Viv Du-Feu, Partner, Employment Law
I loved the story in the news recently about a school in Tyneside pioneering a later start to the school day and shorter lessons. Teenagers, apparently, work two hours behind adults and their brains are wired quite differently.
Tell us something we parents didn’t already know.
Grown-ups are bemoaning this school’s proposal (“lazy kids just need some discipline”). But I’m open to any initiative which has at its heart a real understanding of what makes people tick.
This is a huge social, not just educational, issue. Take the workplace, for example. We’ve now got, for the first time ever, four different generations of employees. So why is it that we expect a 50 year old to perform, react and adapt in the same way as we would someone 30 years younger? Their roles might be similar but, generationally, they are poles apart.
These generational differences are more significant than you might think. Each group – Matures, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y – is defined by their age group and characteristics. They respond in their own ways to set circumstances, have opposing attitudes to work and are motivated by different things from other categories.
And if there’s one bunch to focus on right now, it’s Generation Y (22-29 year olds). These are the guys who’ll make or break businesses when times are hard. They’re not particularly loyal to companies and aren’t intimidated by authority, but they’re the future managers and businesses’ lifeblood. Their average life expectancy in any one job is 2½ to 3½ years and there aren’t enough good Generation Y-ers to go around – so if you’ve attracted one, hold on to them!
The recession is a real pain for this generation. They like to move from job to job but at the moment, they can’t. So they’re frustrated. Managing a frustrated worker is difficult. The desire to take care of people who are trying to manage frustrated workers often falls by the wayside in a busy schedule.
But, just as teenagers will fire on all cylinders after a lie-in, employees respond amazingly well to the right sort of communication – language and sentiments which they can relate to and which play to their generational preferences.
It’s easy to dismiss this sort of investment in individual employees as over-indulgence. But trust me, it’s one of the simplest and cheapest ways of getting real engagement and thus increasing efficiency, workplace harmony and improved retention with all the benefits these things will bring.
For further information please contact Viv Du-Feu E: v.du-feu@capitallaw.co.uk T: 029 2047 4418
