The generation gap between Gen Yers, entering the workforce, and the elders, makes it difficult for companies to manage four generations in the workplace (those who lived through World War II, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y). The growing number of consultancy firms’ programs and seminars, helping businesses to close the gap, is evident to the seriousness of the situation. The companies need to comprehend how to deal with “the largest, healthiest and most pampered generation in history”, and Gen Yers need to learn the basics about the future jobs. An article in the New York Times describes the latest activities on that problem.
Summer is the season of culture shock in the working world, when the old guard comes face to face with a next wave of newcomers, and the result is something like lost tribes encountering explorers for the first time.
Many companies now among their summer events have seminars designed to close this generation gap.
At Arrow Electronics it is “Generations in the Workplace,” while Michelle Marks, an expert on organizational behavior at George Mason University, calls hers “Managing the Challenges of the Gen X and Gen Y Work Force.” Aflac has “Generational Differences.”
Ernst & Young invited groups of interns, after they reported for work this summer, to an orientation program that included a PowerPoint presentation titled “Hello. W U?!” (W U is how 20-somethings ask “What’s up?” in a text message), explaining them “Strategies to Connect With Baby Boomers” (the title of one of the slides).
…While Ernst & Young is teaching its Gen Y employees how to talk politely to partners, it has also started teaching those partners how to send text messages. Similarly, Liggett Stashower, an advertising and public relations firm in Cleveland, encourages summer interns to blog about their experiences. Deloitte & Touche runs a summer film competition (the winner will be posted on YouTube), on the theory that this is an area where interns in particular can show off. And the technology company Avnet changed its internship program so that interns spend the entire summer in one department, a response to suggestions from previous groups who felt they weren’t doing enough substantive work.
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Surveys over the last few years have found that this group is looking for work that includes a “flexible work schedule” (92 percent, according to a Harris Interactive poll), “requires creativity” (96 percent) and “allows me to have an impact on the world” (97 percent). And when the polling firm Roper Starch Worldwide did a survey comparing workplace attitudes among generations, 90 percent of Gen Yers said they wanted co-workers “who make work fun.” No other generation polled put that requirement in their top five.
Learned from the New York Times
