Should employers care what employees think?
Posted On April 17, 2016
I’ve written in recent months about the wisdom in moving slowly when modernizing a workplace with millennial touches, if one doesn’t want to alienate Generation X workers. One Gen-Xer’s experience, however, has been that some employers could care less about turning off employees. Dan Lyons went to work for a start-up software firm after being laid off from a 25-year journalism career and, as he noted in a recent piece in the New York Times, found a “surreal, and cruel” culture that chewed up and spit out employees, simply replacing them with fresh crops of new recruits. Lyons initially found… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Work, Workplace
Against the Freebies – VA Beach Official: “Move to Norfolk.” Amazing…
Posted On April 1, 2016
Unsure whether to convert your workplace to a more millennial-friendly space or avoid the expense and stick with the tried and true? Virginia Beach knows how you feel. According to a recent story in the Virginian-Pilot, efforts have been underway in the Hampton Roads, Va., area — which includes Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Newport News in southern Virginia — to enhance public transit, including light rail. It makes sense, since Virginia Beach has one of the highest percentages of residents between 20 and 29 of any city in the nation, and data tells us that public transit is important to… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace
Japan – Going Out of Business…
Posted On March 4, 2016
Note from Cam: Gerald Bierling is an invaluable resource to my work. He is a statistics and demographics professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and gathers most of our research for us. I sent him the link to the BBC article and asked him if he would draw some conclusions in a blog which you’ll find below. Not many children are born in Japan. In fact, so few that the population shrunk by nearly one million people in the past five years. This means there are more people dying there than being born, by a big margin. This was… Read More
Categories: Generations, Workplace
“Hard work is just hard work. Sometimes it pays off. Sometimes…it doesn’t.”
Posted On February 29, 2016
An open letter written by a (now former) Yelp employee to her CEO has drawn a lot of attention recently, both for elements of the entitlement issues that are so often associated with millennials and for the harshness with which another millennial reacted to it. The original letter, posted on Medium.com by a 25-year-old Yelp employee who identifies herself as “Talia Jane,” related in great detail the difficulties of getting by on an entry-level salary in the expensive San Francisco Bay area as well as her disenchantment with her lack of upward mobility, told she’d be stuck in customer support… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace
The Original Workplace Disruptors Would Like Some Love, Too
Posted On February 14, 2016
I’ve written a lot on the blog lately about how many workplaces are shifting – some, perhaps too quickly – to attract millennials. A recent Forbes article, however, argues that employers would be wise to not forget about Generation X. Writer Natalie Burg, a former downtown development professional, cites executives and human resources professionals who note that Gen-Xers are valuable in managerial roles because they can relate to both Baby Boomers and millennials, and alienating them through fast-tracking company policies toward millennials can result in a leadership void. But how to ensure, as you seek to attract the most talented… Read More
Categories: Generation X, Workplace
The Job of the Workplace to Fulfill Every Desire?
Posted On February 2, 2016
How important is workplace atmosphere to a millennial? Apparently it was important enough to at least one of them to blow off one of the premier employers in her desired profession. Hannah Gordon, a journalism student at St. Bonaventure University, recently shared her thoughts about a visit to the New York Times in a letter to TAPinto.net. The Times is considered by many journalists to be the pinnacle of the profession, a place to which the most ambitious reporters and editors aspire. Gordon, however, saw it differently, noting her disappointment at finding a “near-silent newsroom” instead of “the bustling, comradery-filled… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Generations, Work, Workplace
Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down Those Walls. But Ease In To It, Please.
Posted On January 25, 2016
We’ve written quite a bit in this space recently about adjustments in the workplace to appeal to millennials, who now make up the largest percentage of the workforce. But lest you think that just dumping the cubicles for couches and standing desks makes for an easy fix, heed the advice of Simon and Garfunkel: Slow down. You move too fast. We’ll excuse any millennials who may not have gotten that reference. It was from a tune called the 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) that was recorded a couple decades before you were born. But the wisdom would be well-heeded… Read More
Categories: Generation X, Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace
The Gen X Manager – Need To Know…
Posted On January 14, 2016
You’ve by now read plenty of advice in this space on how to adjust to a millennial workplace. Millennials have surpassed Generation X as the largest generation in the workplace, and changes are being made to accommodate them as Gen X and Baby Boomer managers seek to retain the best and brightest among them. But even through more than one-third of the workforce is now made up of millennials, according to the Pew Research Center, that still leaves two-thirds that isn’t. While millennials are ambitious and upwardly mobile, many of them are working for Generation X managers. And so, millennials… Read More
Categories: Generation X, Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace
Coach v Mentor? Hard to argue with that…
Posted On January 3, 2016
As a card-carrying member of Generation X who also participated in sports from elementary school on up through high school, I get a very clear picture in my head when someone uses the word “coach.” There is a whistle, a certain comically ugly style of beltless shorts, a lot of physical exertion and pain, and usually a lot of yelling. That’s not to say I questioned their methods. All the wind sprints and all the yelling were designed to make me and my teammates better athletes. The fact that most of it failed miserably reflects more on me than on… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Generation Y / Millennials, Work, Workplace
Give a purpose. Show the purpose. Sell the value.
Posted On December 1, 2015
Many millennials view the workplace differently than their fathers and mothers did. They want their jobs to be fun and fulfilling. They want to work for a company and in a profession that they can believe in. And, according to a recent Forbes article, many business leaders find their millennial hires don’t want to do sales. Of course, these things may be related. We can perhaps excuse Baby Boomer and Gen-X managers who think those millennials should perhaps feel fortunate that they have a job at all. But that’s no way to retain employees. And a report from the University… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace