The workplace has seen many changes over the last 50 years. Fifty years ago, people would work one or two jobs for their career their entire lives. Now we expect to change jobs about every 3-4 years. Once baby-boomers entered the workforce, this introduced the largest generational class in the workplace and still is to date. But more and more baby- boomers are starting to retire and with-in the next 5 years the vast majority of them will have retired or very close to retirement. This brings a big problem to employers who have had baby-boomer employees that have worked for companies as long as 10, 20, or even 30 years or more. This brings about the largest shift in the workforce, with the introduction of the millennials.
Millennials, or Generation Y as they are sometimes referred to, is starting to enter into the workforce, bringing a huge cultural change with them. This generation has been brought up in a technology filled environment and sees the world in a whole different way than past generations. The millennials have known to be very social, free spirited, the troublesome generation, fighting authority and the most difficult to manage. They also may be the key for success for businesses of the future, not only for how they see the world, but also because of their numbers.
As the once dominant baby-boomer workforce is starting to retire, millions of jobs will open up. The millennial generation is said to be the next largest (and possibly thee largest) generation to have entered into the workforce. As I said before this brings about a huge cultural shift, and employers need to be ready for this change, because how they handle this new change will determine how the company will do in the future.
For employers, this means that it has never been more important to attract a younger working class. It is important for employers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the millennial generation in order to target those needs build a new working class. Employers and managers need to develop new training courses and mentoring in order to tailor and harness this new generation. Another very important factor for employers are once they have attracted, trained and have mentored new employees, they need to make sure that they retain this new workforce and continue to grow and develop. Brought up in a fast pace, ever changing environment, millennials like a work environment that reflects that, so it is important to have new tasks and projects in order to keep them engaged and interested it their work and are more likely to stay with the company.
What does this mean in terms of diversity? It means that there is going to be a huge generational diversity change, from an older working class to a much younger one in the next few years. It is extremely important that employers are aware of this and start planning on how to handle this age diversity in the work place and make sure that the work environment fits the needs of younger employees, without discriminating against the older generations. Millennials are also a much more culturally diverse generation, and so it is important that employers take note of this and attract a wide range of young employees.
As a part of the millennial generation, I find this to be a very exciting time as fresh blood moves into the workforce. Our generation has a lot of potential for growth and development and I see this as an opportunity to reshape the business world. Being a more cultural, well-rounded generation, allows us to bring a lot of different perspectives to the table. With this generational switch, it also means that the competitive job market will become even more competitive, especially as employers are all trying to attract our generation. But as a very competitive, craving action, full of life and optimism, I feel that we are up for the challenge and adversity that awaits and should bring about a whole new cultural shift.
Posted by Jordan
I agree that this will create a shift in the workforce and I am certainly hoping that more jobs are created soon, since I am about to graduate! The millennial generation is rather unique I suppose, but I think nobody really truly understands the significance of how different they are from past generations. I think it will be the sort of thing people will look back on and say "Remember when generation Y took the workforce by storm, those were crazy times." Generation Y definitely has some unique diversity issues to deal with with in a business setting. In some ways, Gen Y has some positive characteristics compared to previous generations (accustomed to technology, good at multitasking), but in other ways, Gen Y has some significant disadvantages (lacks respect for authority, customs, traditions). I think they will pose an interesting challenge for Baby Boomers to have to manage.
ReplyDeleteJosh Throop
I found Josh’s comments rather interesting about generation Y. Quoting josh, “…Gen Y has some significant disadvantages (lacks respect for authority, customs, traditions).” I found this extremely interesting because I completely agree with Josh that generation Y does lack respect for authority, customs, and traditions. As a member of generation Y, I try my best to keep the respect for my elders and do my best to work out just like generation X. Personally I think Generation Y has more flaws then benefits and I’m afraid that this could hurt the American culture. We always here how China is soon to surpass us, and with generation Y soon to take a majority of the jobs in the workforce, I feel that the surpassing of America is evitable.
ReplyDeleteBrian Gabriel
This is a great point. Generation and age diversity in general is something that can slip through the cracks. Not just age itself but the difference between generations and what we grew up with drastically affects how we think in and out of the workplace. I agree that each generation has advantages and disadvantages but I think that our generation (Y) is extremely capable of being the most productive generation yet in terms of the workplace. We are already seeing things like iphones and google that can give us information it took our parents weeks to figure out in the matter of seconds. College classes are already becoming outdated because they can find cheaper easier ways to put classes online and teach them more efficiently. I have taken many online classes in the past 3 years and they are just as interactive as the ones in person (much more so even than the 300 plus person lectures). We are disrespectful i think at times because we simply don't have the patience. We know that there are faster ways out there to do things than the way older generations have done and this simply is superior in the business world. We group up with constant change, the computer itself was only invented some few years before us and things really didn't start picking up until we were just old enough to start using it. Older generations had to adapt, whereas we were born with constant change and innovation.
ReplyDeleteAlec