The party is over
Elmat's comments: how easy it was to pull the wool over a bunch of unexperienced people culminating with the Enron debacle
The party is over
Dotcom-era practices such as dressing down are being phased out as the workplace balance of power shifts to the experienced worker. But there is still a future for Generation Y, writes Richard Tomkins
Published: February 8 2002 19:48 | Last Updated: February 8 2002 20:00
In the world of work, there was never a time when it was so cool to be young as it was in the late 1990s. The dotcom generation ruled: companies wanted people who would embrace change and enthuse over the opportunities offered by the internet.
Old-fashioned qualities such as wisdom and maturity suddenly seemed more an encumbrance than an asset. Hierarchies were turned upside down as power shifted from grey-hairs in suits to twenty-somethings in T-shirts and fleeces. "If the economy is new, who needs experience?" asked Fortune magazine in a 1999 article headlined "Finished at Forty".
Now, however, the over-40s are getting their revenge. After the shake-out in the technology sector and the staggering sums lost on ill-fated internet ventures, the dotcom generation is not looking so clever after all. And maturity is back in fashion as companies fighting the economic downturn seek advice from those old enough to remember what a recession is like.
In the office, youthful irreverence is giving way to seriousness and discipline. This week, Lehman Brothers, the investment bank, became the latest in a string of employers to abandon its casual dress policy and order a return to suits and ties, citing "some changes and rethinking in work environments".
Even where companies have not officially banned T-shirts and fleeces, employees are smartening up of their own accord. "Younger people are behaving older again. They are starting to recognise that experience counts," says Charles Trevail, chief executive of the Europe, Middle East & Africa division of FutureBrand, a brand consultant.
So is this the end of the twentysomething party? Is it goodbye to the pampering of the young, to the pets in the office, the combat fatigues and pierced body parts, the table football in the team space and the fast track to the top?
In marketing parlance, today's twentysomethings belong to Generation Y: broadly, those born after 1977. Unlike their older siblings in Generation X, who came of age during an era of downsizing and restructuring, members of Generation Y were shaped by the experience of entering the workforce during the one of the longest and strongest economic booms in history.
"Added to that, they grew up in the decade of the child, when this strong thread of the psychology of self-esteem was really coming into parenting literature and pedagogical styles," says Bruce Tulgan, a Newhaven, Connecticut-based consultant and author of Winning the Talent Wars. To put it another way, they were the precious offspring of parents who put "baby on board" signs in their cars and scheduled every waking moment of their children's lives with education and structured play.
On entering the job market, the twentysomethings were in big demand not just because of the booming economy but because, as the first generation to have grown up with computer technology, they were seen as leaders of the biggest business upheaval since the industrial revolution. Small wonder these cosseted, sought-after youngsters were optimistic and self-confident - or that their elders may have seen them as arrogant and entitled.
"They all expected to be given the plum assignment on day one and be left totally autonomous - and that is just not realistic," says John Putzier, a Prospect, Pennsylvania-based consultant and author of Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work.
For twentysomethings, the end of the dotcom boom has come as a jolt. Many have not only lost their jobs; on looking for new employment, they have found the attributes that made them so sought-after in the late 1990s may no longer be those that employers want.
In the US, says Mr Tulgan, unemployment among those aged 16-24 is now much higher than among those aged 25 and over - a reversal of what happened in the last recession, when companies downsized by cutting older, more experienced workers.
"During the boom, you saw the labour market doing contortions to attract, motivate and retain young, technically savvy, flexible, entrepreneurial people. But the ones in greatest demand now are those with more mature skills, with a broader repertoire of skills, with more experience, with more established relationships, with more institutional memory - and that favours older people."
Jon Chait, chairman and chief executive of Spring Group, a London-based information technology recruitment specialist, says the "endless summer" culture of the dotcom boom has been replaced by a new seriousness in the workplace as the balance of power has shifted from employee to employer. "The reality is that there is an oversupply of people and an undersupply of jobs. So you find people are much more focused on meeting targets and getting things done."
At London's Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, John Philpott, chief economist, thinks rising unemployment and a stricter workplace environment could trigger a shift in relations between employers and employees.
In the work-obsessed years of the new economy boom, people's professional and private lives merged: employees took their lap-tops to the beach and, in return, employers gave the workplace the air of a college campus. But if employers decide to take away the toys - and, sometimes, the jobs - employees may decide it is time to rethink their side of the bargain, too.
"In the past couple of years, there was a lot of stuff about how work was supposed to be fun and how people were placing more value on the work environment," Mr Philpott says. "But now, employees are re- evaluating that - partly because of the changed economic environment but also because of a post-September-11 effect, with people deciding there is more to life than working."
If this means today's twentysomethings end up with a better work/life balance than their elders, perhaps we should not feel too sorry for them. And there are other reasons for saving our pity.
In the western world, demographics will weigh heavily in Generation Y's favour over the next 20 years as populations age and the demand for young workers outstrips supply. And companies will always fight to recruit and retain bright youngsters.
Besides, there are few obvious signs that young people themselves are worried by the turn of events. As Mr Putzier says, today's twentysomethings grew up in an era of change and uncertainty and the job for life was already history by the time they entered the workforce.
"They just do not have the same expectations of stability that earlier generations had," he says. "They come from divorced parents; they come from homes where they have moved 15 times in their lives; they are used to having the rug pulled out from under them. Not that it is the right thing to do - but if it had happened to my parents, the postwar generation, they would have jumped off the building." |
