Some managers just love to judge people by their generation. They may view Generation Y workers as gadget-dependent hipsters with an entitlement mentality, Generation X as desperate to get ahead and Baby Boomers as fretful folks worried about personal debt, job security and retirement planning.

These silly categorizations cloud our ability to evaluate each individual fairly. In my role as coach, I’m often advising managers to abandon broad classifications of their employees. Instead, I say, “Just focus on each person’s observable strengths and weaknesses.”

Recently, I worked with a supervisor at a financial services firm who had just read “The Trophy Kids Grow Up,” a book by Ron Alsop about young adults (whom Alsop labels “the millennial generation”). The supervisor told me the book helped her realize that to manage her younger employees (she has lots of them), she needs to stop trying to cultivate their loyalty since they’re incessant job-hoppers. Instead, she’s harnessing their tech-savvy skills and giving them more opportunities to do community outreach as part of their job.

Treating groups of employees as an undifferentiated mass of generational drones isn’t productive. In the above case, the supervisor stamped everyone who was born between 1980 and 2001 as essentially the same person with the same attitudes and same hot buttons. But I bet some of those twenty-somethings might welcome a chance to stick with the same employer for a decade, especially in this economy. So why assume they’re eager to job-hop?

Don’t assume your employees represent their generation. View them as unique individuals with distinct needs, aspirations and preferences.

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When customers have a terrible experience with a company, they might tell 10 or more people. If they’re really angry, they might blog about it or post their complaint on a website that aggregates consumer opinions.

When your employees have a terrible experience with their boss (i.e., you)—or their employer as a whole—you can bet they’ll spread the word like disgruntled customers.

To contain their gripes, don’t let them leave work angry. Close the communication loop at the end of the day. Follow up with dissatisfied employees to reach at least temporary agreement on a strategy to address their grievances. Even if you can’t solve their problem, settle on a short-term resolution or at least educate them about the complexity of the issue so that they appreciate the hurdles you face.

Having a heart-to-heart talk dignifies restive workers. By treating them with respect and leveling with them about the nature of their concern or complaint, you show you treat it seriously. And if you’re offended at their behavior (or just plain ticked off), rise above petty animosity to model the kind of maturity you wish they would exhibit.

Ideally, you want unhappy employees to think on their commute home, “I’m pissed, but my boss isn’t so bad,” as opposed to, “I’m pissed, and my boss is the reason why.”

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You’re asking so much from your employees lately, aren’t you?

You want (need!) them to take on additional job duties for little or no extra pay. Maybe you’re even cutting their compensation as you simultaneously demand more from them.

You want (need!) them to accept a less appealing career path and aspire to less, not more, because growth opportunities are limited by the current troubled economy. You can’t dangle those juicy promotions like you used to.

What’s worse, spending cuts are making everyday life in your workplace harder. Fewer perks and privileges. No lavish morale boosters. Lots of scraping by—hardly an environment that motivates triumphant top producers to push even harder to excel.

Given the grim reality, how can you instill loyalty? Here are three ideas:

1) Suffer along with the troops. Make the same sacrifices you ask of them. Accept extra work without complaint. Volunteer to take some unpaid furlough days if it’ll free up payroll to fund others’ jobs. Roll up your sleeves and do mundane work that you’d normally delegate.

2) Demystify the numbers. Open the books and share your budgetary dilemmas with your employees. Welcome their input on how to cut costs. Make sure those workers who are most impacted by new cuts aren’t blindsided by them.

3) Celebrate in small ways. I have a friend who manages technicians at an auto parts maker that’s on shaky financial ground. Every month, he throws a “We’re Still Here!” party where employees gather on Friday afternoons for a $10 pizza and some soda pop. He admits it’s a strange theme for a party. But people love it—and it’s practically free.

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