May 30, 2008
When Guru was a lad, the only generation game he was interested in came on a Saturday night and was hosted by Bruce Forsyth.
Now it seems the generation game takes place in the workplace and involves trendy types with thin-framed glasses talking about how to manage people born in different years.
Generation Y, Generation X, Generation X-Box, The Net Generation, The Millennials - they are all different, apparently, and we need to understand there characteristics.
Take this quote from Madalyn Brooks, HR director at consumer goods giant Proctor & Gamble, speaking at a diversity conference recently.
"There are now four generations in the workplace at the same time - the Baby Boomers, Generation X, the Net Generation and Generation Y - and we have not yet got to grips with it. We need to talk about it with prospective recruits."
Talk about it with preospective recruits? What? "Welcome to the job interview, please state what year you were born as we have to know how to manage you."
Anyway, according to research out this week, it's all rubbish. For example, Generation Y-ers - those born between 1980 and 1994, apparently - are not at all like they have been characterised. They don't care about the planet, or having wireless broadband in their head so they can work in the shower.
The TalentDrain report found that the importance attributed to work-life balance increased with age, while older workers were also more likely to value their working conditions than those in their 20s.generational stereotypes on there heads just to create fresh stereotypes.
And how can it possibly be that someone born on 1 January 1980 has more in common with someone born fourteen years later than someone born a few hours before?
Still, it's clearly a profitable business this generational labelling. So what's after Generation Y? Well, believe it or not, the imaginatively titles Generation Z already exists.
It seems that someone has made a mint out of telling wide-eyed employers what kids no older than 13 will be like when they get a job. Because clearly they will all be the same, and bear no resemblance at anyone born earlier.
But hang on - what will happen next? We've got to the end of the alphabet! Guru is not fazed - Yours Truly would officailly like to coin the phrase Generation AA. You'll find Guru hanging out with them all down the pub.
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Comments (2)
Just as I suspected - a load of mumbo-jumbo.
I said as much a couple of weeks ago:
http://flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/millenial-mumbo-jumbo/
Posted by Rick | May 30, 2008 11:56 AM
Posted on May 30, 2008 11:56
One survey doesn't change the fact that different generations have different values which are at least partly based on the world they grew up in. It doesn't mean that everyone from one generation is going to be the same, but there are certainly generalizations we can make in order to appeal to a broad group. While it is true that the older a worker gets the more work/life balance becomes important the fact is that work/life balance has ALWAYS been important for Gen X, not just as they get older. This is a real difference compared to the Boomers who entered the workforce in an extremely competitive environment and sought to get ahead by creating a 60 hour work week. Like it or not this is a real difference.
Posted by Jeff | May 30, 2008 7:21 PM
Posted on May 30, 2008 19:21