"Why should I change how the office operates and feels just to accommodate generation ‘Y’? Why should we bend over backwards for this arrogant, self-centered, A.D.D. generation? When I got out of school I had to learn how to work in the environment already established.”
So many leaders of our current corporate world think like this. And, while yes, they did have to adjust to the work place created by their elders, I would argue that very little adjustment had to take place on their part. The work place didn’t need to change for Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers. Their upbringing was not vastly different then the generations that came before. There historically has been very little change in the learning environment in almost all of history until the last 10 to 15 years.
I think the pictures below speak for themselves.
1910s
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| One Room Schoolhouse |
1930s
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| School building filled with lots of one room schoolhouses |
1950s
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| Ditto 1970s |
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| Don't let the color image trick you into thinking something has changed 1990s |
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| Same desks....Same rows....cooler clothes 2010s |
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| OMG! |
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| WTF! |
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| ANFSCD! (look it up Boomers and Gen X'ers) |
Do you really think young adults growing up in these environments will excel at work in the same environment as Boomers and Gen X'ers?
Signed: A Gen X'er often called Boomer but extremely supportive of the Y's
I agree that we need to make accommodations for generation "Y." We live in a society where the U.S. Department of Labor estimate that today's gen y'ers will have between 10-14 jobs by the age of 38. If people are our most important asset, how do we retain those people if we create a work environment that does not allows them to be creative, productive, and have fun in the workplace? As a society we are ever evolving and changing, there are 31-billion searches on Google every month, the number of text messages sent and received everyday exceeds the total population of the planet, and it is estimated that 4 exabytes (4.0x 1019) of unique information will be generated this year, more than the previous 5,000 years. With society and their daily lives typically so different from past generations do we really believe that today's gen y'ers will be able to work, be creative and productive if we force them conform to the way we have been working the last fifty years. These people are the future of the industry we need them to survive, if we do not accommodate them in workplace some other firm will; look at Apple and Google as an example, this is what the generation "Y" is looking for. I am not saying that we have to bend over backwards and do what ever the gen y'ers want but allow them to work in an environment that makes them comfortable to express themselves, be creativity, be productive and have fun doing it, or loose and keep revolving our most important assets - People.
ReplyDeleteGroup,
ReplyDeleteI like the topic of “generational change in the workplace” and enjoyed reading Christie’s call for this change to accommodate GenY characteristics. I agree that continued change is needed and inevitable (and frankly, much of this change I would personally enjoy), but at the same time, I am not convinced that this change is “needed” MORE so than other types of societal change that have impacted the places of business over the course of time….I think perhaps I am being influenced by my “pragmatic” GenX roots. Regardless, a good debate – I will try elaborate with a related post over weekend if time allows. Have a good weekend everyone.
There is no doubt that businesses are always trying to attract the best and the brightest employees regardless of what generation category they fall into. However, the majority of businesses rely on younger employees to bring with them knowledge of new technology, software, ect.. There is a need for workplaces to accommodate these younger employees, or the GenY. I agree with Shawn that workplaces do not need to be immediately bending over backwards to accommodate GenY. However, in an effort to stay current and attract the best employees there should be an effort made to accommodate GenY. The workplace is constantly changing and evolving by the people in it. Change is good. Change keeps things fresh and current and let’s face it, as designers we thrive on this.
ReplyDeleteGenY’ers are not just the newer employees in our workplace, they are also our clients. If we present a workplace that is current, fresh and in tune with GenY we will be able to attract not only the best and brightest employees but also a wider range of clients.
All good points. I do believe that we are all getting at nearly the same thing. There should be some change in the environment to push towards one that can be productive for the younger generation of both colleagues and clients. Over the past couple of decades, many office environments have done this with the move towards open office environments. Whether this came about under the guides of appealing to younger generations or getting back to healthy, more productive environments, the change came. The office environment will need to continue this migration to keep up with new technologies, new ways to work, and new ideas that enter our lexicon. The real question comes when you ask, "how much?" and, "how fast?"
ReplyDeleteIf our work environment pushed, today, as far as the last picture in the initial post, I would imagine that it would alienate many of the people that do a great deal of the work in any company. It may appeal to the younger generation, but clients and colleagues alike are not always a part of this movement.
I guess that what I am saying is that there needs to be planning and steps taken to evolve current office space to work with the technologies and work habits of those comming up, but it also needs to keep some level of comfort for many of the poeple in the organization that could not get work done in that environment. There needs to be a bridge between the generations and work methods present within the office. This bridge needs to be comfortable enough for all parties that all can be productive and hopefully spur collaboration between generations. It needs to be a showcase for clients of all ages but most of all, it needs to be able to evolve into whatever form the office will take for generations to come.