Gen Y might be the most facilitated generation ever to enter the workforce and that needs to end as soon as they accept your offer.

Business is rabidly competitive and will only get more so. The last thing your business can tolerate are employees who need their hands held at ever turn and adopt a ‘what should I do now?' attitude. Your new hires need to start demonstrating initiative, setting goals and meeting deadlines right away. Call it ‘tough love', ‘sink or swim' or whatever you want.

Now, let's be realistic, recent college grads don't arrive with all the business skills and savvy you need. And they never did. I think back to my first job out of college and shake my head at my naivete. Luckily, I had bosses who'd call me into their office and teach me what I needed to know AND hold my feet to the fire when decisions needed to be made or my performance didn't meet expectations.

Today, companies are stretched to the max and managers are busier than ever. They have much less time to mentor their staff and it's particularly easy for new hires to get lost in the shuffle.

Teaching new hires ‘as you go' worked in the past, but today learning opportunities for new hires frequently occur outside the office. At night during a teleconference with Asia. Or on a business trip. And the move to virtual working environments means new hires will, more than likely, work across the country, not across the hall.

It's getting harder and harder to model 100% of what you expect from your new hires and teach them the moment learning opportunities present themselves. It becomes easier and easier to fix new hires mistakes yourself and mentor them “later”, meaning weeks after the fact or never (oops...forgot).

You need a well-structured onboarding plan that your new hires can largely execute themselves. And I am NOT talking about a 4-inch thick, 3-ring binder of company policies you make them read. Too passive!  I mean a series of tasks they must accomplish during their first days, weeks and months on the job. Assignments that get them up to speed at your company, armed with important information, building critical relationships and test their resourcefulness and initiative. Even better, they should get this list BEFORE they walk through your doors, i.e., right after they accept your job offer, and have results to show their first day of work.

Here are five example tasks you can assign them right away.

1. Create 500-word profiles of your top three customers focusing on why they buy from your company versus your competitors.
2. Explain the workflow in your area identifying and explaining key requirements.
3. Identify two role models for their position and explain why they selected them.
4. Explain the connection between their job description and your company's mission/vision statement.
5. Interview their internal suppliers and customers and report back on major concerns and obstacles to improved performance.

A ‘scavenger hunt' of meaty tasks to accomplish forces your new hires to be resourceful, build relationships and learn about how your organization functions. Creating due dates tests and strengthens their abilities to multitask and stay organized. Equally important is holding them accountable for the on time delivery and quality of these tasks. Getting themselves up to speed and onboard must to be seen a major objective.

And new hires will love this! Gen Y employees want to be part of the team working on meaningful tasks. Shuffling them off in the corner with a stack of procedures to read or files to collate because you don't have anything better for them to do will demoralize them.

Don't have time or can't think of enough tasks for your new hires? Let us help you. OnBoard Yourself's 'My Personal Onboarding Plan' and 'Rocket to the Top' programs are series of time-sequenced tasks to for new hires to accomplish, from the moment they accept your offer through their first year on the job.