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The Problem of Generation Y

It irks me that people and media feel justified in deriding our generation. Almost daily I read about how lazy, fickle, disloyal and demanding generation Y is yet so rarely is voice given to the truth that we Gen Y have different attitudes, and workplace expectations to the existing generations.

Gen Y are disloyal

If you lead, we may follow. But keep in mind our concept of leadership 2.0 involves asking questions, connecting and collaborating not the archaic methods of power and control that ruled 80’s management theory.

“…For leaders who have the privilege of ushering the new generation into the workforce recognise immediately that traditional approaches to leading, communicating and delegating are likely to be met with passive or active resistance by Gen Y.

As a leader it is time for you to adapt your style by offering ideas and inviting feedback instead of issuing commands. Emphasize group work and encourage brainstorming. Forget the ‘we’ve always done it this way’ approach and encourage individuals and teams to find new and improved ways to conduct the work of your business…” Source

We saw Silence of the Lambs. Quid pro quo. We understand that employers need us as much as we need them.We  move on when there is little or no sense of mutual benefit or when it appears that our values and goals diverge.

• We seek leaders that inspire, support and encourage our personal growth and development.
• We want to feel that we work to contribute to something meaningful.
• We will find new and improved ways to increase  effectiveness, efficiency and productivity in business.

Gen Y are unrealistic about pay expectations

Yes, I can see that to those that did not have to pay for an education our pay expectations may seem disproportionate. Yet, education has burdened our generation with billions of dollars worth of student debt. Is it unrealistic of us to aspire to be debt free within the next 15 years?

Gen Y workers are demanding & always wanting something different.

Gen Y seek challenge and variety in the workplace. Why? well let’s consider the education system. Not only does it offer us a myriad of choices, it’s an environment where variety, challenge and change are the status quo. Where performance expectations are established at the outset and tested, measured and rewarded.

Is it unrealistic to expect that work might present a greater opportunity for such variety and challenge? or that work expectations be established at the beginning for us to work towards. Or does our education system simply fail to prepare us for the realities of today’s working world?

Gen Y workers are self-focused and lazy

The reality for us is that, unlike earlier generations, work is not our life. Work is important to us but we’ve been taught that it is better, for our health, to work to live, rather than live to work.

In addition to work we may also be juggling study, friends, family, sport, other paid and unpaid work commitments. Hence the need for flexibility. Remember: if there’s a clash in the work-life balance, life inevitably wins.

Gen Y Entrepreneurs

Love us or hate us 10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Maybe it’s time to accept that aspects of our work ethic, our ability to adapt quickly and easily to change for instance, are more suited to modern living.

Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect,  share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.

To those that expect us to be so desperate for employment, during this recession, that we will just come into line and act more like you, you may be disappointed to find we are indeed well equipped to adapt and not as dependent on traditional “employment” as previous generations have been.

Today we recognise that we always have the option of working for ourselves. With the right team building a company need not be as risky as it has been made to look. And anyway, what do we really have to lose at this point except, of course, our massive student debt.

Next Generation Work

At Worknow we encourage entrepreneurship, knowing it to an effective, efficient and productive work model with which to drive our knowledge economy. Create your talent profile today

Tags: collaborating, connect, Education, effectiveness, efficiency, entrepreneur, Gen Y, Generation Y, Knowledge Economy, Leadership, management, power and control, Productivity, Work, work ethic, work expectations, work productivity

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Entrepreneurship, Ethic, Generation Y, Knowledge Economy, Leadership, Lifestyle, Productivity, Work. 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.