Baby Boomers and Gen. Y share goals
You might think Baby Boomers and people in Generation Y don't have much in common. But economist Sylvia Hewlett says they have similar goals, working styles, likes and dislikes. She talks with host Tess Vigeland.
Sylvia Hewlett. (Sylvia Hewlett)
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Links
- New office crisis: Boomers won't leave!
Marketplace commentary from Dan Drezner - How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda
Harvard Business Review
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Tess Vigeland: Generation Y is aged 15 through 32. Baby Boomers are aged 47 to 62. You'd think they wouldn't have too much in common, but economist Sylvia Hewlett writes about both in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review. She says not only are the Ys and the Boomers similar in their goals, working styles, and likes and dislikes. They even like each other, and that's something their employers should pay attention to.
SYLVIA HEWLETT: They do. I mean, obviously, they're related. The wives are the children of the boomers. But one thing they share is this idea that a career is a fluid journey. You know, suffused with meaning and purpose, and with at least some short timeouts. Another thing that is very shared is the need for much more control as to when, where, and how work is done. A flex, remote working possibilities are very powerful for these generations.
Vigeland: But I'd really to hear the argument that Gen X is not interested in those things. I mean, Gen Xs right now in the moment of their lives where they are supporting children. At some point, doesn't salary become a little more important when you are supporting a family?
HEWLETT: Well, absolutely. When we look at these three generations, and there are mostly are three generations in the workplace these days, it's not that X doesn't like this stuff too, but they just can't prioritize it right now. The Ys because they are delaying child-bearing feel that they have time for some stretch roles, maybe short-term global assignments before they settle down. And obviously for boomers, they're into the other side of their careers.
Vigeland: Given these insights that you put forth here for Gen Y and for boomers, how can companies take advantage?
HEWLETT: I think companies, and we really show this in our research because we've been working with a lot of employers, see huge opportunity here, in a year where they can't pony up bonuses or big pay increases. It's pretty fabulous to know that they can really transform rates of engagement and their employer brand by offering a little bit more flex, or an unpaid mini-sabbatical.
Vigeland: So it's not all about money, then?
HEWLETT: It's not.
Vigeland: I guess I just find it really hard to imagine that in a time of 10 percent unemployment that workers are going to feel like they can even ask for flex time, or for a sabbatical when there are people lined up waiting to take the traditional job.
HEWLETT: Well, I have a brilliant example for you. This last winter KPMG, they needed to reduce their payroll cost by 15 percent in the UK. But instead of firing a bunch of folks, what they decided to do was give their professionals the following choices. They could either take a four-day workweek and a 20 percent cut in pay, or they could take a mini-sabbatical, and again, a 20 percent cut in pay, or they could choose to stay as they were. Well, as it turned out a whole lot of people chose those earlier options, and so the company was able to do three things, there was a three-way win. First off, they did save 15 percent of their payroll. They had tremendously kind of motivated professional working group who felt they had been allowed to make important choices, and it became a whole recruiting tool. There's all kinds of ways of motivating people to make sure they are contributing a 110 percent of their energy at a time which is fairly rough out there.
Vigeland: Sylvia Hewlett is an economist and founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy. Her article, "How Gen Y and Boomers Will Reshape your Agenda," appears in the July issue of the Harvard Business Review. Thanks so much for your time today.
HEWLETT: Thank you.
Comments
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From Belleville, ID, 08/20/2009
I have to disagree with you, Diego. I have done a LOT of research on Generation Y, and the soonest possible year I can possibly put into Y would be the 1979 babies. It really starts around 1980, as the babies started coming of age in THIS decade, meaning their formative years were touched by the affluent 1990's, so they grew up with some massive amounts of things. Things us born in 1977 didn't always get in the 1980's!
From San Antonio, TX, 07/09/2009
Well stated Diego. I've seen other studies that mark Generation Y as starting in 1982.
I have to agree that a lot of these employment multi-generation reports do exclude the Gen-X group.
07/06/2009
Nicely written Diego!
It's amazing how every article finds a reason to ignore Gen X. The reason the baby boomers and Gen Y get all the attention because:
1. Baby boomers are in the top positions now - they are the editors of the outlets that write this stuff.
2. Gen Y are their kids.
As a Gen Xer, I'm used to this treatment.
From Davenport, FL, 07/01/2009
Generation X was so named because it was unknown. After the Boomers, which were easily marketed to, the next generation was so diverse, no marketing campaign could reach them all. So, "X"=unknown.
Generation Y are also known as Millenials since they came of age around 2000.
From CA, 07/01/2009
I agree with the above comments and add to this that the majority of "new" parents - myself included - are in their late 30s and most often between 40 and 45 and we all have had carreers up to now and are "not starting" as the article assesses. However, I must applaud KPMG's use of flexible alternatives in England - which I hear is NOT what they have use in the USA mind you - Flexibility is no longer a choice it's a necessity both for workers and employers. It would be better for programs such as these to stop fear-mongering and endorse more progressive views on work and life.
From New York, NY, 07/01/2009
Generation Y / Generation Why? / Generation Whine
First I have to say I agree with Ian Gillman. Second, I disagree with almost every conclusion from this segment of the program. To start the years Sylvia Hewlett gave to define the generations seam arbitrary:
Baby Boomers aged 47 through 62 (1947-1962) 15 years
Generation x aged 46 through 33 (1963-1976) 13 years
Generation Y aged 15 through 32 (1977-1994) 17 years
There is virtually no difference between one born in 1970 and one born in 1979, clearly the same generation. There is a big difference between one born in 1979 and one born in 1988, clearly different generation.
So let’s first define what a generation is and what defines Generation Y.
“A cultural generation refers to the cohort of people whose youth was shaped by a particular set of events and trends.” A generation can also be a stage or degree in a succession of natural descent as a grandfather, a father, and the father's son comprise three generations (usually no less than 18 years between one generation and the other except for economically challenged segments of the population).
Generation Y is defined as the children of the Baby Boomers, the Generation following Generation X, and the generation that was born with the Digital Age.
But what years define Generation Y? Until I heard this program, I supposed everyone agreed it was somewhere in the 1980s (not the 70s). If it is the digital generation it will have to be with the introduction of the CDs (the main change from analog to digital) and of the use of graphics in Personal Computers (featuring a mouse and a graphical user interface rather than a command-line interface).
Compact Disc 1982
“The first album to be released on CD was Billy Joel's 52nd Street, that reached the market alongside Sony's CD player CDP-101 on October 1, 1982 in Japan.”
Apple Macintosh, January 1984
Microsoft Windows, November 1985
The year that this two defining technologies (Digital Sound and Digital Images) converge was 1984.
So I define the generations as follows:
Baby Boomers = 1945-1963 (18 years) Starts with the end of WWII ends with the Assassination of JFK (end of innocence).
Generation X = 1964-1983 (18 years) Starts with the Social and political movements: Counterculture/social revolution, Anti-war Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Student Movements and the rise of Feminism (Equal Pay Act), ends with demise of analog media.
Generation Y = 1984-2000 (16 years) Starts with the Beginning of the Digital Age and ends with the Internet crash.
Generation Z = 2001- ? Starts with September 11 and the war on terror, end to be defined (the 16 years of Bush vs Obama Generation?).
The movement back to the city cores was initiated by Generation X. In the last two years New York has built more schools that it ever built in its history, but not enough for 2009 demand. The city claims unforeseen growth (Generation Y kids are to young be school age and Baby Boomers children to old).
Generation X gave force to the green movement, turning to smaller efficient cars (Golf, Mini Cooper, Smart, & hybrids).
Generation X added the social aspect to the previously only market oriented Global World with creations like Kiva.org.
Regarding the work force, Generation X started with flex time, telecommuting, not using suits at work, the introduction of pool tables at the office area, it all started in the late 90s.
All the toys of Generation Y are the creation of Generation X. Proof of the Generation X entrepreneurship are the creation of companies such as Paypal, Skype, Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Napster among others:
Wikipedia Co-founder: Jimmy Wales (born 1966)
Ebay cofounder: Pierre Omidyar (born 1967)
iPod/iPhone cocreator: Jonathan Paul Ive (born 1967)
PayPal cofounder: Peter Thiel (born 1967)
Yahoo cofounder: Jerry Yang (born 1968)
Wikipedia Co-founder: Lawrence Sanger (born 1968)
Skype cofounder: Jaan Tallinn (born 1972)
Google cofounder: Larry Page (born 1973)
Google cofounder: Sergey Brin (born 1973)
Kiva Founder: Matt Flannery (born 1974)
PayPal cofounder: Max Levchin (born 1975)
Twitter founder: Jack Dorsey (born 1976)
YouTube cofounder: Chad Meredith Hurley (born 1976)
YouTube cofounder: Steven Shih Chen (born 1978)
YouTube cofounder: Jawed Karim: (born 1979)
Napster creator: Shawn Fanning (born 1980)
Facebook cofounder: Chris R. Hughes (born 1983)
Facebook cofounder: Eduardo Saverin (born 1983)
The average age of an iPhone user is 35, not a Generation Y.
Generation X is the generation the Baby Boomers love to ignore because Generation X has created more positive change the Baby Boomers ever did. Some of the Baby Boomer biggest legacies will be urban sprawl, social inequality, the war on terror, and the worst global financial crisis.
But Baby Boomers shouldn’t worry; Generation X will clean the problem just in time for Generation Y to later claim they were the ones that solved it.
Generation Y is the “I am special Generation”.
Generation Y is very similar to the Baby Boom generation in that they are self center, naïve, and sometimes lazy.
Diego Barberena
New York, NY 10128
7/1/2009
barberena@post.harvard.edu / db240@columbia.edu
From Rockford, IL, 07/01/2009
I am a member of Generation X and I refer to us as the "forgotten generation". Everybody talks about the baby Boomers and Generation Y but nobody mentions us.
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