I’ve heard it said that young people feel entitled to pampering from our employers because we’re a spoiled group of money-grubbers whose sense of entitlement is rivaled only by our inability to write. I want to put that to rest right now.

Us young folk, like all employees, express our preferences through our actions. For the most part, the preference being expressed is for pay. The more a person is paid, the more likely he is to express his preference for a given job by staying.

In the case of Gen Why, however, money isn’t the only factor in the job hunt. We’re young, so for the most part, we don’t have mortgages or kids to consider when we make financial decisions. Many of us have the chance to move back home if things don’t work out, and doing so doesn’t carry the social stigma it once did. (In 2001, American Demographics journal reported that 38% of adult singles lived with their parents. At present, this writer is included in that 38%.)

With the the removal of these particular financial angles from our decision-making process, our choices of where to work can be more of an expression of where we enjoy working than other generations’ choices ever were. Now, this isn’t to say that money doesn’t talk loudly. Six figures will always be six figures. But if you can’t offer piles of money on which young people can sleep, you’ll have to offer something else we’ll enjoy so we prefer to work for you.

These preferences have nothing to do with a sense of entitlement and everything to do with incentives. People respond to incentives, and young people are no different. Getting it out of your head that we expect an X-Box in every office and recognizing that we are, in fact, simply responding to a different set of incentives than a Baby Boomer might is the first step in winning young employees. The fact is, we don’t expect the X-Box. Really. We don’t. But we do prefer an office that has one. That little chance to unwind might make the difference between staying at a particular office or looking for an otherwise similar office.

I’m not telling you that you should turn into a sycophant. I’m not asking you to bend over backward to pamper an entitled generation of me-firsts with no sense of loyalty. I certainly don’t expect you to convert your entire office into a playground because my generation has been told at every turn that we’re special. What I am saying is that young employees are more willing, and able, than ever to make decisions based on what we like to do. Those who don’t recognize this fact are going to get left behind. So, recognize this difference, and make your workplace more fun.

“But it’s a workplace and it’s supposed to be functional, not fun.”

When you’re training your 14th Gen Why for the same position that the employer down the street with the X-Box has kept filled the entire time with one well-trained young person, feel free to drop me an e-mail explaining the functionality of your situation. Fun is functional because it keeps us around so we can rock your business. If you don’t have a billion dollar labor budget (and even if you do), it’s going to save you time and money in the long-run if you make your workplace a fun place.

So forget the line you’ve been fed about entitlement and start making the workplace more fun for the sake of your bottom-line. Remember: the workplace is a popularity contest. If you’re not winning, you’re losing money.