Businesses have reported challenges in integrating the Generation Y employees into the Baby Boomer culture. The Generation Y, also known as the Millennials form the latest generation of workers entering the job market. However, dealing with them is quite complex, which means managers balance both the expectations of the millennials and company objectives to achieve optimal performance and productivity. This report seeks to provide insight on recruitment, management, and retention of the Generation Y employees to Baxter Electronics, a Chicago-based software manufacturer. This report will also discuss the characteristics of the Millennials and provide recommendations for managing and retaining them in the workforce.
Introduction
The Generation
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Therefore, the parents micro-manage this generation’s careers and personal lives, which provides crucial information for managers regarding managing the Generation Y. Further, the Millennials are not willing to give up their lifestyle for a career as they prefer having flexibility in their daily lives. As such, they choose careers that allow them to live the life of their desire. They prefer multitasking since they show comfort going from activity to activity.
The Generation Y is team-oriented as they have been taught cooperative learning style in school. As such, they display comfort working on teams and are active in making friends with other workmates. The group also believes that a team can accomplish more and better results for an organization. Additionally, this group of individuals grew up in a diversely-cultured society, which makes them appreciate workforce diversity. Their interaction is characterized by quick and efficient communication through e-mail, social media, texting, and instant messaging as opposed to face-to-face communication. However, the Millennials are unaware of their non-verbal cues, and thus tend to miscommunicate with their co-workers, managers, and
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They are constantly connected with their co-workers and friends through social media, which allows them to share ideas and learn about brands in the market. They also show preference towards webinars and online technology as opposed to traditional lecture-based presentations. Further, the Millennials display the need for constant feedback and praise. They have been accustomed to recognition for their daily achievement, a characteristic they take to the workplace. Therefore, the Millennials are a generation that needs to continue feeling valuable and wants to add their ideas and opinions to all company decisions since they want to be
According to Professor Jeffrey Bosworth, in his editorial “Hunting for Hope in Modern America,” he discusses the “screwed” millennial generation and the potential they have to be successful, despite current existing United States problems. Bosworth explains this from three different perspectives: the current issues in America, the positive attributes of the millennial generation, and what the millennial generation should do to succeed. In Bosworth’s opening proposition he elucidates the “[millennial] generation is screwed”. He expounds the millennial generation is predicted to “do worse than the previous generation”.
Advances in technology have increased tremendously over the years. These advances give people more opportunities to interact with others on a level that was unknown before. Examples such as, email, IM, texting, and the ability to call others from anywhere there is a cell phone has signal. While there are many positives for technology, technology has negatives. Generation Y is the first generation to have the privileges to have computers or cell phones since they were a child.
The study found Gen Y are tech savvy but not great team player, Gen X are entrepreneurial thinking but rank low on executive presence and boomers are team player and loyal but do not adapt so well (Giang, 2013). 78% of the responders agree member of Gen Y are believed to be the most tech savvy who know how to utilize social media to leverage opportunities. 68% of the responders agree that this young workers are most “enthusiastic” about their job. In contrast, Gen Y scored lowest on being team player, hardworking, and productive part of an organization. More Gen Y were interested in how to get a promotion compared to Gen X or Baby Boomers (Giang, 2013).
Ever heard of participation awards? This emphasizes their point to the intended audience because they are adults already in the real world and they all know that simply giving effort is not how one succeeds in the today’s world. Students value these three things the most while looking for future employment, “opportunity and self worth,” “challenge and responsibility,” and “freedom on the job,” but does not align with those of future employers and professors therefore creating an augmented reality of their future. Thus, further reaching out the intended audience because they see these Millennials entering the working world and expecting to start at the head of a company. Adults can relate to this because they understand the hard work it takes to become a top guy in a company but on the other hand, Millennials do not understand what it takes.
Companies will also need to anticipate and assess which new skills and training older employees will require, particularly in the realm of technology where they may feel less comfortable than many of their younger colleagues. The federal workforce is building toward a potential retirement wave in coming years, with more than a third of career federal employees projected to be eligible for collecting their end-of-career benefits by September 2017, compared to just 14 percent at the same time in 2012. The dynamic of this workforce is the wealth of knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience that will be walking out the door never to return. Millennials will make up 50 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2020 and 75 percent of the global workforce by 2030. At issue is how to attract and retain
“The Beat (Up) Generation: Millennials’ Attitudes about Work” is an article written by Abby Ellin and published in Psychology Today. It talks about the generation born between 1982 and 2004, how they react to working around the older generation and why they are hated by the older generation. The millennial generation was born during the rise of technology. They can do a lot of work remotely and not have to work as hard because of all the technology they have access to and the boomer generation doesn’t understand it they equate working hard with time and physical work. The boomers feel that millennials are just lazy and have no respect.
Culture in America during the 1980s was signified by a social and political conservatism. Conservatism is the” domination of society by an aristocracy (Stanford University).” The apex of American conservatism in the last half of the twentieth century was Ronald Reagan's victory in the presidential election. During Reagan's time as chief executive, he tried to get rid of the welfare State Act. He also wanted to shrink the federal government.
What are Baby Boomers? The generation of the Baby Boomers began at the end of World War II. Born between January 1, 1946 and December 31, 1963 the assassination of John F. Kennedy was a defining moment that brought the end of the generation and began Generation X. Between 1946 and 1963, 76 million baby boomers were born. As of 2012, nearly 11 million had died leaving just over 65 million boomers today. (Pollard and Scommegna) What influences Boomers?
Providing Care to the Aging of Different Cultures For anyone that needs to provide care for aging loved ones it can be a difficult task. But, how do you manage to provide care and maintain or obey cultural traditions? In the article, As Parents Age, Asian-Americans Struggle to Obey a Cultural Code, by Tanzina Vega, it takes a look at the struggle to provide care in line with one’s culture in today’s society. The article talks about the fact that the aging Asian-American population is increasing, as is many different ethnic and cultural populations.
Julie Hanus wrote the “The Kid in the Corner Office” which made many assumptions about our generation in the workplace. She simply thinks that we are self-centered and generally only think about instant gratification and ourselves. Which she believes makes us near useless in the workplace, because we are afraid of taking risks. She also believes that our generation has become one that skips from job to job in search of more praise from management. Counter to this Hanus states that our generation is loyal to our employers.
It is important as millennials to not get caught in the whirlwind of technology which can cause them to miss out on human interaction that is vital to our health and growth as
The origins of generativity can be traced to Erik Erikson’s seminal work Childhood and Society (1963). Erikson theorized that as people age, they progress through a series of eight stages, each stage illustrating a particular challenge. Generativity versus stagnation is the seventh stage and is the conflict most commonly associated with midlife. Erikson loosely defined generativity as “the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation”.
Implementing training programs where all generations can learn about each other’s differences can help employees understand how and why each generation works. Workshops in which multigenerational workforces can share work experience and mentor each other can assist in creating a sense of community and a supportive environment where employees can be open and share their ideas an collaborate with each other in order to better their organization. Millennials are perceived as being disloyal and quick to search for new employment when they unhappy in their work environments, but due to starting their careers during times of recession, Millennials try to maintain their roles in the workplace to remain financially stable. The main reason for turnover among Millennials is a result of exclusion, slow growth within the workplace, and limited development opportunities. Finding gratification and meaning to their work is important to Millennials so that they can excel and be productive in the workplace that is supportive of their work.
Some people argue that Millennials are entitled, self-centred, and uninterested in anything other than their own Facebook and Twitter page. This generation has been known to have high self-esteem, assertiveness, self-importance, narcissism, and high expectations. Having a higher self-esteem comes with many positive outcomes and benefits. People high in self-esteem claim to be more likable, attractive and make better impressions on others in a working environment than other people with low self-esteem. Millennials with greater self-importance are the ones who help others and care about large social
Ensuring the reward system that is based on performance and not on tenure. Motivating younger employees to work together with older employees. Incorporating ‘Teamwork’ within organization. In addition, organizations can create an environment where both generation employees can share their ideas and can work as a team.