The 21st century workforce is changing. According to an article in The Washington Post, “Career coach: The care and nurturing of ‘millennials’” by Joyce E.A. Russell, about 25 percent of the millennials or Generation Y occupy the current workforce, and they are expected to fill up almost half of the entire workforce by 2014. As the Baby Boomers retire, this trend will accelerate in businesses and other organizations across the United States. (Joyce E.A. Russell is the director of the Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business)
As Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the President and chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, stated in her blog post, A Conversation on Workplace Flexibility, “We need a 21st century workplace to meet the changing needs of the 21st century workforce.” Given these changes in demographics, a 21st century workplace will increasingly consist of a diverse group of individuals, and this reality presents issues, challenges and opportunities as businesses respond and adapt to an evolving workforce.
One opportunity involves flexible work options.
Who are the Millennials?
The study done by Marcie Pitt- Catsouphes and Christina Matz- Costa, “Engaging the 21st Century Multi-Generational Workforce” lists the names of different generations as follows:
Born after 1980- The Millennials, Gen Y’ers
Born 1972-1980- Younger Gen X’ers
Born 1965-1971- Older Gen X’ers
Born 1955-1964- Younger Boomers
Born before 1965- Older Boomers/Traditionalists
Perceptions of Millennials
The perceptions of the millennials from employers and more experienced workers are two-fold. An article from The Wall Street Journal calls them the “Trophy Kids” with a sense of entitlement. According to a survey by CareerBuilder.com, more than 85 percent of hiring managers and human resource executives share this view of the younger workers.
Here’s from The Wall Street Journal article:
Although members of other generations were considered somewhat spoiled in their youth, millennials feel an unusually strong sense of entitlement. Older adults criticize the high-maintenance rookies for demanding too much too soon. “They want to be CEO tomorrow,” is a common refrain from corporate recruiters.
On the other hand, a study done by Mr. Youth, an integrated marketing agency based in New York, and Intrepid, a market research consultancy, portrays a different view about the millennials: The entering workforce is “armed with ambition and creativity and are destined to change the way business run.”
Although it is difficult to ignore the seemingly supercilious nature of the millennials, the best way to approach the issue of a generation gap in the workplace is by engagement. “It’s not necessarily arrogance; it’s simply their mindset,” says Natalie Griffith, manager of human-resource programs at Eaton Corp. in The Wall Street Journal article.
And it is a mindset that views the workplace — and careers — differently. Russell in her Washington Post column lists common requests of the millennials in the workplace: mentorship, prompt career advancement and feedback, open conversation regardless of career ranks, flexible schedules and customizable benefits.
Among the requests: flexible schedules.
Changing Dynamics
Corporate Voices for Working Families believes that work-life balance is critically important to enable workers to meet the dual demands of work and family — while contributing to our nation’s economic prosperity and competitiveness.
As Valerie Jarrett wrote in her blog post, we need to modernize the workforce to meet the needs of 21st century families.
In that regard, workplace flexibility is important — not just to millennials but to other workers as well.
That is why, with the generous support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Corporate Voices has launched a national workplace flexibility campaign. The objective of the campaign is to engage the business community in creating a broader awareness of the positive business and employee benefits of workplace flexibility.
The face of our future workforce is dramatically changing—in the coming years, we will see that it is increasingly female, and increasingly young. Women and the Millennial Generation will shape the business world—and a critical way the business community can harness their talent is through workplace flexibility.
By Keiko Iioka
Keiko is working with Corporate Voices as an intern following her graduation from American University with a degree in international studies.
August 21, 2010 at 9:43 am
ack. got your dates off. genxers are 1961-1981 birth years. #ferrealz
millennials: 1982 – 2004
boomers: 1943-1960
amazing insights happen when you use the correct years for generations.
September 5, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I agree. Your dates are off. Most of those who graduated in 1999 were born in 1981 and belong to Generation X, not Y. Millennials start with 1982. Schools in U.S. and Australia use 1981 as the cut-off date in enrollment and 1982 had a huge boom in birth rates. Furthermore, those born in 1982 and graduated in 2000 are more civic-minded and according to Strauss and Howe, the coming of age of year 2000 high school graduates sharply contrasts with those born before them and after them due to the attention they received from the media and what influenced them politically. Most researchers, media, and universities use 1982 as the start date for Generation Y. Please fix your dates.
September 13, 2010 at 8:02 pm
[...] By 2014, they will statement for half of all U.S. workers. But today, they are struggling to [...]
December 15, 2010 at 12:04 am
@BebeA Strauss and Howe’s research on Generations is completely flawed. No legitmate researcher would base cultural generations purely on academics, which is what they are doing. There are several persons born in 1981 that graduated in 2000 because of laws in regards to when children can begin Kindergarten. Most states have a Kindergaren cutoff date between August and as late as December. Therefore a person born say September 20, 1981 could not have started Kindergarten in the fall of 1986 but rather would have stated in the fall of 1987 and would have graduated high school in 2000. Same goes for persons that failed grades. No one is guaranteed to graduate at a certain time simply based on when they were born. I know several persons born in 1982 that graduated early in 1999 and in other countries such as the UK pupils complete school normally at 16. So therefore what Strauss and Howe wrote about the class of 2000 does not just include persons born in 1982 but 1981 and probably 1980 as well because I was born in 1982 and was in the same class with persons born in 1980 who failed multiple grades. Again no legitimate researcher bases a generation on classes. The Baby Boomers are NOT based on academics but the Vietnam War, The Beatles, JFK, Civil Rights, etc. So please stop saying Generation X ends in 1981 because of persons graduating in 1999. Because in Malaysia persons born in 1982 graduate high school in 1999. These researchers are not evaluating other countries but just the United States.
May 11, 2011 at 2:59 pm
[...] percent of the U.S. population–nearly 80 million individuals. By 2014, they will account for half of all U.S. workers. But today, they are struggling to find their way. Of the 100 men and women who graduated with [...]
August 7, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Throughout history, generations have beed defined in terms of demographics. Therefore, Gen Y/Millenial is 1977 – ’95, because that was the actual “echo boom” period. According to an online chart, 159,000 more babies were born in 1977 than during the previous year. That number increased in successive years, peaked around 1990, and then declined before leveling off in ’95.