My name is Jamie Erickson. I am an HR professional and an employee of DECODE.
When I first read this article I was kinda surprised. I was surprised because I had all kinds of assumptions about Gen Y values and what’s important to them in the workplace. The fact that they are seeking stability and security was something that I had not expected. My perception has been that they were more inclined to move from job to job and not look for a place to call home. In addition I had not stopped to consider that they would be willing to take a job that was less ideal in nature when starting out their career. When I stopped and began to realize the implications of my thinking and the assumptions I was making a few things crystalized for me. Let me pose these in terms a series of questions:
1. What are the implications of this kind of thinking to attracting and engaging young employees?
2. How is it possible to orient them to an organization when I don’t fully understand their needs?
3. If I don’t understand them and do manage to hire them, how could I keep them?
When I stand back and look at those questions in a broader context there are huge implications to recruiting costs and building organizational capacity.
So let me ask you this. Do my questions resonate for you? Has your thinking been similar to mine? Is your organization organized and prepared to look at new graduates and young employees in a different way? Do you think that there is a huge strategic advantage in thinking differently about young employees? I would really like to know.
Does anyone have any horror or success stories you would like to share?
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How do the results of this survey differ from say the same survey offered 10 years ago. If it’s 51% who want stability down from 81% for the same demographic 10 years ago then that is a dramatic difference. If it’s up from 20% that too is a dramatic difference. If it’s the same then I guess it’s an interesting indicator that popular wisdom about GenY is wrong but doesn’t necessarily necessitate different behaviours from HR departments assuming current tactics are successful with GenX.
Thanks for posting your comment and asking your questions. I would like to begin by saying that From Learning to Work is a relatively new survey and as such we do not have data that stretches back 10 years.
Stability and security are two of the themes that emerge from the survey. There are others. That being said, I think it’s important to understand the reasons why stability and security are issues. If it’s about the fact that students have huge debt loads upon graduation and that they are looking for cash then that might influence how I structure my compensation program. A signing bonus might go a long way versus providing RRSP matching.
I would also say that when I am making decisions about my HR practices I review all of the data and ask myself “how do all of these pieces come together?” and “dynamically what do they suggest?” I think therein rests the value when making decisions about what I will do or not do as an HR expert.
I really like the fact that you offer up the notion that popular wisdom might be wrong when it comes to Gen Y.
There are lots of opinions out there and I am interested in hearing about other peoples personal experiences.