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Live from Training 2010: Why Your Company May Soon Launch Parent's Day
February 02, 2010
By Margery Weinstein
Employees more loyal to their bosses than the company, and others who want a bring-your-parent-to-work day, are just two glimpses of what your company's future may look like, FedEx Express Senior Instructional Design Specialist Karen Castro said this morning at Training magazine's Training 2010 Conference and Expo in San Diego, CA.
Generational difference in the workforce was expounded on in a case study roundtable session in which Castro explained that, unlike their older peers, Generation Y individuals can be expected to change jobs about 15 times over the course of their career. One possible reason? Gen Yers (rightly or wrongly) expect work to be fun, having taken to heart the advice older generations assumed was too idealistic to implement: love what you do.
By comparison, "matures," or those born between 1909 and 1945, are more focused on productivity and not drawing attention to themselves than on in-office enjoyment. Boomers are notorious workaholics, and not the best with technology (or at least not as excited about it as Generation Xers and Yers), but at least the women of that group are familiar and open to social networking because many of them use it to keep in touch with their children. One participant at Castro's roundtable noted how at her company, Boomer men can effectively be taught to use social networking for business by their generational peers in the office. That seems to work better than having a Generation Y'er try to teach them.
On the other hand, noted another participant of the roundtable, Generation Y is distinct in the workplace, compared to Boomers back when they were young, because they have no hesitancy in engaging people older than themselves. The participant remembered with humor how when she was a young worker there was a popular saying about not trusting anyone older than 30.
One reason young people today feel more at ease with those 20, 30, or even 40 years older than themselves, is they're much closer to their parents than Boomers or Matures were with their parents. Castro said when she teaches college classes she's astounded by the parents who call her. She, like many of us of generations older than Y, figured that once you stopped living with your parents, and were older than 18, you no longer needed an intermediary to communicate with the teacher. This parental closeness also manifests itself these days with some companies instituting Parent's Days. Parents are such an important part of Gen Yers' lives, they often want to get their parents take on the place they work.
The generation that seems to be missing out in all this are Gen Xers, like this reporter, who are slowly getting crushed between two much bigger generational groups, the Boomers and Gen Yer's, whom Castro said is larger than even the Boomer generation. Gen Xers also seem the least happy, as Castro describes them as "skeptical," "reluctant," and "self-sufficient," while describing Boomers as being into "individuality" and having earned the title the "me" generation. Y'ers are described as "coddled," "idealistic," and great lovers of technology.
To effectively train Matures, Castro said to offer lectures, presentations by experts, and on-the-job training, but only when it's respectful, non-threatening, and risk-free. To teach Boomers, she recommended offering a variety of training formats, along with books, videos, self-help guides, and audio tapes they can listen to on morning and afternoon commutes. Gen Xers, Castro said, respond well to learning in teams and collaborating with others; role-playing; and learning by doing. Gen Yers, she noted, should be given "fun" classroom environments that make ample use of video games, video clips, and media.
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