‘Generation Y’, the collective name given to those people born approximately between 1982 and 2002, are the fastest growing sector in the world of work. By 2018 they will make up the majority of the workforce. They are confident; know what they want; are challenging and want to be fulfilled. They are happy to multi-task, collaborate; and communicate constantly and concurrently via smart phones, texts, instant messaging and social media networks etc.

Their demands and expectations are very different from their parents, whose lives may have revolved to a far greater extent around their work. 

I (Marie) have personally experienced this in the career development workshops I run. Having used the ‘Career Anchors’ tool by Edgar Schein over a number of years in corporate environments, I have seen the shift of individuals’ motivations in 3 key ways:

• Lifestyle: more people than ever before demand that their work fits around their other life choices: their family, friends and interests. They would rather forego career progression and even limit their job choices than compromise on these things. Indeed one person I am currently career counselling, who has been offered a good career advancement role with a new employer, is considering not accepting it due to the prospective employer’s total inflexibility on “working hours”.
• Management: fewer people (less than 5% for Generation Y groups I’ve facilitated) are attracted to the typical hierarchical role of a general manager, as a controller of people and resources. Instead they prefer to see themselves as creative collaborators. Perhaps collaboration is so well embedded with this generation that they don’t see a need for someone with authority to make it happen. 
• Expertise: Generation Y are keen, and will demand that employers offer them opportunities to develop their expertise. However, the way they want to learn and be developed will need to change. More on this in our next blog… 

Generation Y have a huge amount to offer employers, but to attract and engage them employers will need to offer opportunities that genuinely motivate them, ways of working that fit with their lifestyles and learning that meets their preferences. 

See our Driving Your Career bite-size workshop for more information on how you can take control of your career choices – whatever generation you happen to be!

Tags: bite size, bite size workshops, Career, career anchors, career counselling, career development workshops, career management, Communication, edgar schein, Generation Y, learning, management, Motivation, social media

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Career Management, Learning, SpeedTraining. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.