Great post this week from a woman named Penelope Trunk. She’s the self-named Brazen Careerist and a column writer for the Boston Globe. She writes a lot about Generation Y and I think that she’s touched on a very interesting topic today that employers need to pay attention to. She’s got a great BLOG for further reading as well.
High points from her recent post:
*Gen Y wants to constantly be learning. If they’re not learning, they’ll leave. “This is the generation that is steeped in SAT tutors, Spanish tutors, and private soccer coaching. So they expect to be learning every step of the way for their whole life.” If you’re not challenging them and helping them learn as an employer or manager, they’ll leave!
*Gen Y wants to work as a team. They grew up playing soccer, they attended the prom in large groups. This isn’t a generation of kids that played out on the playground by themselves.
*Hiring women costs more than men. For the first time in history, women in their 20′s are out-earning men and rightfully so. Get used to it.
*Gen Y is getting more done than you can possible imagine. Don’t be intimidated when they run circles around you while listening to their iPod, sending a text message and tweeting all at the same time.
Christina Harbridge, the founder of
1. Young people today, when asked how often they check their email, said ‘Pretty often! At least once a week.’
2. It used to be considered rude to send text messages with your phone during a meeting. Today, the next generation need the distractions to stay focused.
This generation is moving into management positions quickly. Are you prepared to add them to your team and challenge them enough to have them elevate your company?
