In one of our conferences, one senior executive commented during our forum, “Bakit kaya ang mga bata ngayon masyadong nagmamadali?” When I heard that question, I want to give the answer right away but my conscience told me otherwise. I thought answering that question will surely result into a blah-blah! (story-telling) of their struggles and experiences which will result in giving me an unsolicited advice like “Hijo, marami ka pang kakaining bigas. Darating ka rin doon.”
I really hate comparing the past with the present.
So I glanced at all other yuppies inside the room. Looking at their eyes, I sensed we all felt the same at that moment. Indeed, we are the Generation Y. So in response to this senior executive, I am writing this blog entry.
Generation Y is the big chunk of the current workforce around the globe which is currently around 76 million and still counting. We are the young 20-something fresh faces arriving to work with our flip flops on, listening our iPods, and juggling emails and online social networking sites through our iPhones and Blackberrys while waiting at the train stations or just anywhere else.
We put emphasis on work-life balance. We are not afraid to challenge the status quo. We are not afraid of authorities (in fact, we question them most of the time). No we are not pasaway. It’s just that we were raised by our parents (the baby boomers and Gen X who are both deprived of the good things in life due to the war conflicts and labor-intensive set-up) by giving us anything we need (from soccer and ballet summer workshops up to attending the best schools they could afford).
We are not suckers to “loyalty program” of our employers and less likely to respond in a traditional command-and-control type of management. We speak our minds and we are likely to be engaged in environment where creativity and non-traditional thinking thrives.
The lessons learned from the past such as the financial crises, Enron and Worldcom scandals, the dot com-burst, and massive layoffs induces us to play smart with our finances and makes us less likely to stay in one job and in one employer. We purchased insurance plans, stocks, mutual funds and saves a portion of our salary for early retirement. We are daring to build new ventures and engage into business or entrepreneurship after some years of employment.
We hold the key to information in this era – the Information Age. We believe in our self-worth and value which makes us outspoken in catalyzing change in the companies we work for. We are multi-taskers so please don’t give us that same old routinary job if you want to retain us.
It is sometimes uneasy working side-by-side and sometimes directing grumpy and close-minded 50-year olds.
If you want to hire and retain us, be sure that you have something that will entice us. I’ll give you a clue, we like to work in a friendly, relaxed, expressive and open-minded atmosphere. We want recognition for all our efforts and if we feel we are unrewarded by our current employers, we know someone else will so we can instantly clear our desks and pack-up our things.
However, I would say we need continuous guidance. Our moods, ways and feelings are impacted by what we see, hear and read in media (mostly TV and Internet). I believe we still need the wisdom of the elders when it comes to love, relationships and personal success.
Much more to say, but the bottomline is - whether you like it or not, we are the force that keeps this world from moving. We are inevitable. Employers and older workers must understand us and adapt to our ways and means.
Because we’ll be the bosses of the very near future.
