Recruitment of Generation X and Generation Y Employees
Topic: Recruitment of Generation X and Generation Y employees Recruitment is an ever changing landscape as it deals with three different generations in the workplace, which includes Baby Boomer, Generation X, and GenerationY (Sirona, 2007). Generation X employees are the smallest of the three groups, they represent roughly 16 percent of the workforce population; Generation Y employees represent 25 percent of the workforce (Ha, J. , 2006). Generation Y employees are passionate, responsive, team-oriented, and extrovert. Hence, recruiting generation Y employees is better than to recruit generation X employees.
Generation Y employees are more passionate than generation X employees in the workplace. Similarly, both of them valued on work and life balance and they want freedom from their workplace. However, Generation X has been labeled the ‘slacker’ generation (Jenkins, J. , 2007). They are viewed as lazy and as whiners. Flexible work schedules have proven to be attractive for them. They will take less money if they can work for short hours and have time off to spend with their family, or participate in their favorite hobby. Generation Y employees, on the other hand, are energetic and buoyant.
They have the spirit of tenacious go-getters with an “I can do anything” (Shaver, T. , n. d. ). Moreover, they are ready to assume all the leadership positions when the Baby Boomer generation retires (Thorman, R. , 2007). As in the aspect of working hours, Generation X employees strive to find quicker ways of working so that there is more time for having fun. This puts them at a disadvantage when competing with the Generation Y employees who are very ambition and are willing to work as long as needed (Janderson99, 2010). Generation Y employees are on advantages in workplace as they can thrive in a fast-paced environment.
They has been pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, as a result, they are both high-performance and high-maintenance (Armour, S. , 2005). In addition, Generation Y employees are with high self-expectations. They aim to work faster and better than others. They also need constant and immediate feedback for how well they do a work task. Both Generation X and Generation Y employees are technology savvy but Generation Y employees are more total comfort with technology. Generation Y employees are younger and technologies re part of their education which enable them to pick it up quicker and run with it. Generation Y employees are team-oriented person. Teamwork not only serves the company’s goal, team members also can develop positive traits throughout the process (“Benefits of Teamwork,” 2010). Team members will learn a lot of things than can help him advance in his career, personal life, and develop right attitude. Besides, teamwork promotes efficient workers. One of the major benefits of teamwork is getting things done efficiently; hence it shows Generation Y employees are more efficient and effective workers.
In contrast, Generation X employees prefer to rely solely on their selves to complete a task. They are solitary workers and they will love it, especially when they have autonomy to their work which allows them to prioritize in their own way. Furthermore, Generation Y employees are good in social networking. Generation X, conversely, are individualism and tend to dislike corporate politics. They hate to be push to participate in socializing (Auby, K. , 2008). Meanwhile, Generation Y employees believe in open door policies and want the right to speak freely (Sanford, D. 2008). They are extrovert and want to give their opinion to anyone in the organization at any time. They are also known as “connected” generation and have the abilities to social network with others. They always stay in touch to keep up with the phase of work by the use of technologies yet it benefits the company and also company’s partners (Nimon, 2007). Since Generation Y employees possessed good traits which make them a quality worker, company will be benefited by recruiting them.
