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What should you do with Millennial employees? Take them to lunch, is Seth Mattison’s advice.

Mattison, of Minneapolis- and California-based Bridgeworks LLC, gave an opening presentation at last week’s final Business Record Power Breakfast for 2009. The topic for the morning was “Managing a Multi-Generational Work Force,” and Mattison focused on his own age group, the Millennials.

Born between 1982 and 2000, Millennials bring a new perspective to the workplace. “Older generations are learning to accept social networking,” Mattison noted. “We come in expecting it.”

He offered four suggestions for older managers learning to deal with the youngest members of the American work force:

• Think before you judge. If you see a Facebook page on an employee’s computer screen, he or she might be reaching out for information, Mattison said. It’s also possible that the employee is doing something that has nothing to do with business, “but if they’re meeting expectations, does it really matter?” he asked.

• Put policies in place regarding privacy issues. “We (Millennials) share everything,” he said, “even personally, but particularly professionally.”

• Put social networking to work for you. Remember, Mattison said, “you do business with people you like.”

• Don’t let the real water cooler dry up. Yes, he admitted, some Millennials do need coaching on how to break away from the computer for some face-to-face communication. “Bring them along to events like this one,” Mattison suggested. “Take them out for lunch or coffee. We need mentoring.”

At the same time, he said, “there are things my generation can share with you as well.”

Following Mattison’s talk, the event turned to a panel discussion moderated by Adam Steen, president of 25 Connections, and featuring three self-employed business consultants: Rita Perea, Isaiah McGee and Ted Williams.

“We want all generations to understand how the entire organization works,” Williams said. “You need to focus on the entire work force.”

“Relationships are so important,” McGee said. “Generational negatives are true, but they’re only half the picture. You’re not going to find the whole picture unless you have opportunities to connect.”

And Perea noted, “It’s all about talent management.”

Here are a few of the points they made in response to questions from the audience at the Des Moines Club.

On the brevity of Twitter’s 140-character messages:

“Twitter is the beginning,” Williams said, “then it leads to follow-up.”

“The great thing about Twitter is that it’s still evolving,” McGee said. Although a torrent of tweets might seem like information overload at times, “it allows the user to scroll down and find information they consider relevant.”

On the effect of Baby Boomers postponing retirement for economic reasons:

“I see young people becoming frustrated,” said Perea. “Oftentimes, they’ll pick up their marbles and go somewhere else. I encourage them to stay, take a deep breath, work things out and talk to their supervisor about what they would like to do down the road.”

On “texting vs. talking”:

Williams told about meeting with a group of workers under the age of 30 and asking for their feedback as he prepared for a workshop. Not one said a word. “But afterward, I got all these texts and e-mails that they sent after they got back to their cubicles,” he said.

“A lot of Millennials are going to overuse technology,” McGee acknowledged. “They have to learn to use it responsibly, but that’s difficult if they feel you don’t understand the concept.”

On “helicopter parents,” a term describing parents who hover above their children as they start their careers and drop in to help out much more than past generations did:

“You have to find a way to invite them in” rather than wishing they would go away, Mattison said. He reported that some companies have begun to send a “parent pack” home with potential hires after a job interview.

“Recognize it’s real,” said Williams. “Assume that a young person is going to have their parents on their team. If the parents are made aware that it’s a good place to work, that might prevent those deals where Mom and Dad meet you in the morning at the workplace.”

When it came time to sum up, McGee commented: “We tend to group diverse people into one category; I would hate to have a broad-based policy that says, ‘That’s just how they think.’ Focus on building relationships and get to know your employees individually.”