oe 15a

Introduction

Integrating generation Y employees to accelerate competitive advantage

 Gen Y employees who are also known as “digital natives” and “millennials

Gen Y employees possess the attributes to assist companies in transforming their workforce to meet the accelerated change in the competitive landscape

Employment Challenge in the Digital Era

 Digital tools have provided leaders with ways to connect at an unprecedented scale

Five key indicators that support successful digital transformation in a firm:

A company’ s strategic vision is only as effective as the people behind it. Thus, winning the minds of all levels of the organization is required.

To become digital is to be digital. Companies must have a “one-team culture” and raise their employees’  digital IQ.

A company must address the scarcity of talented resources and look more to using Gen Y individuals because they have a more natural adaptation to take on the challenges of digital transformation.

Resistant managers are impediments to progress and can actually stop digital transformation.

Digital leadership starts at the top.

Gen Y Population Attributes Five Forces

want access to dedicated team spaces where they can have emotional engagements in a socialized atmosphere;

require their own space; that is, are not supportive of a “hoteling” existence where they do not have a permanent office or workspace;

need a flexible life/work balance;

prefer a workplace that supports formal and informal collaborative engagement.

Advantages of Employing Millennials to Support Digital Transformation

Gen Y people are consumers, colleagues, employees, managers, and innovators

They possess attributes that align with the requirements to be an entrepreneur, a person with technology savvy and creativity, someone who works well in a mobile environment, and is non-conformant enough to drive change in an organization

 Ability to transform organizations that operate on a departmental basis into one that is based more on function; an essential requirement in a digital economy

Integration of Gen Y with Baby Boomers and Gen X

The prediction is that 76 million baby boomers (born 1946– 1964) and Gen X workers (born 1965– 1984) will be retiring over the next 15  years

Corporations need to produce career paths that will be attractive to millennials. Thus, the older generation needs to

Acknowledge some of their preconceived perceptions of current work ethics that are simply not relevant in today’ s complex environments.

Allow Gen Y to escalate in ranks to satisfy their ambitions and sense of entitlement.

Implement more flexible work schedules, offer telecommuting, and develop a stronger focus on social responsibility.

Support more advanced uses of technology, especially those used by Gen Yers in their personal lives.

Employ more mentors to help Gen Y employees to better understand the reasons for existing constraints in the organizations where they work.

Provide more complex employee orientations, more timely personnel reviews, and in general more frequent feedback continual learning and rotational programs that support a vertical growth path for younger employees. needed by Gen Y individuals.

Establish programs that improve the verbal communications skills of Gen Y workers that are typically more comfortable with nonverbal text-based methods of communication.

Implement more

Designing the Digital Enterprise

42% of the respondents stated that baby boomers would be remembered for their focus on consumerism and self-indulgence.

Gen Y, on the other hand, are considered more self-interested, entitled narcissists who want to spend all their time posting “selfies” to Facebook. However, other facts offer an expanded perception of these two generations, as shown in Table  11.1