GenXers' Free Agent Mindset Has
Swept Across the Workforce - By Bruce Tulgan
Six years ago we began our in-depth interview research with people in the workplace who were born after 1963 -- the young emerging workforce. In particular we focused on North Americans born between 1963 and 1977, those who have come to be known as "Generation X." At first, we thought we were simply investigating the new generation gap in the workplace. GenXers were being decried as disloyal employees who didn't seem to want to pay their dues but had plenty of demands. From the day they arrived in the workplace, Xers were asking such questions as: Why are we doing it this way when it would be much smarter to do it that way? Why are you in charge of this group when so-and-so knows more? How do I get a bonus? When do I get my own office? Can I work flex-time?

Our research on GenX helped to turn the slacker myth on its head and introduce the world to the real GenX: flexible, adaptable, technoliterate, information-savvy, independent, entrepreneurial, and in perfect sync with the new just-in-time workplace. In thousands of in-depth interviews, we have found a generation devoutly self-confident and thoroughly convinced that the only source of success and security in their adult lives will be themselves.

Carrying no baggage from the workplace of the past, GenXers started their careers during the most profound changes since the Industrial Revolution. And while those with more experience were scrambling to adjust to restructuring, reengineering, globalization and technology, GenXers were asking, "What's all the fuss about? It was like this when we got here. And most of us kind of like it this way." When everyone else was clinging to their jobs like trees in the midst of hurricane saying, "Don't downsize me," GenXers were saying, "Go ahead, downsize me... Whatever."

Most GenXers will tell you that success is about following opportunity wherever it takes them. If it takes them back to the same company over and over again, fine. If not, that's fine too. They plan to work for an employer only as long as they are getting what they need -- marketable skills, exposure to decision-makers, tangible results for which they can take credit, work-life balance, and performance based rewards. Their willingness to walk away from employment relationships failing to meet their needs gives them a strong negotiating position and they know it. History will show that GenXers' "free agent" mindset put them in the vanguard of the new economy.

* GenX-style free agency is not only the root of today's staffing crisis, but also the solution.
* Business leaders and managers should stop fighting free agency and start embracing it.
* Stop asking, "How do we get the best people to pay their dues and climb the ladder?"
* Start asking, "How do we get the best work out of the best people on a consistent basis?"
* If you want to get the work done in the new economy, you'd better learn to thrive on a fluid talent pool.
 

For more information about the Managing Generation X™ training program, please call 203-772-2002 X104 or send us e-mail.

Managing Editor, Karen Unger
E-mail: karenu@rainmakerthinking.com
Ph: 203.772.2002 x100
http://www.rainmakerthinking.com		 Forty-sixth Edition, October 1999
COPYRIGHT, RainmakerThinking, Inc.
53 Lawrence St.-Suite One
New Haven, CT 06511
Fx: 203.772.0886