AS AUSTRALIAN employers experience a shift in expectations among their younger workforce, HR practitioners need to help individual managers deal with changing employee attitudes, according to local talent development and Generation Y expert Peter Sheahan.
AS AUSTRALIAN employers experience a shift in expectations among their younger workforce, HR practitioners need to help individual managers deal with changing employee attitudes, according to local talent development and Generation Y expert Peter Sheahan.
While baby boomer and Generation X managers are well aware of challenges in dealing with Generation Y (those born between 1978 and 1994), many do not see the magnitude of other factors that will force them to manage this problem, Sheahan said.
“When the economic reality of high attrition and the effects of the skill shortage really start to kick in over the next two to five years, managers will realise for the first time how big a problem this is,” he said.
“Generation Y employees are fast becoming the ambassadors of organisations’ brands and reputation. With soaring attrition rates, and Australia’s aging workforce, there has never been a more crucial time to engage this generation.”
Commenting on the release of a survey which found that while 58 per cent of Australian organisations have experienced a shift in expectations of employers and their Generation Y employees, only 21 per cent believe they are managing this shift successfully.
The survey, which was conducted by Ross Human Directions and took in senior HR and operational executives from some 65 organisations, also found that 32 per cent of organisations acknowledge a tension in the relationship between their managers and Generation Y employees.
Additionally, 12 per cent claim their leaders just can’t understand the work ethic of the younger generation while another 20 per cent believe the expectations of managers and younger employees do not fit together, leading to frustration for both groups.
“Basically, managers know there has been a shift in the attitude of new employees but many still have the attitude that these new employees should toe the line or else,” Sheahan said.
Manager insecurity plays a large part in attrition amongst Generation Y employees, according to Sheahan, with older managers not willing to cede power to young ‘upstarts’ who are not willing to put in the hard yards.
“I have heard managers say, ‘If I did it then so can they’. This power struggle is the number one cause of attrition in my opinion,” Sheahan said. “Generation Y come to work for companies but they leave bosses.”
He added that more needed to be done to change the attitudes of mangers, so that organisational cultures support initiatives such as flexible work hours, telecommuting, and maternity and paternity leave.
“Just having a ‘policy’ on work/life balance for PR purposes is not enough. There is no point having a personal leave policy if you get a guilt trip from your manager when you elect to take time off,” he said.
Sheahan gave the example of some professional service firms, including accounting and legal firms that bill by the hour, that have seen their attrition rates triple in less than three years as a result of Generation Y’s expectations.
“This model will lead to big challenges for managers of Generation Y within the professional services industry. Generation Y want a life. They work to live, not live to work,” Sheahan said.
“Yet to maximise the return on investment for the firm, management want maximum hours from their Generation Y employees, who will not be prepared to do it.”
The survey found that Generation Y employees rate remuneration and benefits (81 per cent), personal development (80 per cent) and career progression (79 per cent) above factors such as stability and security (49 per cent) in their jobs.
Given skill shortages which have already begun to set in, Sheahan said Generation Y employees have the power to demand these expectations be met.
“If they don’t,” he said, “they will walk down the road and go and work for your competitor knowing full well they will have no problem getting a job.”
Sheahan cited Australian Bureau of Statistics figures which found that Generation Y will work 29 jobs in five different industries. “That is a lot of moving around,” he said.
“Given the cost of attrition, this is a very expensive challenge for employers. The key will be for organisations to manage this cost effectively and to look not to retain a Generation Y-er in a job, but to at least retain them in the organisation.”
Sheahan said the industrial age model of specialisation will lead to boredom for many Generation Y-ers, especially in entry level positions.
