Regardless of how you view the generational breakdown — you can see how this blog breaks down the divide on the about page; you’re Gen Y if you were born after 1980ish — most people tend to agree that this new generation of worker is at the very least significantly different than any that have come before. Some people see those differences as negative — as narcissism, unruly or (and maybe this is just an Australian thing) dangerously violent — while others take a more positive approach. Regardless, change is coming, and employers all over the world need to prepare themselves for this new generation of worker.

What follows is a list a ten changes Gen Y is going to demand of their managers and bosses. They may not do so vocally — many times, they’ll simply voice their displeasure with their feet (by leaving, not by kicking you in the face) — but, over time, the messages below will be heard by anyone who owns or manages a company.

Generation Y wants to work less

Let’s start with the obvious one. Generation Y is going to be the first generation since the establishment of the 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday North American work day to seriously rebel against it. It’s not because we have less work ethic, as detractors like to claim, without basis. Instead, it’s because we simply find it hard to understand the pervasive need to define all work as ‘hours’. It feels unnatural everywhere outside of a factory assembly line to reward those who spend more hours working. It’s just not an accurate measure of output.

We want to work. We want to work hard. But we want our jobs to be based on how long it takes us to physically accomplish tasks, not on archaic industrial-era standards of physical presence in a building. I want to start work at 10, take a 2-hour lunch where I go to the gym, work through dinner, see a movie, and then work until 2 a.m., because that’s when I get things done best. Assuming my job doesn’t involve customer service, who’s to say this isn’t at least as productive as a 9 to 5 schedule?

Generation Y wants to do more

Generation Y does not hate working. We don’t even dislike working. In fact, we probably like the idea of work more than the last couple of generations. You can see it in the sheer amount of time many of us spend writing, designing and creating things, whether it be a photo blog, an online encyclopedia, forum communities or even video game strategy guides. These are all active brain activities, which stand in stark contrast to old-fashioned ideas of ‘leisure time’ as watching TV, laying on the beach, mowing the lawn and such.

A lot of us have been creating things since before puberty, and it’s for that reason we tend to resent getting immediately stuck in low-responsibility entry-level positions. We’re driven and ready. We want to own something, whether it’s a marketing report, a business plan or a new server upgrade strategy. We’ve grown up in a culture of rapid invention and, unlike a lot of the older generation, we’ve kept pace with those ideas. And now we want to share our own ideas with the world.

Generation Y wants to question your processes

A lot of the larger businesses in North America today have their roots in the 50s, 60s and 70s. This is going to be a bit of a problem for Generation Y, whose moniker does more than just sound like “Why?” It’s a question employers will hear a lot when it comes to the established way of doing things. Why do you use your printer so much? Why can’t I wear jeans today? Why do I have to answer the phone like that? Why do we have so many meetings? Why does everything need to go through you?

Generation Y wants you to be environmentally conscious

Don’t have a recycling bin at your work place? Like to leave the lights on all night? Routinely include seal hunting as an activity at your annual Christmas party? All of these things aren’t likely to go over well. For Generation Y, Environmentalism (and to a lesser degree, the open source and anti-DRM movement) is our equivalent to the Civil Rights movement. These issues are of tremendous importance to a lot of us — we’ve been hearing about global warming for a very long time — and, though it may sound kind of ridiculous to you, could make the difference between us staying with a company or organization.

Generation Y wants a promotion and more money

A lot of Gen Y kids got to see their parents, having devoted years and years to one employer, get ‘downsized in the late 80s and early 90s. This had a profound effect on the way we view work, to the point where we’re often accused of being disloyal. It is, I think, more complicated than that, however. What Gen Y really has is a healthy belief that their own career needs to come first. As such, there are very few of us are who are content to commit a lifetime (or even more than five years) to a single company. Many of us, in fact, tend to viewing the entrepreneurs’ life as the ideal.

In our lives, there’s no room for career stagnation. If we’re not consistently seeing a greater variety of work, continued professional development and more money and appreciation, we’re not likely to stick around. Having a job is no longer its own reward.

Generation Y wants to see the world

The huge popularity of Facebook’s “Where I’ve Been” application is a strong indicator that Gen Y has a ferocious need to travel the world. It’s gotten to the point where employers barely even glance at a one year or longer gap between school and the first job on an applicant’s résumé. That’s where travel happens.

That need to travel isn’t going to stop once they start working, either. It’s not like before, where people in their mid-to-late 20s tended to have children and a mortgage to keep them otherwise occupied — and tied down. We’re a group of twentysomethings who tends to be childless and mobile. Two weeks a year of vacation may not be enough, especially when we known friends in Europe who get five or six.

Generation Y wants simplicity

Or, phrased another way, your corporate BS may not fly here: your memos are just e-mails! Your critical paths are just plans! Your verbiage is just words! Your synergy is just all of us having lunch at the same time! The era of business-appropriate haircuts is clearly over, and we’d much rather stand by our work as opposed to some kind of creepy Patrick Bateman professionalism contest, where everyone’s throwing their business cards on the conference room table and waiting for gasps.

Many of Gen Y’s first business experiences happened informally, whether it was an online experience like a guild in a role-playing game or a collaborative attempt to build a website. Many of these ventures were successful, and done without any need for business language or blase formal conventions.

Generation Y wants to have fun

“Work/Life Balance” has been an important buzzword for a couple of years now, but it’s one whose meaning is going to change as more Y workers start their careers. Whereas before people aimed to keep their personal life separate from their professional life, we’re more okay with combining them. We’ll bring our personal life to work in the form of cell phones & social networking but at the same time we’ll bring our work home with us — often because we have better computers and software at home — and not fight you when you ask us to carry a blackberry or go on a business trip for a week.

An easy test for employers to see if they’re approaching this the right way: if you’re actively concerned that maybe your employees are spending too much time on facebook or IM programs, you’re not approaching this the right way.

Generation Y wants to leave

Yes, it’s true. We’re not signing up for the long-haul by working for you. Even if you agree to all the above demands (and I wouldn’t recommend you just roll over and agree to all of them, either) we’re still likely to leave you after a few years. And to use an old cliché: it’s not you, it’s me. Or, rather, us.

Increased affluence and connection to the world has made us restless. It’s hard to be satisfied with a life that only includes one city or one kind of work, especially when we know that there are a huge number of options out there. A desire for variety is ultimately going to mean most of our Generation Y employees leave you. And there is nothing you can do about it.

Generation Y wants to come back

But here’s the neat part: we live in an increasingly connected world, made smaller by any number of technologies. Assuming you don’t piss off your young employees so much that they storm off (and maybe kick you in the face), the potential for them to return to you in SOME fashion is there. Keeping these options open, and being open to new working relationships, can mean you’ll end up retaining your employees in a whole new way.

Maybe they’ll go to California for a while to lay on the beach, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be on their laptop, consulting on projects in the evening. And if they’re in New York sowing their wild oats, that doesn’t mean they’re off the grid. We’re long past the days of stage coaches and telegram services, and that, more than anything, is something your business practices will need to reflect. Talent, for Gen Y and beyond, is more than just the people you have in the building you own — it’s all over the world.

Photo by Martin Kliehm. Licensed under Creative Commons

Tags: flex time, generational shift, money, top ten, vacation