Why is this Gen Y thing important?
The average attrition rate in Australian law firms currently sits at 36%, we have an ageing demographic, and 2008 will be the first year when more people exit the workforce than enter it. Currently, Gen Y makes up close to 20% of the working population and in 5-10 years time it will be close to half.
Law firms for example, who are some of the hardest hit organizations in Australia, are also fighting a war for talent against other firms, accounting firms, banks, and overseas law firms, Australia is experiencing a brain drain, and Gen Y will have in excess of 29 jobs across 5 different industries on average. 63% of Gen Ys will leave their jobs within 2 years. Are you scratching your head yet? For every departed lawyer, the cost to the firm is estimated to be between 100-250% of the departing lawyer’s salary. This is real bottom-line stuff. 80% of law firms say that retention is a key issue that they are attempting to address.
The newest diversity issue on the block is generational diversity, and ageism in all directions is the new form of covert discrimination. 70% of Australian employers have a generally negative view of Generation Y, 60% report of communication breakdown with Gen Y and 32% of Australian organizations report tension between management and Generation Y. 80% of employers believe they’re seen as a great employer while 63% of employees say employers are not delivering on promises.
Generation Y are not going to change the way you’d like them to change, but they will change the successful companies of the 21st century.
They are paradigm busters and constitute a new paradigm in and of themselves.
To get, keep and reap their inherent dividends, we must think a little bit different.
Why?
Here’s why.
I can give you as many stats as you like but I believe this corporate poem best describes who and what they are:
To give you some inspiration I’d like to read you a quick poem:
An Ode to Gen Y
Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.
So the wilder, weirder and funkier you’re thinking, the more future-proofed you will be and the better you will be able to manage Gen Y’s paradigms. If you don’t get how to re-wire your brain you’re stuffed because the world has changed.
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