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Generation Y: They've arrived at work with a new attitude

From USAToday.com

Last Update: 11/07/2005 07:15

They're young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don't want work to be their life.

This is Generation Y, a force of as many as 70 million, and the first wave is just now embarking on their careers - taking their place in an increasingly multigenerational workplace.

Get ready, because this generation - whose members have not yet hit 30 - is different from any that have come before, according to researchers and authors such as Bruce Tulgan, a founder of New Haven, Conn.-based RainmakerThinking, which studies the lives of young people.

This age group is moving into the labor force during a time of major demographic change, as companies around the USA face an aging workforce. Sixty-year-olds are working beside 20-year-olds. Freshly minted college graduates are overseeing employees old enough to be their parents. And new job entrants are changing careers faster than college students change their majors, creating frustration for employers struggling to retain and recruit talented high-performers.

Unlike the generations that have gone before them, Gen Y has been pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, meaning they are both high-performance and high-maintenance, Tulgan says. They also believe in their own worth.

"Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today's workforce," says Jordan Kaplan, an associate managerial science professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn in New York. "They've grown up questioning their parents, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.' "

That speak-your-mind philosophy makes sense to Katie Patterson, an assistant account executive at Edelman Public Relations in Atlanta. The 23-year-old, who hails from Iowa and now lives with two roommates in a town home, likes to collaborate with others, and says many of her friends want to run their own businesses so they can be independent.

"We are willing and not afraid to challenge the status quo," she says. "An environment where creativity and independent thinking are looked upon as a positive is appealing to people my age. We're very independent and tech savvy."

A great deal is known about Gen Y:

--They have financial smarts. After witnessing the financial insecurity that beset earlier generations stung by layoffs and the dot-com bust, today's newest entrants into the workforce are generally savvy when it comes to money and savings. They care about such benefits as 401(k) retirement plans.

Thirty-seven percent of Gen Yers expect to start saving for retirement before they reach 25, with 46% of those already working indicating so, according to a September survey by Purchase, N.Y.-based Diversified Investment Advisors. And 49% say retirement benefits are a very important factor in their job choices. Among those eligible, 70% of the Gen Y respondents contribute to their 401(k) plan.

Patterson, who works at Edelman, has already met with a financial planner, and her co-worker, Jennifer Hudson, 23, is also saving for the future.

"I knew what a Roth IRA was at 17. I learned about it in economics class," says Hudson, an assistant account executive in Atlanta and a University of Alabama graduate. "My generation is much more realistic. We were in college when we saw the whole dot-com bust."

--Work-life balance isn't just a buzz word. Unlike boomers who tend to put a high priority on career, today's youngest workers are more interested in making their jobs accommodate their family and personal lives. They want jobs with flexibility, telecommuting options and the ability to go part time or leave the workforce temporarily when children are in the picture.

"There's a higher value on self fulfillment," says Diana San Diego, 24, who lives with her parents in San Francisco and works on college campuses helping prepare students for the working world through the Parachute College Program. "After 9/11, there is a realization that life is short. You value it more."

--Change, change, change. Generation Yers don't expect to stay in a job, or even a career, for too long - they've seen the scandals that imploded Enron and Arthur Andersen, and they're skeptical when it comes to such concepts as employee loyalty, Tulgan says.

They don't like to stay too long on any one assignment. This is a generation of multitaskers, and they can juggle e-mail on their BlackBerrys while talking on cellphones while trolling online.

And they believe in their own self worth and value enough that they're not shy about trying to change the companies they work for. That compares somewhat with Gen X, a generation born from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s, known for its independent thinking, addiction to change and emphasis on family.

"They're like Generation X on steroids," Tulgan says. "They walk in with high expectations for themselves, their employer, their boss. If you thought you saw a clash when Generation X came into the workplace, that was the fake punch. The haymaker is coming now."

Tulgan, who co-authored Managing Generation Y with Carolyn Martin and leads training sessions at companies on how to prepare for and retain Generation Yers, says a recent example is a young woman who just started a job at a cereal company. She showed up the first day with a recipe for a new cereal she'd invented.

Conflicts over casual dress

In the workplace, conflict and resentment can arise over a host of issues, even seemingly innocuous subjects such as appearance, as a generation used to casual fare such as flip-flops, tattoos and capri pants finds more traditional attire is required at the office.

Angie Ping, 23, of Alvin, Texas, lives in flip-flops but isn't allowed to wear them to the office. "Some companies' policies relating to appropriate office attire seem completely outdated to me," says Ping, at International Facility Management Association. "The new trend for work attire this season is menswear-inspired capri pants, which look as dressy as pants when paired with heels, but capri pants are not allowed at my organization."

And then there's Gen Y's total comfort with technology. While boomers may expect a phone call or in-person meeting on important topics, younger workers may prefer virtual problem solving, Tulgan says.

Conflict can also flare up over management style. Unlike previous generations who've in large part grown accustomed to the annual review, Gen Yers have grown up getting constant feedback and recognition from teachers, parents and coaches and can resent it or feel lost if communication from bosses isn't more regular.

"The millennium generation has been brought up in the most child-centered generation ever. They've been programmed and nurtured," says Cathy O'Neill, senior vice president at career management company Lee Hecht Harrison in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. "Their expectations are different. The millennial expects to be told how they're doing."

Matt Berkley, 24, a writer at St. Louis Small Business Monthly, says many of his generation have traveled and had many enriching experiences, so they may clash with older generations they see as competition or not as skilled. "We're surprised we have to work for our money. We want the corner office right away," he says. "It seems like our parents just groomed us. Anything is possible. We had karate class, soccer practice, everything. But they deprived us of social skills. They don't treat older employees as well as they should."

Employers are examining new ways to recruit and retain and trying to sell younger workers on their workplace flexibility and other qualities generally attractive to Gen Y.

At Abbott Laboratories in Chicago, recruiters are reaching out to college students by telling them about company benefits such as flexible work schedules, telecommuting, full tuition reimbursement and an online mentoring tool.

Perks and recruitment

Aflac, an insurer based in Columbus, Ga., is highlighting such perks as time off given as awards, flexible work schedules and recognition.

Xerox is stepping up recruitment of students at "core colleges," which is how the company refers to universities that have the kind of talent Xerox needs. For example, the Rochester Institute of Technology is a core school for Xerox recruiting because it has a strong engineering and printing sciences programs. Others include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois and Cornell University.

Xerox is using the slogan "Express Yourself" as a way to describe its culture to recruits. The hope is that the slogan will appeal to Gen Y's desire to develop solutions and change. Recruiters also point out the importance of diversity at the company; Gen Y is one of the most diverse demographic groups - one out of three is a minority.

CONTINUED BELOW: Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Anonymous writes "Retirement isn't just a date -- it's a new life
USA TODAY - November 23, 2004

Carol Wobser is trying to guard against being stuck at the end of her cul-de-sac in Cincinnati.

Mark and Janet Skeie of Lake Elmo, Minn., a suburb of the Twin Cities, are making peace with what Mark calls their ''loss of identity.''

And Ian Carr of Windsor, Ontario, says he just wants to ''give this thing a little bit of time to see how it plays out.''

Wobser, the Skeies and Carr are recent retirees. Before calling it quits, they took a hard look at their finances and concluded they had enough money to see themselves through the years ahead. But now they're facing a whole different, more ambiguous task -- taking stock of their mental and emotional readiness for retirement -- and they're wondering: Am I really prepared for this?

''We didn't realize what we were getting into from a psychological standpoint until we got into it,'' Mark Skeie says. ''There's really not much out there to guide people through the process.''

Nancy Schlossberg, a psychologist who interviewed nearly 100 current and prospective retirees for her book Retire Smart, Retire Happy: Finding Your True Path in Life, says, ''The biggest mistake people make is not realizing there's a psychological component to retirement.''

Her words, along with those of other experts and the experiences of people who have already made the change, are particularly pertinent to the first wave of the nearly 77 million baby boomers now on the cusp of their 60s and facing the sometimes frightening idea of leaving the workplace.

''One reason the transition can be difficult for some people is that retirement really is not one, but many, transitions,'' Schlossberg says. ''Our work, after all, gives us an identity. It maps out our routines, our relationships. Work very often is, in effect, our community. So leaving a job is a lot more than just ceasing work.

''Sometimes just knowing that it's not all going to come together immediately -- there's a comfort in that.''

Take, for example, Mark and Janet Skeie. Both were 56 when they took early retirement in September 2003 -- he from a management job at 3M and she from a small branch office of General Reinsurance. Overall, their transition has been successful, but it has taken a while.

''We went from a very structured world -- a world really that had been structured since we were in kindergarten -- to one in which the structure almost totally disappeared. You have to have a lot of discipline to manage the time and space without just idling away the days,'' Mark says.

''You know, you can only do so many loads of laundry,'' Janet quips.

To fill the void, both took up walking up to 3 miles a day. Mark also got involved with a senior advocacy program at the University of Minnesota, where he's putting together a pre-retirement planning program for people who, he says, ''need to understand all aspects of the change.'' Janet is volunteering at schools and the library and has become an avid cook.

''We've had friends over who have asked, 'Do you eat this way all the time?' '' Mark jokes. ''And I say, 'Yes, that's why we walk so much.' ''

Working through goals

While the Skeies have been hoofing it, Carr, 58, who retired in June after 40 years with the Ford Motor Co., has taken up bicycling. ''Just finished my goal of riding 100 miles,'' he says. ''In retirement, that's necessary: to set goals, even little goals, whatever they are.''

Wobser, 60, also retired in June, after 31 years of teaching in Ohio. ''One of the first things I told myself was, 'Don't let yourself get stuck at the end of that cul-de-sac.' '' She's resolute in maintaining relationships with the teachers she worked with in suburban Cincinnati, but admits she needs to make new friends outside her former workplace.

Mark and Janet Skeie have done exactly that. ''We've met a really neat group of people through different organizations in which we've become active,'' Mark says. ''I still golf occasionally with a couple of my former colleagues from work. But it's not the same without the constant, day-to-day interaction. And as the year has gone on, we've noticed there's a waning and lessening of those contacts.''

Replacing work colleagues with another network is just one of several pieces of advice from experts on how to make the transition successfully. Getting involved with something meaningful is another.

Schlossberg says she had an identity crisis of sorts when she retired from teaching at the University of Maryland in 1996.

''Frankly, it took me a while,'' she says. ''I needed to get over the fact that I was no longer a college professor. And it nearly gagged me to say I was 'retired.' One of the reasons I wrote my book is that it gave me a chance to take a hard look at the issues I was dealing with personally.

''Since then, I've got involved in several organizations -- a repertory theater group in Sarasota (where she and her husband now spend most of the year), then developing programs for the public library -- eventually joining the boards of directors for both. I would never have predicted that I'd be on the boards of a repertory theater and a library.''

Which brings up the question: Is it really a good idea to rely on serendipity when going into retirement? Wouldn't it be better to have a solid plan?

''Well, yes,'' Schlossberg says. ''But, really, most people don't have plans. The exciting thing about retirement is fantasizing, then letting things evolve.''

Gene Cohen, director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and author of The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life, agrees -- at least to a point. He has been studying 100 people age 60 and up, retired or partly retired, and says fewer than 10% had any preparation on how to spend their time.

''Fortunately, in the beginning, most of these people are happy to have a change. It's like a sabbatical. But then it begins to wear off.''

He emphasizes the importance of remaining open to possibilities.

''You have to differentiate between having a plan and doing an exploration,'' he says. ''You may not be ready to make a plan, but knowing what's out there helps ground you better. You spend less time stumbling around until you stumble onto something that gives you some measure of fulfillment.''

Cohen and Schlossberg compare retirees to people of another generation they know well: college students.

''Think of it (retirement) like career development, like college,'' Schlossberg says. ''Some kids come to college and know what they want to do. But many don't. They go through a searching period. Same with retirees.''

Adds Cohen: ''Students often don't know what their major is going to be, but they want to expose themselves to new things. And I think you want to approach retirement in the same way: It's a new period that is very liberating.''

'Work is a bad habit'

Tatiana Yates, 73, of Albany, Calif., felt anything but liberated after retiring from 26 years with the Social Security Administration. Most of those years were in Buffalo, but she relocated to a field office in San Leandro, Calif., to be near her two children and seven grandchildren in 1997, three years before she called it quits.

''I was home for six weeks and went nuts,'' she says. ''I hadn't lived here (in northern California) long enough to know many people, so I didn't have anybody to play with. There are only so many novels you want to read, so many TV shows you want to watch, so many walks you want to take.

''I told myself, 'I've just got to do something else.' ''

That ''something else'' turned out to be ferrying around her grandchildren and picking up a few bucks as a record keeper for the chess program at a local school. ''You know, keeping track of who's signed up, who's paid, who's not paid -- that kind of stuff. Nothing too cerebral.''

''Work,'' she insists, ''is a bad habit.''

Not so for Marlyn Lawrence, 56, who retired a year ago after 35 years with the New York City school system. ''My attitude is, every day is a good day,'' she says. ''Even if I sit home and do nothing, it's a great day.''

Not that she sits home that much. She sees friends and family often, reads fiction and, for the first time in years, took a vacation -- a luxury cruise to the Baltic. ''Vacations are wonderful -- what a revelation!'' she exclaims.

And about that loss of identity?

''When you work in a field -- in my case, education -- everything was a big deal for those of us in that little circle. But outside the circle, it's all caca. Nobody knows who those people are, and, frankly, nobody cares.

''I was always sort of able to make the distinction between what I was doing and how important it was in context, and then in the larger picture,'' she says. ''If you can't do that, retirement could be very difficult.''

Howard Stone, 69, of East Greenwich, R.I., says the whole idea of retirement should be retired. He says he ''transitioned'' seven years ago from managing trade publications for the food service industry to become a life coach.

''As you move from one industry to another, no matter how much the people there admired or relied upon you, they move on without you,'' he says. ''I didn't realize it then, but I was dispensable. And that's fine because I feel a meaning, a purpose, in what I'm doing now.''

101 alternative jobs

Stone and his wife, Marika, 62, are the authors of Too Young to Retire: 101 Ways to Start the Rest of Your Life, which helps provide a road map for the 50-plus crowd who might be asking, ''What next?'' The 101 ideas vary from animal handler to yoga teacher. Almost anything but ''retiree.''

''Retirement,'' Howard says, ''doesn't belong in our culture. It's a negative. The American dream, I think, is work that you love, a community that you love, and having time around that to be entertained, to have some leisure, to have some equilibrium among all those things -- not to just go off and disappear.''

And what about those who might come to the same conclusion after they have already retired?

''There are people in my study who are in their 80s and re-examining their options,'' Cohen says. ''It's never too late.''

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