Getting Workplace Value from Generation Y

They have been called “Millennials,” “Generation Y” and even “Echo Boomers.”

Whatever you call them, the emerging generation of young workers is creating challenges for some employers and HR managers.

Generation Y is entering the workforce with an entirely new set of values, attitudes and beliefs compared with new recruits ten or twenty years ago.

They are different because they grew up watching different TV shows, played ultra-violent video games, saw politicians and sports heroes fall from grace like never before and through it all they never blinked an eye. They’ve heard tales about a simpler time, but they have no comprehension of it.

Some commentators pinpoint the year 1981 as being critical in this discussion. It was in 1981 that “Chariots of Fire” won the Oscar for Best Picture, but maybe more importantly, it was 1981 when IBM officially launched the PC, and generation Y was born.

Generational cohorts are groups of people, usually born in the same 20-year time span, who share common life experiences and thus share common attitudes and traits. Our workforce today arguably consists of four major generations:

• The World War II generation (born before 1943),
• The baby boom generation (born from 1944 to 1960),
• Generation X (born between 1961 and 1980), and
• Generation Y (born from 1981 onwards).

Think of the university graduates you’ve seen moving into workplace programs in the past two years. Think also of the segment of your workforce who will comprise the bulk of your front-line workers by 2010. Think of the people who will grab the torch from the 30% of your employees who are soon going to be eligible for retirement. You are thinking of Generation Y.

Generation Y is also known as the Internet generation, since, from early childhood they were surrounded by digital technologies. PCs, PlayStations and cell phones are as comfortable to this group as the television was to previous groups.

For many HR professionals, a major question arises: “How do you attract, manage and engage a generation you do not understand?”

Generation Y, with around 4.5 million young Australians, is increasingly becoming the talent that business needs to establish competitive advantage in the market place. For many employers, they are difficult to attract, harder to manage and are proving near impossible to retain. However, this need not be the case if we make the effort to understand this emerging generation.

Some HR specialists have produced guidelines for managing the Under 24’s in the workplace, and while many of these may seem like standard HR policy, appropriate for all workers, taken together they form a worthwhile roadmap. The guidelines include:

• Wherever possible, provide challenging work that really matters;
• Offer increasing responsibility as a reward for achievements as they happen;
• Provide ongoing training and learning opportunities (it’s very often ‘lack of training’ that Generation Y members give as a reason for leaving);
• Allow some flexibility in day-to-day scheduling.
• Treat them as colleagues, not as beginners or kids;
• Use innovative ideas for creating a more comfortable, low-key, low-stress workplace; and
• Focus on work outcomes, but be personable and have a sense of humour.

It seems increasingly clear that Generation Y wants the workplace to be fun, relaxed, and non traditional (and who can blame them for that?).

Even in an office situation, they expect to spend less than 50 percent of their time behind a desk. Instead, they will hold wireless keyboards on their laps and swivel their chairs while they type. They will stand outside in the sun and talk from a cell phone. They will gather around a whiteboard while sipping coffee in the office kitchen. None of these work style details are really that important, but it is important that managers do not get hung up on such details.

The fact is that, over time, it is going to be Generation Y that will take the lead in deciding how computers and other devices will take hold in the workplace.

Every other generation has had to adapt themselves to how things were done as they entered the workforce. Now the workforce is adapting itself to Generation Y and the technological expertise they bring. There is a strong promise that the future of work with Generation Y will be very different.

Further Reading

Basic Guide to The Generations

Workplace Needs Age Diversity yet Ageism is Alive and Kicking