by James Urbaniak

Created on: August 25, 2009   Last Updated: August 26, 2009

Gen Y, AKA the Millennial Generation, Echo Boomers or Trophy Kids, are individuals born from 1979 through 1994. Gen Y has been described as the generation in which nobody loses and often receives the tag of feeling entitled, being assertive communicators, wanting to make a difference in the world and having considerable flexibility in their transition between work and play. As smart, empowered and innovative as Gen Y'ers are, they are the TV/Computer generation and come with the stereo-type of a short attention span. Employers will do well to heed this information by learning how to continually keep Gen Y employees engaged and interested in their job and the company. There are very specific reasons Gen Y'ers change employers so frequently and the so-called short attention span is one of the key components to this. As much as employers expect the workforce to adapt to the needs of business, companies must tailor their employee engagement efforts, if they wish to retain top Gen Y talent.

Some hiring managers may ask the question Why should I cater to the Gen Y crowd? Why shouldn't they be expected to get in line with the needs of the business like every other employee? This is a fair question, to which the response would be To maximize their performance and retain the special talents this generation has to offer. As Boomers retire or reduce their schedules to part-time or consultation in nature, Gen X is numerically incapable of filling the vacuum. Exit roughly 70 million Baby Boomers. Gen X'ers only fill 46 million vacancies in the workforce. -Enter 70 million Gen Y'ers and you have a formula that heavily favors Gen Y.

In referencing the alleged short attention span of Gen Y'ers it isn't in regard to task completion but long-term corporate engagement. The intention here is not that Gen Y needs to be baby sat or coddled but that companies who require highly talented individuals (and they always do), will need to modify their retention tactics to fill the gap left by the Baby Boomers. And the gap most certainly will be filled by Gen Y! A few unique aspects to the Gen Y culture are critical to pay attention to. 1) They have grown up in a highly structured environment with an overload of planned activities, camps and other social engagements. If you have tried scheduling time with parents of a Gen Y kid, then you will know they must first check their child's activity calendar and you will be lucky to get on said calendar within the next month. Unlike Boomers and

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>