Gen Y puts more weight to personal fulfillment, growth in choosing jobs
32 million-strong Gen Y is changing workforce rules owing to their high mobility and demand for constant connectivity vis-a-vis personal fulfillment and growth.
The new generation of IT workers, popularly known as the Generation Y, is highly mobile, demands constant connectivity and puts more weight to choice, personal fulfillment and growth in deciding when to move on to the next job, reports WTN News.
The report said 32 million of this 78-million-strong group of workers manning the IT industry today, have inevitably changed the rules in the workplace and executives are compelled to make the necessary adjustments.
Paul Shain, CEO of Madison-based CDW Berbee, formerly Berbee Information Networks Corps, said these young workers are also “very socially conscious” and require the latest technology in doing their job.
Shain, one of five speakers who discussed workforce issues at the Fusion 2008 conference held in Madison, Wisconsin last week, warned: “These people will also change jobs at a moment’s notice.”
When the iPhone was first introduced, Shain recalled, he received 125 requests from Berbee employees who claimed they needed the gadget right away to be able to do their jobs effectively. It was not known how many got their gadget.
Shain said executives must then thoroughly examine the parameters in dealing with these young workers. “Gen Y is changing the rules. All of us need to figure out a way to bring in the next generation,” he said.
Another speaker, CIO Mike Jackson of the Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee, says the challenge was keeping the workers in. “We can read all the books on Gen X and Gen Y,” he said. “But, what we try to do is get to know our people and get to know what drives them, and to structure their job so that it is rewarding to them and rewarding to the company.”
Jane Durment, CIO of Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp., said IT managers must provide flexibility to let employees meet responsibilities that are important to them. “If we can allow an accommodation for flexibility as things come up, the loyalty that it develops is tremendous,” she said.
Melanie Holmes, a vice president for Milwaukee-based Manpower, noted most Gen Y workers quit their jobs because of their desire to be loyal to themselves through more learning and growing professionally
Phillip Loftus, CIO and vice president of information systems of Aurora Health Care, pointed out that treating those who have done a good job to lunch or dinner and being recognized by business leaders make young IT workers happy and would likely hold on to their jobs.
Mark Hennessy, CIO for IBM, said blogs and wiki websites were the most common tools that Gen X and Gen Y workers use to communicate and collaborate. At IBM, he added, workers have created their own blogging guidelines that involved a lot of self-policing and sharing of ideas.
