By: Shawna Wright
As the first decade of the new millennium comes to a close, another wave of Baby Boomers are set to retire and a flurry of Generation Y job seekers—those of us born after 1980—are next in line to enter the job force. As a member of Gen Y, I would like to offer some insight into our needs and priorities in the workplace.
Work/Life Balance
Let’s get it out of the way – yes, we value of social lives. According to a Business Week survey of 60,000 Gen Y workers, a work-life balance is our top priority. Often, our desire to keep an equilibrium between work and play strikes our elders as laziness, but this is not always the case. We grew up watching our parents put in 40, 50, 60 hours a week at a job that left little time for anything else. While we respect our parents and admire their dedication, we also learned that this is not how we want to live our adult lives. We are looking for job where we can grow our skill-set without sacrificing every other aspect of our life. It is no secret that we value our social lives, but it is not because we devalue our professional life. We believe that the best way to live is to keep a balance between the two. It’s important to note that mobile communication is something we all grew up with, making it hard for us to see the value of putting in traditional office hours. Most of us are beyond capable and extremely willing to stay connected with the office, even when we aren’t there.
Skills Path
When Baby Boomers entered the workplace, for the most part, they stood before a clearly delineated corporate ladder where hard work lead to a logical procession of promotions. Predetermined opportunities existed as benchmarks to success within a company. The changing times (economically, technologically, sociologically) mean we Gen Yers don’t have the luxury of a set corporate ladder. We don’t expect to spend our entire professional career with one company, so we are looking for places that will help us grow along the way. We do want to be leaders of our industries, but we value the things we learn along the way more than we value reaching the top.
Manager as Yoda
Typically, Baby Boomers expect a clear demarcation between managers and employees. As we Gen Yers enter the workplace, we are expecting a different kind of relationship with our bosses. We are looking for a manager who can also be a mentor. We are well aware we don’t know everything, but we are looking to learn as quickly as we can. We want someone we respect and admire, someone who can guide us through the early stages of our career.
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Unless I misunderstand this it is the typical Gen Y fare.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE. I’m with you and I used to think that this is where history was taking us.
But last I heard, France is backing away from their commitment to things like a 35 hour week in order to boost productivity.
And I think that’s probably the way things are going to go for awhile. Gen Y is going to have to compete with skilled workers in Asian countries that are technically advanced but culturally backward and poor. How can that help but work to our disadvantage?
WE VALUE THE THE THINGS WE LEARN MORE THAN REACHING THE TOP
The meaning isn’t clear here. If there is no way to reach the top you have to value the skills that are going to make you hireable as you move laterally from job to job.
However, Gen Y is going to be just as interested in reaching the top as anyone else.
There was a tremendous amount of propaganda against being power hungry when the baby boomers were growing up and here you are implying that they are they are very much oriented to hierarchy.
BABY BOOMERS ARE ELITISTS – Where did you get that idea about Baby Boomers expecting a clear demarcation between managers and employees?
Whatever Boomers are like I doubt that Gen Y will be very different .
I think Peter Drucker pointed out that as jobs require ever more specialized training the workers will know more about their jobs than their managers. So there will be less disrespect of subordinates.
A boss, however, can be self-important and show disrespect to people on her team no matter how well-educated they are.
TRUE – As automation will make our lives easier there is more leisure time available. And the increase in education spreads democratic attitudes.
However, there is going to be no radical break between Gen Y and the Baby Boomers. And the demands of the moment in history have to be taken into consideration as well.
I wish Gen Y writers would read some history in order to stop making unfounded assumptions about Baby Boomers – and themselves.
Interesting article. I am wondering what is the source of your data or is the article based more on opinion?
I am not clear how creating a generational demarcation is that useful.
Just to add a little contrary opinion to the mix, I don’t think your main header topics accurately depict any differences.
Work/Life Balance: Remember one of the Baby Boomers slogans?, turn on, tune in, drop out? This was a generation that explored much more social freedom than any previous or subsequent generation. To say Boomers don’t value their social lives might not be accurate. Also, isn’t being connected to your office all the time, even when you are not there, skewing your work life balance?
Skills Path: You work at a Bank. I am pretty sure there is a delineated corporate structure there. However, I see that as a negative and the positive is to not have a structure to have to climb rung by rung. You might find that the corporate ladder is not a luxury, but an impediment and a meritocracy should be the preferrable structure to allow you to grow and learn faster than within a more structured orgainization.
Manager as Yoda: Who doesn’t love Yoda. “If you do not produce, fire you I will”. Are you saying that Baby Boomer managers do not mentor? I would like to see the data on this. Seems way too general to be useful. Good managers mentor, no matter what generational category you place them in.
I would like to see the data sources as I find this topic interesting. thanks ts
I’m not sure this attitude is unique to the Gen-Yers. I’m a Boomer and will probably be in the work force longer that I expected. I’ve done the 60, 70 hr weeks … it was status quo. But living through the dot com rise and fall, and now through a layoff in this recession… I don’t think the old way of doing things is going suffice. Maybe I’ve been reborn