I work in communications for an organization concerned with the recruitment (less this) and retention (very much this) of motivated and highly trainable individuals. Since I started working here in late 2007, I’ve seen a bunch of presentations that have dealt with Generation Y. After reading through a lot of “How do we reach them?” “What’s important to them?” “What makes them tick?” kind of presentations, I am increasingly of the opinion that corporate reputation is dead, or, probably more accurately, is poised to die.
(Editorial note: I am ripping off the figures and some of the information I’m about to throw out here from a very educational NASA presentation called “Gen Y Perspectives.” Here’s a bit about the presentation itself and a link to the PowerPoint presentation.)
For those not in the know, Gen Y is generally considered to be those who were born between 1977 and 2000. They are currently 25% of the workforce and are predicted to be 47% of the workforce by 47%. They are defined by a lot of things such as: liking mentors, instant gratification, attracted to large social movements, multitaskers, mobile, quickly bored, impatient but adaptable. One of the things that really struck me in most explanations of “Who is Gen Y?” is that for most of the generation, entertainment has almost always been an interactive experience. They have been asked or given a forum for their opinions for most of their lives.
Of course, some of these traits are shared by Baby Boomers and Gen X. While somewhat similar, Boomers and Xers had different formative experiences. Gen Y was shaped by both Iraq engagements, cell phones, cable TV, gaming, Columbine … it’s a far cry from Vietnam, rock and roll, and the civil rights movement. These events are cited as making Gen Y:
* Lack of trust in corporations and government
* Have a short-term career perspective
* Get easily bored
* Have no clear boundary between work and life
* Expect to work anytime, anyplace
* Connect with people in new and distinctive ways
And many other points.
I want to focus on just a couple of these traits to make my point. Because of social media, Gen Y believes that traditional, top-down communication is dead. In that, no one of their generation communicates this way. I bring all this up because the presentation I’m pulling most of this stuff from is from mutha-freakin’ NASA! This presentation addresses some of the tactics they will have to undertake to appeal to the Gen Y workforce because apparently just being NASA and doing some of the freaking coolest work in government isn’t enough. And that thought spawned this hypothesis: If an agency can no longer keep up employment rates among the younger workforce based on its reputation and mission, then perhaps the younger generation no longer cares about reputation.
That’s a pretty drastic generalization and it wouldn’t apply across the board, of course, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m coming to think that I’m right.
First, I think most folks my age and younger have been desensitized to most forms of scandal. I think Tiger Woods is probably the best recent example. He had what was, arguably, one of the best reputations of any major sports athlete. After his scandal broke, he was (and still is) on every major gossip blog out there. From a “reputational” perspective, this would be detrimental to his career. However, using some of the meltdown stars of the recent past as examples, his very increased presence on these blogs ensures him future success. Sure, he’ll have to make pretty and do his PR right, but the simple fact that he is still on everyone’s lips means he can surface again. People my age and younger are quicker to forget.
Which sets up my next point: most Gen Y don’t care about what you’ve done but what you are doing or are going to do. Sure Lindsay Lohan is cannon fodder for anyone looking for a cheap joke. But that’s mainly because she keeps making the same mistakes. If she were to score a success, she’d be able to turn things around quickly. Look at Britney Spears or Nicole Ritchie. A little PR massaging, a little reflection and they’re not only still successful, but suddenly seen in a completely different light.
I believe this is true because, while anyone thinking about it would disagree, I argue that Gen Y, young people, generally want to have opinions fed to them. While they still may form their own opinion, social media is a place where collective opinions are quickly formed and shared. The very popularity of Twitter confirms to me that this is the case. Now, I’m not saying that a targeted PR campaign is guaranteed to be successful just because you’re telling people why you are awesome. But I am saying that if you hook a few, you’re likely to hook many.
Those are my thoughts. Yours?
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6 comments:
They may have adapted that trait but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Today's economic environment is all about leverage. Reputation doesn't go all that far and loyalty is weakness. Today's Generation Y is hard to read. It may not get them in certain doors but many of those doors lead nowhere.
Yeah, I'm definitely not sticking up for reputation in general. There are certain places where, I would think, it still stands for something and I thought NASA would be one of those places.
I'm not a Gen-Yer, but I can say that trust has been pretty much severed for me. I'm thankful for my job, but I don't believe for a second that I won't be thrown out on my butt if the right person decided that it would make the bottom line look better. I've experienced firsthand what happens when a work force is 'trimmed' as a company begins to embrace 'lean manufacturing' and eliminate 'non-valued added' work. (Stupid euphemistic buzzwords.) Mismanagement and greed are prevalent and apparent and so Rob is right, loyalty is weakness--for both sides.
Sorry, got off on a rant.
They're conflating attributes unique to Gen Y with attributes unique to teens and twentysomethings. Much of the attitudinal stuff cited was the same for Boomers and Xers---when we were in our 20s. Xers were "slackers" then. Anyone think Xers are slackers now?
The information aspect of it is interesting---I know a number of Boomer execs who still have their admins print their e-mail and respond by writing on the printout. I know of no Xer execs who do this---all at least use e-mail and the Internet. I suspect fewer Xers use Facebook or Twitter, but that is largely due to the fact that it was geared toward teens and twentysomethings in the first place.
It's like software languages. I doubt Yers have programmed in BASIC or PASCAL to the degree Xers did, much less the COBOL and FORTRAN programming required of Boomers. This is no different than people learning the fine art of handling an automatic vs. 4-on-the-floor vs. a buggy whip in the prior century.
What will be interesting to see about Y is how the first generation to be extensively parented by Boomers turns out. Self-absorption would not be a surprising shared characteristic, particularly when paired with information tools reinforcing that to the nth degree.
Good points all!
I guess working for the DoD taints my perspective regarding trust. It's really all I've ever known. I grew up in an Air Force household, went active-duty Army and now work as a civilian for the Navy. I have tons of trust in the entity that is the DoD and the branches of service individually. However, I don't have any deep feelings of loyalty to the particular organization for which I work, nor do I feel obligated to work for the government. I do trust the organization though. Within reason.
Perhaps I read too much into the what they're typifying as "inherent mistrust" in the Gen Yers. I have a calculated mistrust of just about everything. And while I have a great amount of cynicism about a great many things, I don't want to feel that way. All that colors my thinking, I'm sure.
I guess the deeper sense of reputation I was thinking about when writing this was that an organization can no longer rely on reputation to sell a product. Nor can they rely on reputation to draw a workforce. One of these (brand loyalty) relies on a long-term relationship with a consumer. The workforce aspect is a much deeper issue, I think, and only moderately correlated.
I need to think more about this but I'm beginning to have very dark thoughts about how Gen Y is going to try and shape the workforce. Hopefully, as Tef says, many of this attitudes are simply borne of youth and they'll adapt to existing systems over time. We'll see.
"I argue that Gen Y, young people, generally want to have opinions fed to them."
One of the saddest experiences I had while teaching - this was at what was colloquially known as "Last Chance Community College" - in the lab report I was having them right, I had a question where they were to look at the data they had collected. Then I asked something along the lines of "What do you think?" - an open-ended question, where, frankly, any reasonable answer would get credit.
One of the young women (definitely a Y-er) came up to me and said, "I don't understand." I told her I was asking her to look at the data and tell me what she thought.
"No," she said. "Don't ask me what I think. Tell me what to think."
I almost decided at that point I didn't want to teach, but told myself it was because I was at LCCC. I haven't encountered such blatant examples where I am now, but I do run into students who either mainline what Jon Stewart says or who are put off by being asked to consider both sides of an argument.
On the main topic of your post: I'd really like to see "loyalty" and the importance of reputation and such come back. I don't know that it ever will, but it makes me sad to think that NASA feels like they have to work to "recruit" Gen-Yers by being "cooler" somehow.
If they can't recruit a "younger" workforce, maybe the younger generation doesn't deserve to work for NASA?
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