Searching for role models, Millennial women still come up empty
Posted On July 31, 2014
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg made big waves with her book, Lean In. But a recent study of Millennials, conducted by Bentley University’s Center for Women in Business, seems to agree with her assertion of an ambition gap among female workers. According to the study, while nearly 20% of Millennial women seek to emulate women leaders in their companies, another 20% have “no interest in becoming a leader at my current company.” Of course that leaves a good majority floating somewhere in the middle. It’s even more interesting when you apply the assumptions these Millennials are making about the women CFOs… Read More
Categories: Generations, Parenting, Work, Workplace
Truth in advertising vs. telling them what they want to hear: A recruiter’s dilemma
Posted On July 29, 2014
The Millennial workforce rivals Boomers in size, but not necessarily in availability. This creates an interesting conundrum for recruiters. While there should be more supply than demand (and in some industries there certainly is), companies are still competing hard for the best talent. Those with traditional business models, such as public accounting, are particularly at odds with the Millennials’ more relaxed approach to work. How do you entice with promises of work-life balance in a business with a “busy season” that has young employees averaging 60+ hour work-weeks? Very carefully. Maybe the balance isn’t about the number of hours worked… Read More
Categories: Work, Workplace
Rules aside, your employees are talking money
Posted On July 29, 2014
A new LinkedIn study on relationships at work is making HR directors across the country cringe. But not for the reason you might think. Despite many companies having direct rules prohibiting it, more than two-thirds of Millennials are comfortable sharing personal information—including salary—with their coworkers. What’s fueling younger employees to commit the ultimate faux pas? The potential reasons are many. Millennials are, in general, more liberal in their thinking. They don’t hold as strictly to social norms and traditional boundaries. The internet certainly plays a role – this is a generation fully accustomed to revealing private information to strangers, so… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Work
Can early financial literacy indicate future success? If so, look out.
Posted On July 24, 2014
According to an international report on financial literacy, recently released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, today’s teens are ill-equipped to make much more than basic spending decisions. And this could be a problem. Financial planning demands are increasingly complicated. While Matures, and to some extent Boomers, were able to supplement pensions and corporate retirement plans with some personal financial planning, Xers, Millennials and iGen know that they are on their own. But has education kept pace with needs? It seems not. The OECD report indicates there is work to be done, with more than 1 in 6… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, iGen, Wealth
If there’s one thing for certain, it’s not taxes
Posted On July 22, 2014
Don’t tell the Baby Boomers, but despite their numbers and impact on the world, they are not going to live forever. Apparently the most universal of truths is contributing to the latest in Boomer-driven business trends: eco-friendly burials. At least that’s what the Associate Press is telling us. According to “Eco-friendly burials gain favor among Baby Boomers,” Al Gore’s generation is feeling a little guilty about the environmental legacy they are leaving behind and are increasingly opting to eschew traditional burials for a more “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” approach. Make no mistake, the 40 green cemeteries in the… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Generation Y / Millennials
Is health insurance still an attractive benefit?
Posted On July 17, 2014
With the recent Supreme Court decision excusing Hobby Lobby from providing certain birth control options in its employee health plan and the goal of Obamacare to make health care affordable and accessible to all Americans the employer-assisted health plan is getting tons of attention. We know costs keep rising and many employers are passing more and more of that cost on to employees. And with the rise in part-time and contract workers, employees are finding themselves increasingly ineligible for employer plans. Will all these trends converge to make employer-provided coverage a relic? I don’t see it happening right away, but… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation X, Generation Y / Millennials, Retirement, Workplace
The science of “fit”
Posted On July 15, 2014
It is fairly common practice for companies to hold team or peer-to-peer interviews for incoming employees, in addition to traditional human resources and manager interviews. The goal, of course, is to make sure that a candidate who looks good on paper is a good fit for the proposed peer team. And since we know that employees are more likely to stay OR leave a job because of the people than because of benefits or pay, this peer interview approach is important. But it is still based on gut feel, a hunch. And let’s be honest, one’s hunch can always be… Read More
Categories: Workplace
Today’s young adults are a new breed
Posted On July 11, 2014
Bosses, parents and peers shake their heads at today’s “peter pan” kids – young adults who won’t grow up and seem to have lost their way. There were some in the Xer generation and even more with the Millennials – as they stepped out into the great big world right as the world folded in on itself (at least economically speaking). Where 20 years ago a new college graduate would strike out on his own and start making his own way, today’s graduates are saddled with debt and having trouble holding onto even the lowest rung on the corporate ladder…. Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Recession Economy
Out of the mouths of baby boomers. Or is that Xers?
Posted On July 8, 2014
I was scrolling through the online news when this caught my eye “I think (Generation X) is the last hardworking generation[…]Generations after us have become more spoiled. Kids aren’t disciplined.” And if it weren’t for the parenthetical I would have drifted right on by, expecting yet another complaint from a Boomer against the Xer work ethic. Except perhaps we’ve outgrown that one. Apparently the Xers are claiming a spot on the “back in my day” soapbox. Was it only a matter of time? The quotes are from an article discussing the Pew Research Center’s series “The Next America.” That series… Read More
Categories: Generation X, Generation Y / Millennials, Work, Workplace
Generation why? A naysayers view on generational norms.
Posted On July 3, 2014
Celebrities like to say that they never read reviews, never listen to the critics. Really? I understand not letting tabloids impact your life, but hearing dissenting ideas can often help sharpen your own. That’s why I was intrigued by this article in Canada’s National Post. In it Robert Fulford laments the “absurd alphabetification of society.” And no, spell check doesn’t think that is a word, either. Fulford explains the history behind the Gen X label, and points out that it has only been recently that generations have been labeled as anything specific – Boomers, Gen X…and Y and Z (or… Read More
Categories: Generations, Uncategorized