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Before you start launching tomatoes and pelting me with empty pop cans, let me explain. I know when you see “Generation Y” and “loyalty” in the same sentence, you think it is an oxymoron along the classic lines of “military intelligence.” Well, I have news. The Gen-Y folks do have a strangely loyal generational distinction.

Let’s look at a couple of things before I broad-brush the whole generation loyal. First, the members of Generation Y are often accused of being the most self-centered generation ever. They have been called the “me” generation, and to capitalize on it, they have Web pages all about themselves, using social media to share with the world more and more about themselves. They love Twitter.com, which allows them to tell all their friends and family exactly what they are doing in real-time microbursts.

Second, more than anything else, they love social interaction and having authority or control over their lives. For as much as we might knock their social media habits, they have more relationships with more people at a deeper level than I would bet you did at the same age. What matters to them are people, friends, family and others they meet online or through networking groups. They are incredibly social and intensively well-networked.

So how does a manager glean loyalty from them? How does a company engage them and keep them engaged long-term in their company? It is simple. When you care about what they care about, you can win their loyalty. You have to win their hearts and minds to keep them on board in your organization.

I know it may sound sappy to a bunch of nose-to-the-grindstone hard-working Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers, but that’s the way it is. I have heard from more than one company that when managers are tuned in to their Gen-Y workers, the contribution and production levels of their departments and areas go through the roof.

But there’s a downside to their loyalty. Because they are about people and gravitate toward others who care about them, they are tied to that manager, not to the company. In other words, their loyalty is not corporate loyalty; it is personal loyalty. You may be saying, “That’s great; what’s the problem?”

Think about it. When that manager leaves to work at another company, guess who leaves with him or is looking to follow in the near future: his department. I can no longer use two hands to keep track of how many times I have heard of whole areas being decimated this way.

Loyalty has and will continue to be an important generational distinction. Boomers were loyal to the companies no matter what, Gen-Xers were loyal to companies as long as they seemed loyal to them, and Gen-Y-ers are loyal to people. If you can train your managers and supervisors to care about and understand these generational distinctions, you are way ahead of the game.

Nick Reddin is the business development manager for Manpower Inc.’s Des Moines office.