-president for human resources. "We want to let them know it's O.K. to have those conversations."

Here's another thing about Gen Y that managers are starting to figure out: Twentysomethings want not just honest feedback but also routine conversations about their progress and their career paths. This generation, says Emory's Hershatter, feels "entitled to have others support them in their efforts to accomplish and achieve." And that means right from the start. Abbott Laboratories (No. 15) recently began an extended orientation that includes goals for the first, second, and third months on the job, as well as the promise of consistent dialogue with managers. "People have the expectation of a more planned and deliberate approach," says Ann Johnston, director of learning and development.

PwC is taking this approach even further. A few years ago the company resolved to let employees themselves decide when during their first 90 days they would sit down with their boss for a performance review. (After that, they could do so every month if they choose to.) And, get this, a second reader is supposed to review the initial written evaluation to make sure it is sufficiently clear.

Some companies are even giving employees more say over how their careers will unfold. In the first two months after KPMG launched a Web-based training program to better prepare young employees and their managers to talk about career building, more than 9,300 employees logged on. Some 2,500 created their own (ideal) career paths.

As a concession to the expressed desire of some millennials to do good before they do well, 15 companies and investment banks are allowing new hires to defer employment for two years. During that time they teach at troubled high schools around the country through Teach for America (No. 10).

Some companies have decided it makes more sense, and is less costly, to test their new programs on a few lucky souls first. At DHL (No. 78), executives weren't sure about training people "so new you had to tell them how to tie their shoelaces," says Paul Read, the director of sales training. The company, which usually hires experienced salespeople, decided to offer an 11-week program to recent college grads—but only to nine. Pooja Shambhu, a 24-year-old Purdue University grad who went through the intensive course, says: "The first time I went out on my own, the feeling was unbelievable. Within two weeks, I won my first account."

DHL executives aren't complaining anymore. They say the new hires generate more revenue and more shipments per sale. This year the company expanded the program to 19 people. "They were hungrier and more easily moldable than the other reps," says Read. Now he just hopes these well-trained salespeople stay for a while.

Of course, some companies are establishing policies that everyone can take advantage of. IBM (No. 4) introduced ThinkPlace, an online suggestion box to help it cull the best ideas from its global workforce. And over at that other tech company, Google Inc. (GOOG) (No. 5), there are free lunches and on-site massages. But perhaps the most popular perk is that employees, all of them, are allowed to devote one day a week to developing new ideas.

And the accounting firms, for all of their out-there experiments, are making use of some more traditional incentives, too. PwC has instituted an extra 11-day firmwide vacation. Ernst & Young offers four-day weekends several times during the summer. And KPMG declared that every summer weekend starts at 3 p.m. Friday. You don't have to be under 25 to qualify.

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Gerdes is a staff editor for BusinessWeek in New York.