The Leader - September/October 2008 - (Page 96) I ND ustr Y t r a cker by richard kadzis New Ways of Working are mIlleNNIals reallY callING the shots? Months ago, Industry Tracker underscored the profoundly changing nature of business and work in a special focus on workplace flexibility. Workplace Flows to the Mainstream described how mobility, dispersed work, collaboration and other new ways of working mix together like an estuary’s life cycle, where the tide is constantly changing and where alternative workplace strategies (AWS) keep evolving. Four generations in today’s workplace are part of the confluence, and have been for some time, no doubt. But it seems the focus is stronger of late. Mass media are magnifying workplace demographics, especially the influence of Generation Y, but we’re not getting the full picture. A recent CBS 60 Minutes piece, “Here Come the Millennials,” paid tribute to the way that Generation Y is changing the nature of work, saying this “coddled” but “creative” generation born between 1980 and 1992 is essentially dictating flexible work terms to their employers. Are Millennials really calling the shots? Yes, to the extent that employers who don’t deliver cool workplaces, mobility and flexible working terms – along with a social conscience – will lose them to “The War for Talent.” Or, to the extent that current economic conditions have allowed for a hiring growth curve. But corporate real estate (CRE) and workplace executives – many of whom were doing AWS before Gen Y started working – take a much broader view than the popular notion played up by CBS on May 10 and others in the press that Millennials alone are the reason why companies offer flexible work. Energy prices, relentless corporate cost cutting, value through productivity and innovation, customer satisfaction, profit, competitive advantage, optimization of the CRE portfolio, and – ultimately – the C-Suite are drivers trumping Gen Y’s growing influence, even in the face of the much-bandied shortfall in the supply of younger talent needed to replace the more populous Baby Boomer demographic. a commoN platform for everYoNe CoreNet Global Chairman Mark Tamburro, VP of Workplace Resources at Nokia, sees it as “portfolio capability,” or an alignment of resources and assets to drive the corporate business plan. It’s about increasing agility – a key element of success in today’s multinational corporate environment. Just like their colleagues in the other age groups – Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X (and soon Generation Z born after 1992 in the Internet era) – Gen Y will see their employers using the CRE portfolio as the central link to the workforce, working environments, mobility and other solutions. “It’s not a choice, it’s a necessity,” insists Rachel K. Park, a strategic facilities planning specialist for the science and technology design firm CUH2A, about the critical need for companies to approach the workplace and other portfolio features with a life-cycle management view. For Millennials, she adds, this means “they’re not picking or choosing” these solutions. “They’re for everyone, it’s a common platform.” Demographic forces are stronger than ever, but it’s still the business case for sustainability, mobility and flexible work that overarches the preferences of a given age group, says Park, who has studied workplace practices for 20 years. “There are two approaches to asset management,” Park relates. “One views facilities as a strategic tool to support business strategies; the other considers facilities an expensive necessity.” Still, it’s all good, because the former enables the working world that Millennials expect, and guess what? More and more companies have figured out they’d better migrate to the strategic view, or lose talent, product innovation, market penetration, customers, reputa- 2 0 0 8 th e le aDe r 96 septemBer / octoBer
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