MANAGING GENERATION X & GENERATION Y

The workplace revolution of the last decade has been profound, but now there are powerful demographic forces underway that will cement the Generational Shift in numbers, norms and values.

Generation X (the 29% born 1965-1977) and Generation Y (the 22% born after 1977)--with no attachment to the old-fashioned career path and work patterns--are redefining the prime age workforce.  As they do, they will usher out the last vestiges of the old-fashioned workplace values and norms and finish the workplace revolution. 

Meanwhile, huge cadres of aging workers (often with significant power in organizations) will reach advanced life stages, at which they will need and demand more flexible work conditions---ironically---pushing the ‘free agent’ agenda in their own ways for their own reasons.

What will this mean? The revolution in workplace values and norms will continue.  The traditional career path and old-fashioned management tactics will finally fade away. The one-size-fits-all approach to employer–employee relations will be dead. In good times and bad alike, the idea of a long-term career in one company will be rare. Employees will come to accept that they must take responsibility for their own success and fend for themselves as best they can. The most successful people will be focused on learning marketable skills, building relationships with decision-makers who can help them, and selling their way into career opportunities.

As most workplaces become less hierarchical and less formal, relationships between employers and employees will become increasingly short-term and transactional. Individual careers will be much more fluid and self-directed. Most communication will be just-in-time oriented, tied to the growing availability of information through easy-to-use technology. The pace of everything will continue to accelerate, while long-term thinking and planning will be much less relevant. Managers will have to discard traditional authority, rules, and red tape, and become highly engaged in one-on-one negotiation and coaching with employees to drive productivity, quality, and innovation.

What does the generation mix look like in your organization? And what does it mean for the future of your organization? Generation Xers are your mid-level talent pool; your bench strength for leadership. They are the first generation to reach mature adulthood in the real new economy. They are redefining adult conservative-security-seeking behavior. Generation Y is your emerging workforce and they are already turning out to be the most high maintenance workforce in the history of the world. They are like Generation X on fast-forward with self-esteem on steroids!

Bruce Tulgan is widely recognized as the leading expert on generational differences in the workforce. Drawing on ongoing research conducted since 1993, Bruce has written numerous books and articles on the subject. He is world-renowned for helping business leaders understand and maximize age diversity in their organizations and for teaching managers at all levels how to become the kind of highly engaged “great bosses” that employees need.

1. Where are your Generation Xers and Generation Yers coming from and where are they going?
2. How can you use GenXers and GenYers as a lens through which to see the future?
3. What are the human capital management issues presented by Xers and Yers in today’s economy? And what are the best practices addressing those issues?
4. Why is it getting so much harder to manage people? And how can managers take a stronger approach to being the boss? Strategies for building a high performance workplace by focusing on the greatest point of leverage---supervisory relationships.

Based On the Books: Managing Generation Y by Bruce Tulgan and Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D. (105pp / Paperback), The Manager's Pocket Guide to Generation X by Bruce Tulgan (102pp / Paperback), and Managing Generation X by Bruce Tulgan (287pp / Paperback)