Tag Archives: fees

Millennials and Leadership. Are they Ready?

Millennials and Leadership. Are they Ready?

 

By Chuck J. Boddy, CAPP

Millennials, born between 1981-1995 (depending on who you ask), not to be confused with Generation Z born between 1996-2010, are now the largest generation and make up majority of the workforce.

In the past, there have been negative stereotypes about the generation being lazy, stupid, and entitled.  However, research shows that they can also be ambitious, entrepreneurial, and prefer meaningful work. Working from home and flexibility, especially since the pandemic hit, is something that can really win over their hearts when it comes to attracting and retaining them.

Baby Boomers are nearing or are well into their retirement years; therefore, there is a need to prepare millennials to fill leadership roles.  Although the much smaller Generation X is still around and will continue to move into leadership positions, it’s inevitable that many mid-level positions will need to be filled by the younger generations now as the Boomers head off to greener and warmer pastures.

But are millennials ready to be the boss? How can we develop our next generation of leaders?

Mentorship in and out of the workplace is a great way to help them prepare for leadership roles. Millennials thrive on networking and connecting, so mentorship is a great way to provide engagement and inspiration. Leadership training, constant feedback and recognition goes a long way with millennials, which helps with learning accountability and how to better measure success.

At the end of the day Millennials are here to stay, so adapting to a changing workforce and having millennials prepared to lead is essential to the success of any organization.

Chuck J. Boddy, CAPP, is Director for UMBC Parking Services. He can be reached at cboddy@umbc.edu.

A Fee That Works. Almost.

By Chuck J. Boddy, CAPP

On many college and university campuses, mandatory fees can increase the overall costs to attend an institution. From technology fees to other auxiliary fees such as recreation, student activities, or a transportation fee, many services or offerings would be impossible without a fee.

At UMBC, (University of Maryland Baltimore County) the parking and transportation departments are separate. Parking is under the division of administration and finance, and transportation is under the division of student affairs. Although this structure is no longer common in the university sector, as far I know, our leadership has no plans to change it anytime soon.

UMBC has a non-refundable transportation fee that supports the maintenance of parking facilities, shuttle buses, the campus program of traffic control, and parking administration. The student judicial parking appeals board, which is separate from the parking department, hears the appeals and adjudicates contested parking citations.

One great thing about the transportation fee is that students do not have to pay out of pocket for a parking permit, as it is included in the mandatory fee. The not so great thing is that many students decide to drive to campus, as they look at it as parking being free, since they do not have to physically pay for it. Crazy? I know, I’ll save that topic for a different post. Financially, this works out well because both the transportation and parking departments are always fully funded. This keeps the cost of our citations, parking permits, and visitor parking rates much lower than those of our peers. The rates have only increased once since 2012. So, as we look to future and look for alternative ways to fund our departments, there will always be pros and cons to consider.

Chuck J. Boddy, CAPP, is director, UMBC Parking Services.