According to blogger Penelope Trunk, workers belonging to Gen Y can do your job better than you [if you belong to the Boomer, Obama, & X generation that is]. Really? This is not the first time that I have had serious disagreements with Ms Trunk & it may not be the last. Let's start with her initial premise that Gen Y is optimistic about their employment future. About this I'd say perhaps but it's is not the whole story. While I believe that unlike boomers, the 'Obama Generation,' & perhaps even some of those in Gen X who may have been confronted with some very tough employment options going forward, I believe that Gen Y has every reason to believe that, if they are unemployed now, they will eventually get a job. What Ms Trunk doesn't talk about is that Gen Y is now confronted with a new world in terms of their job opportunities, & salary realities relative to their expectations in addition to a growing uncertainty that they too will have an equal shot at the American Dream. Basically, this is not the rosier world promised to them by their parents. However, these issues are for a different blog because the main thrust of Ms Trunk's post is that as children of the information age, Gen Y is so digitally facile that they "can run rings around" anyone older.
A Generation 'Born with A Mouse In Their Crib'
However, as I observed about some of her other positions, she tends to view things outside of their larger context. For example, it was not Gen Y who created the information age. No, the information age as we currently understand & use it was brought to us by 'old geezers' of the baby boom generation with names like Jobs, Gates, & Dell followed by the slightly younger Mr[s] Yang, Brin, & Page. Basically one needn't be born "with a mouse in their crib" in order to be at ease in the information age which is a fact that is conveniently overlooked by Ms. Trunk [& to be fair, some others who write about Gen Y]. Instead she tends to support her argument with an outdated stereotype of the "befuddled boomer" who can't manage to program their VCR. Facts however are inconvenient things. For example the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is between the age of 45-55. Thee same groups she tends to discard are busy buying new [information] gadgets like smartphones, e-readers, & tablets for themselves. Do they do that because they are so hopelessly out of touch? Somehow I think not.
The World According To Trunk
In a point by point analysis, according to Ms. Trunk:
-Productivity-She believes Gen Y are better, & more comfortable 'knowledge workers'
I'd say this an outdated assessment based on stereotypes & not the realities of today's rapidly changing workforce
-Communication- She says Gen Y are skilled communicators because they are comfortable writing online
I'd say their older peers are better communicators because they are more facile communicating across platforms or "live as well as in cyberspace." Plus they acquire information from a variety of mediums not just online.
-Career mobility- She maintains that Gen Y is more comfortable job-hopping
I'd have to agree on this point. People in Gen Y are definitely more comfortable jumping from 'start-up to to start-up' because spending an entire career with one company is as outdated as the Edsel.
-Career resilience- She says young people use entrepreneurship as a safety-valve & when they don't earn enough money, they move back in with the folks.
Once again, she is looking at employment & the workforce with Gen Y blinders on. Globally, entrepreneurship is a go-to safety valve across many age groups. What's more when people are older, they don't have the option of moving in with mom & dad & therefore have more pressure to build a successful venture or find an alternative position..
Results Of Re-Training
Don't get me wrong, there's still a small percentage of people in these older generations who are not digitally fluent but they are rapidly becoming a smaller portion of the overall "workforce pie" especially as folks go back to school for re-training in order to stay current & employable. I'd say it's time for Ms Trunk to take off her 'Gen Y' blinders & give the total workforce a more dispassionate assessment. What's your view?
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