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2020, generation Y will make up the majority of the workforce. Many senior leaders I work with tell me that one of their biggest challenges is to manage and lead generation Y. But, as John Stuart Mill (an English philosopher and economist) once said, ‘That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation, often becomes the height of wisdom in the next’.

      Generation Y includes people born between 1980 and 1995 (although some ranges include people born as late as the early 2000s). The label of generation Y followed on from the previous generation's label of generation X, and while this seems to be the label that has stuck, this group is often also referred to as Millennials or the ‘dot-com’ generation. (If you're wondering why the labelling for generations went from ‘baby boomers’ to ‘X’, it's due to Canadian author Douglas Coupland, and his book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. The book was ironically about a generation that defied labels by stating ‘just call us X’.)

      Over the past few years, comprehensive studies have shown how generation Y is different from previous generations. For example, Deloitte's third annual Millennial Survey, conducted in 2014, polled nearly 7800 members of generation Y from 28 countries. The findings of this survey outline the significant challenges that business leaders face when trying to meet the expectations of generation Y.

      Key findings from the survey showed generation Y valued these features in organisations they worked for:

      • Ethical practices – 50 per cent of those surveyed indicated that they wanted to work for a business with ethical practices.

      • Innovation – 78 per cent of respondents said they were influenced by how innovative a company was when making employment decisions. Most said their current employer did not encourage them to think creatively. They believed the biggest barriers to innovation were management attitude (63 per cent), operational structures and procedures (61 per cent), and employee skills, attitudes and (lack of) diversity (39 per cent).

      • Nurture of emerging leaders – over 25 per cent of respondents indicated that they were ‘asking for a chance’ to show their leadership skills. And, 50 per cent believed their organisations could do more to develop future leaders.

      • The ability to make a difference – they believed the success of a business should be measured by more than just its financial performance, and argued a focus on improving society was one of the most important things a business should seek to achieve.

      • Charitable acts and participation in ‘public life’ – 63 per cent of respondents indicated that they donated to charities, while 43 per cent actively volunteered or were a member of a community organisation, and 52 per cent had signed petitions.

      In 2013, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in conjunction with the University of Southern California and the London Business School published their results of a two-year global generational study called PwC's NextGen: A global generational study. With more than 44 000 people participating, the results are similar to those found by Deloitte, and also offer valuable insights for leaders and organisations keen to understand what makes generation Y tick.

      According to the findings from the study, generation Y:

      • value work–life balance, with the majority of respondents saying they were ‘unwilling to commit to making their work lives an exclusive priority, even with the promise of substantial compensation later on’

      • place a high priority on the culture of the workplace they choose, wanting to work in an environment that ‘emphasises teamwork and a sense of community’

      • value transparency (especially in relation to decisions about their careers, compensation and rewards)

      • want to provide input on their work and how it is assigned, and openly seek the support of their supervisors

      • expect their contributions to mean they are supported and appreciated, and want to be part of a cohesive team.

      PwC highlighted that, while all of the preceding statements are also true of other generations, it's not to the same degree. For example, 41 per cent of generation Y would like to be rewarded or recognised for their work on a monthly basis (if not more frequently), whereas only 30 per cent of other generations ask for this kind of frequency.

      Generation Y isn't going away and judging them will not help. We need to understand them, and adjust the way we lead them accordingly, in order to lead organisations that flourish.

      They have great expectations

      Generation Y wants to be challenged; they want to be inspired and they will not accept the status quo. It's this innate sense of curiosity and their ability to question tradition that has given them the moniker ‘generation why’.

      With so many options available to this generation, if leaders are not providing a workplace that challenges and inspires them, they will seek to work somewhere that does.

      I was recently talking to a member of generation Y called Robert. Robert is about 30 and works for a large corporation. He was sharing with me the experiences of his latest performance development conversation. In the corporation he works for, employees are asked what job they would like to be doing in five years' time. Robert thought this was a stupid question because the job he will most likely be doing in five years' time doesn't even exist yet. This mindset is very common for this generation, and while this kind of thinking may be exciting for them, leading such creative employees, whose working lives seemingly don't have the boundaries we once had in traditional business, can also be very daunting.

      This generation has different expectations and beliefs about what they want out of work from their employers. Yes, they want to achieve and be rewarded financially but it is not just about that. They are looking for greater fulfilment, more personal development and opportunities to cultivate a more well-rounded life. More importantly, they genuinely want to make a difference and, therefore, they take corporate responsibility very seriously.

      Aaron is an example of this. He is a lawyer who worked for a global consulting firm for five years. The incentive for the long hours that came with the role was the possibility of a very highly paid job. But he told me that he came to realise that nothing about the senior partner's life was attractive to him. Yes, they earned a lot of money but he decided he wanted more than that. He is still a lawyer but now works for a company that has a purpose that he fully believes in.

      Companies and leaders need to find ways to meet the demands of this generation's expectations or they will risk losing them.

      MEMBERS OF GENERATION Y:

      • Have great expectations

      • Are loyal

      • Want to have fun

      • Are smart cookies

      They are loyal

      Due to their tendency to change companies at a much faster rate than previous generations, generation Y has at times been unfairly labelled as disloyal. However, they are simply responding to the environment they were raised in. Many members of generation Y saw their parents lose their jobs in the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s after decades of service. After witnessing the fallout from this job loss, they are not inclined to provide the same level of loyalty to companies that their parents did. When their earliest exposure to the business environment taught them that world offers little job security, can you blame them for changing roles more frequently than previous generations?

      However, just because they are more likely to change employers (the average employee tenure in 1960 was fifteen years; today it is four), this should not been seen as a sign of disloyalty. Gen Ys are loyal. They are loyal to friends and they are loyal to brands. You only have to be outside an Apple store the day before a new iPhone is released to see evidence of this loyalty in the queues that snake down the street and around the block.

      Leaders need to make generation Ys feel valued. They need to be more inclusive and transparent in the way they communicate and lead. They need to provide more regular feedback to this generation than they provided to previous generations. They need to be more real. This generation is screaming out for leaders to be more real – and they are getting

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