Generation app.

• Position: UPFRONT

I got a news release the other day from SBR Consulting, a Charlotte human-resources company, touting its study of how the recession has changed the views of young workers--"millennials," specifically those in the workforce born after 1977. "The results suggest that due to poor management and poor handling of layoffs, 70% of respondents who were laid off would not go back to work for their company and 55% are either unsure or do not want to work for corporate America again."

To borrow a term from my generation: bummer. The release went on to say, "In years past when older generations were laid off or even fired, they did not talk about it and certainly did not broadcast their experience to the world via social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The millennial generation, however, does share personal information more readily and is not afraid to talk about how their layoff was handled. These conversations and perceptions are then shared with hundreds--possibly thousands--of people via social media."

In other words, you handle it wrong, your company gets a bad rap. Millennials don't buy the old "it's not personal, it's business" approach, says Stacey Randall, who conducted the study. They take getting laid off very personally. Fair enough. As the owner of a small business, I take it very personally--not what the Great Recession has done to my pocketbook but to my people. Last year, we had to let three members of our staff go, but not...