The no-nonsense generation

There are a lot of myths going round about the current teens and tweens. For instance, no, they can’t multitask, just ask any neurologists. And no, they aren’t lazy. They do know what work is all about. They have to make choices, because there is too much information to grasp in this world. To protect themselves, they need to select, often based on what they think is ‘real’. So they have become very no nonsense in attitude.

In a business kind of way they look at their schools and universities. Never have there been so many complaints from students, both officially and on Facebook. Students are customers now and if they don’t get what they pay for, they complain. Youngsters who enter an institute for higher education have been around in education for a long time. They know the drill and are well aware that they don’t know that much yet, so they look at their teachers for content. But if the teacher is giving them stuff they don’t need, or he or she is teaching in a way that’s not efficient or effective, they will react. 

For me, this new generation has realised that if you want luxury, you need to work. Over the past decade the amount of students and pupils who have jobs during holidays, weekends and evenings, has multiplied. These kids need the money to pay their cell phone bills and all those other fun things a young human tends to do. 

They see how their parents both have to work day and night. Mom and dad are part of the first generation with a lot of burnouts (and divorces). Their kids learned the hard way how much time is worth. Who gives a damn about luxury when you don’t have a moment to enjoy it? This explains why young people do want to sacrifice on luxury, in return for the almost holy work-life balance. Don’t get me wrong, they want a good life, but they are again pretty no nonsense about it. They see themselves as suppliers of ‘workforce’ to the company, not as employees. The boss pays for their time and work. 

They still can be loyal, but only to companies and goals they believe in. A lot is written about the importance of a flat organisation, but research by IBM shows that they can function perfectly in a hierarchal-based company. They do this spontaneously in games. But if you look closely at the qualities that they learn in World of Warcraft, a main element is transparent communication. They need answers to all the ‘why’ questions. They need to know what the company stands for. They want to know what their role is in the bigger picture. If this is clear, they will work even after hours, but will ask the same flexibility in return. Time has to be compensated with time, not money.

Maybe you think, they should be glad that they have a job, and just shut up. I’m afraid I’ve got some really bad news for you. Demographics are on their side.  Today we’re covered somewhat by the economic crisis, but ultimately we will become victims ‘dejuvenation’. There just aren’t that many young people around compared with earlier generations. The main discussion so far has been concerned with who will pay for the pensions of the large group of elderly that soon will leave the workforce. But the other important question is ‘who will do the work?’ We’ll pretty soon see shortages in almost every area. The war on talent won’t only be for the high potentials, but we’ll see this happening on all levels.