Small Business Labs

Employees Want to Work on Their Terms

Interesting report by Deloitte called Competing for Talent.   The study suggests that companies need to change the nature of work to continue to attract and retain high value employees.  Key quote:

"For today’s workers, hefty compensation packages and fancy retirement plans just aren’t as appealing as they used to be. What they really want – more than anything else – is to control when, where, and how they work. They’re happy to work hard, but want to do it on their terms.

And by the way, we’re not just talking about "Gen Yer’s", also known as, "Millenials." As it turns out, recent retirees who are re-entering the workforce want many of the same things as their younger counterparts. So do "Gen X’ers," although most are too afraid to ask."

In our research on very small (5 employees or less) and personal businesses (one person businesses), work flexibility, work/life balance and values are consistently mentioned as key reasons for starting small businesses.  Competing for Talent looks at this issue from the point of view of larger organizations, but reaches the same conclusion as our research - people want more work flexibility and  want to work on their terms.

EDN has a related article on this study that discusses Gen Y in more depth.   

Gen Y Social Entrepreneurs Get Some Positive Press

The New York Times has an interesting op-ed piece on Gen Y social entrepreneurs called "The Age of Ambition."  Key quote:

"Today the most remarkable young people are the social entrepreneurs, those who see a problem in society and roll up their sleeves to address it in new ways. Bill Drayton, the chief executive of an organization called Ashoka that supports social entrepreneurs, likes to say that such people neither hand out fish nor teach people to fish; their aim is to revolutionize the fishing industry."

One of the reasons I really like this pro-Gen Y article is that Gen Y has been getting a lot of bad - and I think very unfair - press.  There have been multiple articles in the popular accusing Gen Y of being narcisstic, shallow and and unable to fit into the work world.  Several articles call Gen Y the Entitlement Generation. 

We spend a lot of our research time with Gen Y and young adults, and because they are very entrepreneurial we post on them often.  What I posted on Gen Y last year still holds for me:

"I've had the opportunity to participate in a fair amount of research on Gen Y and young adults over the years.  I've also worked with quite a few young enterpreneurs and young adults in Silicon Valley.  Based on both my research and work experiences, I think the Entitlement Generation is a generation of enormous talent.  They are smart, aggressive, innovative and make things happen.  I wish I entered the workforce with their skills and abilities.  Yes they have big expectations - and yes they can be difficult to deal with - but they also have what it takes to deliver."

It's nice to see this generation starting to get credit for their efforts. 

 

NY Times on Career Status and Entrepreneurship

The Fashion and Style section of the NY Times has an article on the declining prestige of doctors and lawyers called "The Falling Down Professions".  Key quote on this decline comes from Richard Florida, the author of the book The Rise of the Creative Class:

"This decline, Mr. Florida argued, is rooted in a broader shift in definitions of success, essentially, a realignment of the pillars. Especially among young people, professional status is now inextricably linked to ideas of flexibility and creativity, concepts alien to seemingly everyone but art students even a generation ago."

The article suggests that entrepreneurship and finance are careers that are growing in prestige.  Key quote on college students and careers:

"Students are focusing now on starring in their own creations, their own start-up businesses, said Trudy Steinfeld, the executive director of the Wasserman Center for Career Development at New York University.

“There’s a sexiness to starting something cool,” she said. “Now we have people trying to start a Facebook or a MySpace. You might be working like a maniac, but it’s going to pay off in status. You’re going to be famous, providing something people are going to know and use all over the world.”

More evidence that Belmont University Entrepreneurship Professor Jeff Cornwall is right when he calls Gen Y the greatest entrepreneurial generation ever.

Body Art in the Workplace

Fun article in the Christian Science Monitor on tattoos and the workplace.  Key quote on the growth of body art, piercings and tatoos:

"More than one-third of Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 have tattoos, and 40 percent of those between 26 and 40, according to a Pew Research study. For those over age 40, the number drops to 10 percent. In all, an estimated 30 million to 40 million people have tattoos."

The article discusses how businesses are being forced to be more accepting of body art mostly because younger workers increasingly have body art:

"As more young employees – both women and men – opt for ink and piercings, they face decisions about how much decorated skin to bare or not to bare. In the process, they are also quietly forcing their employers to accept them."

Body art is mainstream and will remain so for many years to come.  Businesses need to undertand this and accept it.

Shifting Career Blog on Attracting Gen Y Workers

Excellent post called "What the Gen Y Workers Want" at the NY Times shifting careers blog.  The post is written by the authors of the book Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for Young Talent.  The post focuses on what small businesses can do to improve their ability to attract Gen Y workers.  Key quote on Gen Y:

"These kids have ambition and aspiration coming out of their ears. They want to be leaders when they grow up. They want to change the world."

Gary Hamel on The Future of Management

Gary Hamel is a well known strategic planning guru who works mostly with big corporations.  He has written a number of books and has a new book out called The Future of Management.  I haven't read this book yet, but there is an interesting interview with Hamel on the McKinsey Quarterly site (registration required).  Key quote:

"The outlines of the 21st-century management model are already clear. Decision-making will be more peer based; the tools of creativity will be widely distributed in organizations. Ideas will compete on an equal footing. Strategies will be built from the bottom up. Power will be a function of competence rather than of position."

Hamel talks about technology and globalization as two key drivers of the need for management change.  He also describes what he calls "thoughtocracy":

"Take a look at our kids—the first generation that has grown up on the Web. Their basic assumption is that your contribution should be judged simply on the merits of what you do rather than on the basis of your title or your credentials or providence or anything else. This is the lesson they’ve drawn from the experience with what I call the “thoughtocracy” of cyberspace."

Very interesting stuff and very applicable to small business.

Boston Globe on the Entitlement Generation and Entrepreneurship

The Boston Globe has a long and intereesting article on what they call "The Entitlement Generation", which seems to be anyone born after 1975.  It is somewhat critical of this group, pointing out things like "24 percent of college students in 2006 showed elevated levels of narcissism compared to just 15 percent in the early 1990s." 

But it also praises this generation and points out how entrepreneurial they are.  Although even there, the compliment is a bit back-handed.  Key quote:

"All of this would seem to suggest that this generation, which is flooding into the workforce, will create chaotic, unpleasant, and utterly unproductive work environments that will drive many a good business directly into the ground. But there's another very real possibility. It may be that this much-reviled generation will revitalize the economy and ensure the prosperity of America for years to come. Painful as it sounds, in the not-too-distant future, we may owe a debt of gratitude to these narcissists."

I've had the opportunity to participate in a fair amount of research on Gen Y and young adults over the years.  I've also worked with quite a few young enterpreneurs and young adults in Silicon Valley.  Based on both my research and work experiences, I think the Entitlement Generation is a generation of enormous talent.  They are smart, aggressive, innovative and make things happen.  I wish I entered the workforce with their skills and abilities. 

Yes they have big expectations - and yes they can be difficult to deal with - but they also have what it takes to deliver.  Jeff Cornwall, the Director of Belmont University's Center for Entrepreneurship, calls them "the greatest entrepreneurial generation ever."   We agree with Jeff. 

Gen Y Skeptical of Working for Large Corporations

The Small Business Trends blog has a great post on Gen Y's interest in entrepreneurship and their views of working for corporations.  Key quote:

"Generation Y (25 and under) has grown up watching their parents go off to work every day, 40 - 60 hours per week, with fierce loyalty only to be downsized, outsourced, or laid off in their 40’s and 50’s."

This echos our research on Gen Y, which shows a great deal of skepticism about working for large corporations and a strong interest in controlling their own work destiny.  The post ends with this question for Gen Y:

"What are you doing to take hold of your financial future and safeguard yourself against the tumultuous corporate world?"

For large corporations the question is how do you attract and retain Gen Y workers??

Inc. On Gen Y Entrepreneurs

Inc. has a good article on Generation Y entrepreneurs.  Key quote:

"New technologies, a proliferation of resources, and a disenchantment with the corporate world are making Generation Y the most entrepreneurial in history."

Interesting quote from small business expert, college entrepreneuship professor and blogger Jeff Cornwall on students coming to colleges with small businesses:

"Forty percent or more of students who come into our undergraduate entrepreneurship program as freshmen already have a business," says Jeff Cornwall, the Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville. "It's a whole new world."

The article also talks about Gen Y's interest in serial entrepreneurship, and their willingness to take on more risk than older cohorts.  Having grown up digitally, Gen Y is approaching all phases of their lives differently than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers - including having a much stronger interest in entrepreneurship.

Several Studies on Teens Preferring the Internet Over TV and Other Media

Couple of recent suveys showing teens prefer the Internet over TV.  Edison Media's study compares how consumers view the Internet versus other media forms.  Their survey found that teens think that the Internet is "cooler" that TV.  Not surprising - also not surprising is that the percentage of people thinking the Internet is cooler than TV consistently falls by age.

The Edison survey covers a broad range of age cohorts, not just teens and compares consumer attitudes towards a mix of media.  It contains an excellent set of charts on media preferences. 

New Paradigm, a think tank focused on business innovation in the global economy and founded by well known author Don Tapscott (most recent book is Wikinomics), is doing a long term investigation of Gen Y.  They recently reported that 77% of the world's youth would rather live without TV than the Internet.  I couldn't find a reference to the study on their website, so I don't have additional data. 

Also, OTX Research has study on teen dating.  They found the majority of teens surveyed sacrificed TV watching to go on dates.  They also have data on where teens go for dates and what they like to do on dates.