Talking about my generation

Having worked on clients in the people and workplace space for a number of years I know that the issues surrounding generational diversity have been on the news and business agenda for some time. When the media explosion around ‘Gen Ys’ in the workplace took off around three years ago we were deemed by many as demanding, job hopping employees just out for themselves

There have since been flickers of new developments in the whole ‘generations at work’ theory including recent research aiming to debunk the myths on Gen Y, but the debate doesn’t seem to have moved on.

Of course, there are similar themes that will affect people at various life stages (families, mortgages etc) which will have some impact on working lives and practices. Plus we shouldn’t discount the influence of the political and social landscapes that have surrounded us as we have grown up –   but I don’t think that people can be categorised on what they want from work simply because of when they were born.

Employers and  HR professionals should have awareness of the changing needs of their employees as they move through life, but if they want to understand how to keep their best people, then they need to drill down beyond generational brackets and look at the individual needs of their workforce.