{"id":1561,"date":"2008-05-09T08:14:57","date_gmt":"2008-05-09T13:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/generations-101\/"},"modified":"2008-05-09T07:57:46","modified_gmt":"2008-05-09T12:57:46","slug":"generations-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/generations-101\/","title":{"rendered":"Generations 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wall Street Journal provides an article<\/a> that does a nice job of laying out the upcoming shortage of workers.\u00a0 The focus is upon the different generations and the general drive behind each.\u00a0 The article is rather rudimentary, but it provides a clean view of the problem.<\/p>\n

Americans of childbearing age simply are not producing enough kids to meet the economy’s future need for workers, notably in fast-growing fields such as medicine and engineering. The shortfall is coming largely because the fabled baby boom generation was so huge\u201475 million Americans born in the 18 years from 1946 to 1964\u2014that no other generation can be expected to match it any time soon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ok, that point leads to this:<\/p>\n
They are being replaced by two younger generations, each with its own desires regarding the opportunities and rewards available at work. The challenge for hiring managers is to figure out what these workers’ needs are, so that employers will be able to find them, hire them, and keep them on the job.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Retention is going to be a top business initiative over the next couple of decades which is a simply outcome of supply and demand.<\/p>\n
The baby boomers: They place a heavy emphasis on work and successfully climbing the corporate ladder. Work is an anchor in their lives.<\/p>\n
The Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1980: They enjoy work but are more concerned about the work-life balance.<\/p>\n
Generation Y, also known as Millennials, born after 1980 and now age 28 or younger: They often have different priorities than their Gen X and baby boomer counterparts, Smith says.<\/p>\n
“Because of their reliance on technology, [Millennials] think they can work at any time and any place and believe they should be evaluated on the basis of work produced\u2014not on how, when or where they got it done. Curiously, most Millennials want long-term relationships with employers, but on their own terms,” Smith says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And finally, here is the rub we have seen between Baby Boomer managers and Gen Y employees:<\/p>\n
The Millennials respond poorly to those who act in an authoritarian manner and those who expect to be respected due to higher rank alone. They believe they can learn quickly, take on significant responsibility and make major contributions far sooner than baby boomers think they can.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Exactly.\u00a0 There has to be a balance between the boomer manager allowing the Gen Y worker to grow quickly in the role and the Gen Y worker not expecting too much, too fast.\u00a0 There is distinct tension between these two goals.<\/p>\n
As they see, read the entire thing.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Wall Street Journal provides an article that does a nice job of laying out the upcoming shortage of workers.\u00a0 The focus is upon the different generations and the general drive behind each.\u00a0 The article is rather rudimentary, but it provides a clean view of the problem. First: Americans of childbearing age simply are not producing enough kids to meet the economy’s future need for workers, notably in fast-growing fields such as medicine and engineering. The shortfall is coming largely because the fabled baby boom generation was so huge\u201475 million Americans born in the 18 years from 1946 to 1964\u2014that no other generation can be expected to match it any… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,23,11,5],"tags":[642,645,72,29,404,646,644],"class_list":["post-1561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-generations","category-retention","category-team-management","category-trends","tag-baby-boomer","tag-baby-boomer-retirement","tag-gen-y","tag-generations","tag-managing-gen-y","tag-millennial","tag-worker-shortage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-pb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1497,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/04\/recareering-baby-boomers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1561,"position":0},"title":"Recareering Baby Boomers","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The retiring Boomers and the lack of X'ers to replace them is a well-documented problem in the labor force.\u00a0 The Herman Trend Alert speaks to this problem, and more importantly to a solution, in their latest newsletter: Many Baby Boomers retirements are, in fact, often \"recareering\" instead. See our previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Generations"","block_context":{"text":"Generations","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/generations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":640,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/engaging-gen-y-employees\/","url_meta":{"origin":1561,"position":1},"title":"Engaging Gen Y Employees","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"BusinessWeek.com's How to Keep Your Team Talking is a bit of a how-to guide on running a brainstorming meeting. That, to me, is not as intriguing as looking at the management implications of properly handling Gen Y workers. The younger generations crave involvement in their work roles. They crave a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2416,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/08\/what-employees-want\/","url_meta":{"origin":1561,"position":2},"title":"What Employees Want","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I am usually a bit cynical regarding these types of articles.\u00a0 My reasoning is this \u2013 each individual is unique in their motivations and rewards.\u00a0 Attempting to place employees into set categories regarding global characterizations is a stretch.\u00a0 Nonetheless, this article from Inc.com presents some excellent points and advice for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Generations"","block_context":{"text":"Generations","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/generations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2449,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/10\/a-secondary-effect-of-the-recession\/","url_meta":{"origin":1561,"position":3},"title":"A Secondary Effect Of The Recession","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Most people agree that there will be a demand for workers as soon as we start the recovery process (no, I do not subscribe to the idea that the recession ended in June of 2009).\u00a0 Companies are running in a most efficient manner right now due to the fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Generations"","block_context":{"text":"Generations","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/generations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":892,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/05\/the-mature-hiring-trend\/","url_meta":{"origin":1561,"position":4},"title":"The Mature Hiring Trend","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been talking about the talent shortage topic for some time and it is only going to become more prominent over the next decade.\u00a0 The Christian Science Monitor offers this story - 'Age friendly' workplaces on the rise - that defines a growing strategy - making your company culture more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/windowslivewriterthematurehiringtrend-6313hourglass.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1571,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/gen-y-is-empowered\/","url_meta":{"origin":1561,"position":5},"title":"Gen Y Is Empowered","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Not my words, but rather a quote from this Selling Power article: \"If I had to use one word to describe Generation Y, it\u2019s empowered,\" says Ann Fishman, president of Generation Targeted Marketing Corporation, a specialized marketing firm providing insight into consumer preferences, trends, and buying habits affecting the six\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Generations"","block_context":{"text":"Generations","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/generations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}