Generation Y and the Workplace Annual Report 2010 - Haworth

20
Although they bring energy and innovation to
the workplace, the Generation Y is challenging to
manage. They appreciate clear direction, demand
immediate feedback on performance, expect to be
consulted and included in management decisions,
and demand constant intellectual challenge.
However most employees would demand the same,
generation Y or not!
There are at least three reasons why we need to
understand Generation Y:
For a start, there are not enough of them. At
least that is the case in the US, UK and Europe.
As the Baby Boomers retire, there are millions
fewer young people to replace them.
What’s more, they are a highly educated
and skilled generation. Their already scarce
skills are even more in demand in today’s
globally networked, creative and knowledge
economies. Generation Y’s skills and potential
are crucial if economies are to move up the
value chain.
The next reason to understand them is the way
they use communication technologies, which
is creating both challenges and opportunities
in the workplace . Having grown up in the
Internet age, members of the Generation Y are
furious digital innovators.
Global WorkPlace Innovation
Manuel Castells, the renowned sociologist, and his
colleagues see the emergence of a new trend in
global youth culture, which they call ‘networked
sociability’. Digitally connected or face-to-face,
networked sociability is driving the Generation Y to
form peer groups that become the context for
their individual and collective behaviour 5 .
We know that the Generation Y is significant in
our society. What else do we know about them?
Why are they all that different from their older
colleagues? How do they relate to their future
working environment.
New technologies platforms like Web 2.0 have
been adopted by entire generations... the internet,
podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google,
MSN and SMS are continuously on the mind of
the Generation Y. But it also infiltrates other
older generations, not only the Generation Y.
The majority of the sources describe Generation Y
as consumers, colleagues, employees, managers,
and technological and social innovators. The sources
explore communication styles, values, motivations, and
characteristics, but not many focus on the aspirations for
their working environment.
The Generation Y are full of
contradictions, or at least what
is written about them is. They
think like entrepreneurs and value
relationships, are tech-savvy and
creative, and are environmentally
conscious and mobile 8 . They will in
the future place a high premium on
job security 9 and they apparently
currently job-hop. They are valuedriven
and money-grabbing (due
to being saddled with high student
loans) 10 . They are conservative 11 and
non-conformist 12 .
Copyright © 2010, Johnson Controls. Confidential. All Rights Reserved.
Intellectual Property Johnson Controls, Haworth and iDEA.
21