Understanding Generation Y – Shaping the Workplace of the Future, Together
Ahead of the 2008 Women’s Summit, efforts were made to enlist the views and participation of young men and women aged between 20 and 32. Across the globe, employers are finding that this generation, interchangeably called Gen-Y or the Net-Gen, has distinctive characteristics and particular values and mindsets that influence their approach to, and expectations of, working life. They are a growing presence in the workforce and there perspectives and approaches are already driving change in the workplace.
Obtaining a sense of what young people want out of their work lives will help employers prepare for change in order to become workplaces that attract the best and brightest, and continue to retain talented and experienced employees as they settle down and start families.
On July 31, a lively after-work session was held with 22 young people at a Bistro in
Bangsar. Participants, both men and women, shared their impressions of entering the workforce, work life and their views on what they looked for in their chosen place of work, or in an ideal workplace. This session proved to be both stimulating and illuminating, and the active participation of the younger generation at the Summit Roundtable was seen as a positive development to help build consensus on strategic approaches needed to shape the workplace of the future.
In order to encourage the participants to speak freely, assurance was given that their identities would be kept confidential, thus their names are not be used in this report. Questionnaires were also distributed in order to gain a better understanding of the composition of the group and to decipher trends and common values held by the group. Of those that attended, seven participants were male, while the remaining 15 were women. The group was dominated by 20-somethings – 15 were born after 1980, and seven were born in the late 1970s. All the respondents had completed tertiary education or obtained some sort of diploma qualification. Of the 22, 17 had only completed their education after 2000; at least 6 of these participants had graduated in 2006 alone.
All the participants were currently working. Five were working in Malaysian-based MNCs across different sectors – oil and gas, banking, auditing and ICT. Five were employed by Malaysian companies involved in the local media, real estate, law, quantity surveying, advertising and website development, and Public Relations and Design. Two worked for government or GLCs and another two worked for a Malaysian environmental NGO.
As many as six participants had taken the step of leaving conventional employment to start their own business or to freelance. Among them was one individual who had only recently escaped the stifling arena of banking and finance to become an entrepreneur. He found that working in banking was highly hierarchical and bureaucratic and most of the negative stereotypes were true. “Young people struggle to fit in. It is really important to find a more respectful way of working between cultures and generations,” he concluded.
Others in the self-employed category worked in fields like training, video editing, and writing for print, radio and the internet. They especially appreciated being in-charge of their own time, not having to participate in workplace politics, and being able to establish their own terms of working. Another freelancer valued not having to be part of layered authority and ‘wasteful bureaucracy’.
In the questionnaire, participants were asked to list and rank the five main factors that influenced their choice of work-style or workplace, or at least characterised an ideal workplace. The listed factors were then weighted according to the ranking assigned by the respondents.
Table 1: Factors Influencing Choice of Workplace
Factors in order of ranking
- Flexibility/Work-life balance
- Conducive/warm environment
- Pay & company benefits
- Pursue own ambition/ interests/ challenge
- Reputation of organisation/ job security
- Supportive superiors
- Equal opportunity/ upward mobility
- Accessibility/ Location of workplace
- Good relationship with colleagues
- Opportunities for travel and training
- CSR/ethical practices & philosophy
The survey results generally reinforced some of the key themes that emerged in the Focus Group session. These are integrated in the discussion below.
Flexibility and work-life balance
Freedom and flexibility were highly prized as well as the opportunity to achieve some form of work-life balance. “Work should be part of your life; it shouldn’t be your whole life!” was a frequent comment. This meant having time for their families and friends, and personal interests and pursuits outside work. In the discussions, many expressed distress at the long hours that they were compelled or expected to work. Together with the traffic faced both before and after work, this made for a stressful lifestyle with negative impacts on health, well-being and relationships.
“It is not healthy for things to go the way they have done in China, Japan and India where people have to work long hours and never take leave,” commented one journalist.
Although bearing these conditions was seen as an unavoidable investment in developing their careers in companies with good reputations. Other participants were not afraid of voting with their feet – at least one woman who felt burnt out after working in the high-stress long-hours world of advertising for three years, had recently taken another employer that “respected people’s personal time”.
Overall, the group felt that companies that understood and respected the need for their workers to find a work-life balance would have a positive impact on productivity and morale at work. Adopting flexi-hours, flexi-work options and having reasonable expectations about working hours were all steps in the right direction.
Output-based performance instead of time-based
The majority of participants considered themselves to be self-motivated, focussed and willing to work hard. Related to the discussion on flexibility, the majority of the group felt that the way they worked needed to evolve into one where they could have the flexibility of working away from the office or after hours. “An ‘office’ should be anywhere you take your laptop,” was the view of some participants.
In order to do this, they advocated a change in mindset to one in which employees are assessed and rewarded based on the quality of work delivered and other outputs, rather than their clocking in long-hours at work.
One writer pointed out that employers like Google were bold enough to dispense with convention and nurture a casual, conducive and very different workplace, and yet was able to command a very high level of productivity to become such a successful global company.
The group concurred that although it is necessary to be presentable for business purposes, these more casual environments provided space for younger employees to find what worked best for them and to demonstrate productivity by working by deliverables.
“Flexibility might mean that although things are done differently, they can still be done more competitively”.
Embrace ICT and all its possibilities
The affinity of the participants for ICT was certainly demonstrated by the number involved in software development, graphic and website design, video editing and website publishing. Their daily use of communications tools, new software and social networking open up a new world where considerable amounts of work can be accomplished outside of a 9 to 5 set up. Many felt that it was unnecessary for them to be confined to a base when they could send in outputs remotely, at least some of the time.
Today young people have skills that were not common ten years ago. Technology and global business has made time less rigid and for work to be conducted around the clock. Some felt that they could complete projects more quickly if they could work at the hours at which they were most productive which sometimes were early in the morning or after dark.
For those with young families, the need for flexibility was even more apparent. At least two young women who had toddlers to care for and needed to arrange their work schedule around them to creatively to accomplish this. These women had opted to be self-employed as they could not achieve this in conventional employment. Although happy that they are able to continue working while mothering, they did acknowledge that this move did compromise on financial security.
Good communications and open relationship between management and executive staff
Many participants placed a high value of having a supportive boss, opportunities to learn, and having a positive working relationship with their managers. They appreciated supervisors that were approachable and a consultative atmosphere in which their opinions were sought and valued. Participants also wanted feedback on their work and recognition if they had performed well. At the same time, they felt that it would be beneficial if bosses could be more receptive to constructive feedback from staff.
“Respect is important, and there must be good lines of communication between higher and lower management. A less transparent workplace demoralises and de-motivates people,” said one woman.
Another oft-repeated wish was for their bosses to respect their need for reasonable working hours. Participants thought an ideal employer was one that appreciates your right to have a personal life, and trusts that you will deliver the work promised. However, they understood that there were times when they needed to work long-hours to complete projects or to work in the field. In these cases, leave in-lieu was considered an acceptable compromise.
Values and corporate culture
In choosing a company to work for, pay and benefits were undeniably important as a consideration, and the opportunity for travel and training to gain experience and skills was an added bonus. Participants also said that they would be more motivated working for companies that strove to be good corporate citizens as demonstrated by both their in-house policies for staff as well as their contribution to society.
Between companies of similar calibre, such as within the oil and gas sector, participants ultimately opted to pursue position within the company that had made in-roads in developing flexi-work options, and was committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion.
Women participants, especially, looked for a company with a reputation for equal opportunity so that they would have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The existence of childcare facilities or support and a women’s network was considered important as well as the ability to map their career progression with HR.
Although one of the women reported an experience of gender discrimination, the majority of women (particularly those educated abroad) were well aware of their rights and certainly had the mindset and expectation of a level playing field with the same opportunity to perform and advance as their male counterparts.
Location, location, location
Finally, accessibility and location of workplace were also key factors to consider. Respondents were not keen to spend too much time commuting to work which left even less time for themselves and achieving a balanced life.
Conclusion
During the summary in which several of the main points were highlighted, the moderators, Ms Vimala Sundram, Dr Hamidah Marican and Pn Margaret Ho of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development thanked the young people for taking the time to participate in the focus group, saying that it was valuable to have had these insights into the view of the next generation workforce. They were invited to part of the upcoming Summit.
A handful of the participants, in turn, said that it was a pleasant surprise to be consulted by the Ministry, and it was meaningful to them to have the opportunity to participate in this session which may have some bearing on shaping workplace policies in the future.