Nathan Close

The News Hour (PBS) broadcast this report Thursday night. It’s about “Generation-Y” (today’s 20-somethings) and how American employers will have to adapt to their workplace expectations.

Note: I’d recommend either (a) watching the streaming video or (b) listening to the streaming audio, as reading the transcript can get a bit confusing.

Working For The Man
When baby-boomers were growing up, if they didn’t like the workplace environment, too bad — there was another baby-boomer waiting in line to snatch up their job, right behind them. However, due to age and population demographics, it’s not necessarily that way any more. There isn’t another generation Yer “automatically” standing in line waiting to take the last Gen Yer’s position (”crappy” or not). Therefore, the argument is that employers have no choice but to adapt, especially if they want the “best” workers.

The Man Working for Gen Y
In essence, the report states Generation-Y:

• Was brought up to believe they are “smart” and “special”—and bring that attitude into the workplace
• Are tech-savvy multi-taskers, but make technology an integral part of their day-to-day life, whereas previous generations look at technology as either a “tool” or a “toy”
• Do not have a lot of company loyalty and are more likely to job-hop
• Seek a variety of work experiences, especially in their early years
• Demand a more collaborative work environment
• Want a work place that makes a commitment to them
• Expect a flexible work environment and schedules
• Expect a creative work environment
• Expect rather “instant” results and success
• Want to be judged based on their output and not how they get the job done

Perhaps this excerpt sums it up best…

STAN SMITH: I put it this way: The baby boomers are “work, work, work.” It’s a very important part of their live. Gen X is “work, work, I want to work some more, let’s talk about it.” And Gen Y is “work, work, you want me to work even more? How lame. I think I’ll I.M. my friends and tell them how lame you are, asking me to work even more.”

What’s The Man To Do?
“Yes”, gen Y expects a lot. The few baby boomers I’ve talked to thus far seem to think their demands are utterly ridiculous—and to some extent I agree. But they don’t seem to realize employers don’t have much choice in the matter except to adjust.

While I don’t like the “me, me, me” gen Y attitude, ultimately I think a middle ground could be ideal. Employees are real people after all… with real-life issues, real schedules, and sometimes a real crisis. Many employers need to understand that people are not souless commodities, units of production, or robots that operate during a strict set of hours (or for those on-call, “all hours”). Those that do the little things and outwardly show they value employees will be in the best position to profit from loyalty in the future.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 17th, 2006 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.