Yd Awake: Understanding and Managing Generation Y

Y’d Awake

Understanding & Managing

Generation Y

Zuza Scherer

Copyrights © 2013 by Zuza Scherer

All rights reserved

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Contents

Dedication

From the Author

Introduction

About the Author

Chapter 1 What Gen Y wants, Gen Y gets

Chapter 2 Plugged in, yet so disconnected

Chapter 3 Ego on steroids

Chapter 4 Sugar-coated kids

Chapter 5 The unfilled Gen Y dream: to be somebody

Chapter 6 The stressful stressless

Chapter 7 White or Black? Gen Y is beige!

Chapter 8 Raise your scalpels!

Shortcuts to Gen Y

Afterword

Reference

Acknowledgements

Dedication

To the parents, teachers, managers, and mentors of Generation Y.

To Generation Y.

From the author

Chew, don’t swallow! This unwritten rule is well-known to the anthropologists who visit the different cultures of the world; whatever they receive from the local population – be it food, herbs, a magic potion or medicine – they should chew it. This means examine it, taste and experience it. But they should not swallow right away, until they’ve determined whether it’s safe.

This is a useful rule for all of us in our own realities when faced with new ideas, concepts, and theories. Chew – approach this new idea with an open mind, give it some thought, explore, research and discuss it, give it a shot. Don’t swallow – don’t take it for granted or for the final truth, don’t jump to conclusions, don’t be quick to make judgments, and above all, check if and how it applies to your very own situation.

I suggest such an approach to the phenomena relating to the generation of young people of today – employees, students and children, described in this book. Look at them from different angles and consider different opinions and researches, in order to at least partially understand what Generation Y is really about.

There are no universal rules and formulas that apply to every Gen Y-er and every company that they come into. But there are clues, pointers, hints, and valuable suggestions.

I wish you, my reader, an enjoyable, thought-provoking, and hopefully inspiring read.

Zuza Scherer

Introduction

Gen Y employees are everywhere: in call centres, travel agencies and supermarkets, as well as hospitals, banks and universities. They are most probably the IT guys looking after your company’s network of computers. Children of the Baby Boomer generation, Gen Y-ers are the largest generation since their parents’. As a growing proportion of the workforce, they are already shaping a new reality for business; new because it’s a reality influenced by their different attitudes, different world views, and their unique ways of thinking.

Frequently observed characteristics of Generation Y include: impatience, a sense of entitlement, lack of commitment and loyalty to employers, but also adaptability, openness to change and new technologies, and an almost inherent sense of optimism and enthusiasm.

They can be narcissistic and naïve, but when they are managed by superiors who understand their idiosyncrasies, they can become creative, committed to and competitive in achieving company goals.

Managers all over the world warn: management styles that are effective with other generations don’t appeal to Gen Y. Gen Y doesn’t have the same work ethic as other generations, and Gen Y-ers don’t like the motivational approaches other generations respond to. Just as they are different at the workplace, Gen Y-ers are also different outside of work.

In order to respect their privacy, the names of managers, Gen Y-ers (and their dogs) have been changed.

This book contains author’s translations, (unless otherwise specified).

About the author

Zuza Scherer is a graduate of the University of Auckland and a Generation Y expert. She specialises in the field of managing Generation Y employees, as well as in integrated marketing communication in the context of Gen Y consumers. Zuza has written for a number of prestigious publications, from both the business and education sectors, in traditional media as well as online in Poland and New Zealand. She is the youngest international professional speaker to have been honoured by the National Speakers Association of New Zealand with the prestigious Bright Star Award. For more information visit http://www.zuza.co.nz

Chapter 1

What Gen Y wants, Gen Y gets

I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now! Quite a few managers would agree that the chorus of this song by Queen sounds just like a mantra repeated by a typical Gen Y employee: I want a pay rise, I want a promotion, I want it all, and I want it now!

However, Freddie Mercury was not a forerunner of impatient and demanding attitudes; the generation he belonged to, and the generation before and after his, also wanted it all and wanted it immediately.

But what sets Gen Y apart from other generations who have also wanted is that Gen Y-ers usually get what they want.

Poland, Warsaw, December 2011, IKEA. Waiting to refill their cups (for 2,50 złoty – 0.793 USD) you can have unlimited soft drink refills), a middle-aged client tells her daughter: You don’t remember the time when a small bottle cost 5 złoty! More than 25 years ago, I started working in a supermarket and I would make 5 złoty per hour. I still have the same job, but now I only work a few minutes to pay for my Coke. 

"30 years ago New Zealand was a country of meat and three veggies. You could get any sauce you wanted, as long as it was Watties tomato sauce, reminisces the mother of my Gen Y friend. Exotic products like salami were extremely expensive, McDonald’s had only just made it to New Zealand, and we’d never heard of things like tabbouleh or couscous. There was a similar variety in the way people dressed: jeans, flannel shirt and gumboots."  Changes arrived in New Zealand with the wave of immigrants, expats who were returning from stays overseas, and a change of government.

United Arab Emirates, June 2012, Al Ain Museum (emirate of Abu Dhabi). On a black and white photograph from about 40 years ago there is a local family; a dirty and crusty young boy and his visibly worn out parents, living in a tent. Other pictures of Al Ain are a merciless reminder that the town that currently boasts a park, a few shopping malls, coffee shops, and even royal palaces, was just a simple village in the middle of an endless desert only a few decades ago. Today, the little crusty boy’s children and grandchildren drive Mercedes, Range Rovers, and they employ more maids and servants than some companies do employees.

It’s true that even today a typical Polish or Kiwi Gen Y-er does not drive a Mercedes; but Gen Y’s access to consumer goods has been almost unlimited from the day they were born. The consequences? Some nod with a smile of recognition on their face, others nod with resignation, while others simultaneously nod and shake their heads – but all of them nod. There are 1200 people in the conference room where I talk about Gen Y, but not one person is surprised; everybody, every one of those 1200 people either has seen it or experienced it. They confirm expert findings when they say: Yes, we have spoilt our kids! We have given them anything they wanted! Even worse, we have been giving it to them immediately!

That’s right, Gen Y didn’t have to earn it, they didn’t have to deserve it, they didn’t even have to wait for it – whatever it was. Do you also take part in this collective confession? Mea culpa, mea culpa!

No holds barred

Unlimited access to consumer goods – what’s wrong with that? ask those who lived during more frugal times – whether due to political regimes, harsh economic policies, or simply to poverty. Unlimited access is not always the root cause of the problem, because having the privilege of unrestricted choices is not inherently harmful. However, forced access will surely bite back.

 The following scene takes place in a supermarket: a father puts the pack of sweets his five year-old son placed in the shopping basket back on the shelf. The boy becomes grumpy, reaches for the sweets and puts them in the basket once again. When the father puts the pack back on the shelf for the third time, the five year-old throws a hissy fit. "Je veux les bonbons! Je veux les bonbons! (I want the candy!) He shrieks and runs around, throwing products off the shelves. In the end, still screaming and crying as though he were being skinned alive, he throws himself on the floor and throws kicks in the air. Some shoppers watch the helpless, irritated father with compassion, others with admonishment in their eyes. If you want to see this clip, type Je veux les bonbons" in YouTube.  

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? If you’re a boss you can probably relate to the shocked shoppers or the helpless parent. If you’re a Gen Y-er, depending on your age group, you may either find yourself in the role of the shopper or the kid flailing on the floor. And if you’re a Gen Y-er who already has children who also flail on the floor, you may be able to relate to all three roles! A few times when I’ve declined the demands of my Gen Y employee, I kept waiting for her to throw herself on the ground kicking and screaming! jokes Kasper, a manager in a transportation company.

The Corporation – a controversial documentary which examines the modern-day corporation, shows how psychologists test parents and their children to see what kind of behaviour causes the parent to give in to a child’s demands. Those tests are commissioned by product manufacturers in order to create more persuasive, deal-closing advertisements. What parent can resist their own kid armed with the most effective harassment techniques?

It would be interesting to find out whether shop-keepers have noticed an increase in the number of children who terrorise their parents into buying them things, because workplace managers have noticed an increasing number of young employees who use similar techniques at work. ‘If I don’t get a pay rise, promotion, or training I will leave’. When I hear something like this from my Gen Y employee, I play along: ‘Go, the door is open’ I reply, recounts Florence, a manager. I will not have a gun held to my head, I will not give in to blackmail. Come to me with a proposition, show me you are worth more money.

Wanting their child’s well being, or out of love (or out of sheer fatigue, or even to just get their kids out of the way), many parents are prepared to sacrifice and compromise. This is the very basic difference between a boss and a parent.

Whose best interest?

Hubert, a manager in a telecommunications firm, talks about his vast experience with employees.  Gen Y-ers want to be more attractive to their future employers, he says. Their parents were concerned with their children’s future, so they invested a lot in them: they paid for their foreign language courses, overseas trips, dance lessons, swimming or windsurfing courses – this is what Gen Y-ers are used to. At work, Gen Y employees also want training from beyond the scope of their practice. They think that growing the potential of the employees and investing in them is a company’s duty. It’s not! Despite what Gen Y-ers believe, often it’s not even in a company’s interest. Learning new skills or skills at a higher level than what is required for the current role applies to future work, and is not worth the trouble for their current employer. How come? Young employees are surprised.

For Hubert – just like for many managers – the answer is obvious. Gen Y-ers are rarely loyal employees. How often, soon after a costly training, does a Gen Y-er realise that this is not really his or her field? Or decides to go for a trip around the world? – Hubert asks this rhetorical question and Gen Y-ers agree. From the interviews I conducted with many young people in New Zealand, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates, it seems like most Gen Y-ers plan to go overseas. Many of them even plan to go right after the long-awaited training. And even if they don’t plan to go overseas, there is a risk that investing in training the employee will not pay off; various studies show that in some industries, Gen Y-ers change jobs after only less than a year with an employer. The young generation’s reputation as job-hoppers is warranted!

Gen Y-ers want to reap the most benefits for themselves out of the company they work for. Their bosses, who have learned from past experience, share Hubert’s views. Investing in Gen Y is a risk. As a manager, my duty is to look after the company’s interests and not the interests of somebody else’s overgrown kids.

While parents have invested unconditionally – and this is what Gen Y kids are used to – a company applies many conditions before anyone becomes eligible for any work-related benefits. For many Gen Y-ers, this is a surprising discovery.

Employee’s lack of awareness = employer’s problem

"To nara, pa, pa! – said my fiancé as he bid farewell to an elderly Polish couple as he disembarked the plane in Warsaw. Haider, dressed like any other Westerner, politely letting the couple through to the toilet, passing on tissues or drinks from the flight attendant throughout the whole flight from Frankfurt, didn’t give his co-passengers any reason to think he was not Polish. He’s heard me finishing a conversation or a meeting with other Poles with these exact words many times, but he was not aware that to nara, pa pa" is a form of goodbye reserved for people you know well and informally, and that using the expression with strangers – especially the elderly – is out of place.

My Polish friends are always amused when I tell this story. They fully recognize the faux pas that Haider, the foreigner, made. Gen Y-er Melanie’s mistake is