I’ve read some news articles about Generation Y, or Millennials lately. While I have found in these articles numerous common characteristics of the people who have studied with me or have been my colleagues (all born at the end of the 70s or in the 80s), I have doubts that Belgian companies, mostly made of SMEs, are ready for this generation.
Lots of Belgian companies are still structured for babyboomers and Generation X: a 9–to-5 schedule to allow work-life balance, small room offices, 100% of the work time spent at the office to let employees have meetings during the whole day (a consequence of the previous point, likely), desktop computers, restricted access to social networks platforms to limit non-productive behaviour. Sounds familiar?
Wake up! Millenials don’t fit in this scheme. They don’t have a work life and a private life: they have one life. They want to stay tuned to their community at work (blocking Facebook at work, to them, is similar to blocking the Internet five years ago) and see no problem working outside of traditional hours. They want flexibility and mobility. They also see the work environment as another place to build a community. They need open space to exchange with their colleagues frequently. Millenials want to work on project-based tasks, so that they can quickly learn and progress in their career. And most of all, they want to have fun at work.
Let’s illustrate the difference between generations with an example on non-standard career track. I have met a brilliant Gen Y engineer who took one year out to travel around the world. This person planned the trip in details, had to change his plans according to the circumstances, learned to negotiate hard at every moment to control his budget. When coming back to the labour market, this engineer used his network to get in touch with several companies. This successfully led him to interview directly with the R&D department of a company interested in his skills. But in the end, HR blocked his application, because they considered that his trip brought no value-added experience and hiring him was too big a risk. Clearly, this company does not understand Gen Y, and if they follow that track they will fail to attract the best elements of that generation. I’m even more concerned by young engineers I have met who completely left the business world because they could not find their marks in the business environment, feeling all companies were alike and could not understand them. We don’t have enough engineers and scientists who graduate from our universities, we cannot allow to lose them because Belgian companies don’t understand this generation.
I believe most Belgian companies are not yet ready for Gen Y. They must quickly adapt to attract new talents, but also educate GenXers, Millenials and Baby boomers to work together and avoid conflicts of generation at work. I bet the companies that will follow that track will have a big competitive edge tomorrow.
