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Its tough to please them. They change the ship at the drop of the hat. They are young, restless, passionate about technology; and demand much more than the older generations. They are Gen Y. They have a mind of their own, and prefer keeping management at bay. If you want to tame them, try this thumb rulelesser the complications, the better it is. As a matter of fact, today the HR skyline of IT and BPO industrycharacterized with the presence of this generation in huge numbersis very different from what existed five years ago.

Clearly, there is a distinct shift in the demographic profile of the organizations. While on one end are the baby boomers, on the other side, organizations have the Gen Y and Gen X. Though, there are no fixed definitions to underline what falls in the Gen Y, but broadly world over, people born after 1980-82 are a part of this category; while Gen X are born between 1961 and 1979. It has been widely observed in surveys that the Gen Y see the Gen X as a bunch of whiners, and the Gen X see Gen Y as arrogant and too independent.

And both the Gen Y and X seem to believe that the baby boomers (1943 to 1960) are complete workaholics. The generational tension as observed during surveys conducted world over has been primarily around the use of technology, and work ethics.

This has thrown huge gaps and significant number of challenges for HR within the industry. There has been a constant pressure felt to change and innovate to suit the Gen Y, which on an average, constitutes anywhere between 60-90% of IT or BPO companys workforce (at any given time).

When you are dealing with this Gen Y workforce, you got to be careful. Besides the behavioral pattern (in terms of seeking more independence, conveniences, services, being more consumptive in nature), how they perceive work ethics is also what sets this generation apart from the rest of the workforce. Since, they are the major chunk of the industry, there is always an underlying threat of generational tensions simmering among them which can lower the morale and directly affect their ability to produce wins for the business.

Source:www.deltaartscouncil.com

Even the bigger giants feel the heat, as it is difficult to retain them. Interestingly, till few years back or so, attrition seemed to be the biggest concern of this industry. However, the HR gurus are now grappling with the big question onwhere to draw the line. Not sure if they have all the answers.

Though, its not a new trend that we are talking about, but what is worth mentioning is the realization by the IT industry, across the board, that there has been a constant increase in the percentile of the Gen Y workers and that there is a need to address the issues arising from the fact that best practices of the past may not be applicable on them and that the paradigm change calls for new generation HR practices. The smarter ones have begun to recognize this.

The Employees Take
Twenty-three-year-old Bengaluru based Aditya Sarkar, works for a leading chip manufacturer. He is bright, as enthusiastic as any other guy at that age should be, about his work, and about having fun too. It is not the very obvious remuneration and quantifiable benefits that make the relation between an HR department and the employees smooth, feels Sarkar.

He says, Especially for our generation there are a whole bunch of other things that we expect the HR to do, to make things interesting at the workplace. For the time being, he seems pleased with his organizations initiative that helps its employees in going for higher studies. His company aids the employee with a certain amount of money per year for any long distance course that they want to take up.

Sarkar cites his own example, I didnt get a chance to do a regular MBA, but now I can still pursue it, and what makes it much more easier is the fact that my company would pitch in a significant amount of tuition fee. However, the catch here is that to be able to avail this benefit he should be a year old in the organization, which is absolutely fine, he says, because anyway, switching jobs too often doesnt reflect well on the resume.

So this is a generation, which exactly knows what they are talking about. What reflects on their resume is something which is equally important as the job role they have. Reema Ganguly, a twenty-seven year old smart, confident girl, left her job with a leading IT player in her hometown, Kolkata to get in to a job with an IT services player based out of Gurgoan. A year old in her organization, ask her why she switched jobs, pat comes the reply, rather casual, It was like one stuck up place, no transparency at all, and then they had double standards. Beyond a point, I am sorry I cant take crap from anybody. She quickly adds, I am young, and dont have any liabilities, so there is no pressure to stick on to any job which is overall not satisfying. Beyond their job role, the overall work environment it seems is equally important for them, and double-speak is a big no no.

	Managing these young kids is exciting as well as challenging, as their mindset is different Neelam Gill Malhotra, vice president, HR, CSC India
	Frequent communication is done through multiple channelsteam meetings, town halls, mailers, company intranet and blogs, and so on Rakesh Khorana, country head, Hero ITeS

Another twenty-seven year old, Deep Malhotra, works for a leading IT player based out of Noida. Patel has been with the organization for the past three years, but now is already on a lookout. About his organization, Patel says, it swears by its Employee First theory, but I am told that the last employee satisfaction survey was done way back in 2005. Ironically, its customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey has been happening every six months.

One gets a sense, that this generation wants more meat than the hollow promises organizations can give them. A clear-cut growth meter, too, is important. Aditya Sarkar feels that for any company it is important to realize that we think differently, and that same set of rules that have been existing for ages, cant be applied to us. Thats how the gap comes in. Growth is very important. For instance, if I am a young manager, some companies offer good training modules, which are tied-up with the Harvards of the world, for a quick ladder up the learning curve. All this is required more than anything else.

Ganguly feels that another very important thing that the HR can do to make us happy is to provide the flexibility in terms or roles. I get bored easily. For example two years into engineering, if somebody wants to move to product marketing there should be a transparent way to do it so that each and every employee stays motivated.

Sarkar nods in agreement, I remember the Google job page stating that employees can scale up from engineering ranks to the ranks of VPs. So these things give hope to engineers, that a flashy management degree is not the only way they can go up the ladder. This generation certainly, talks straight; mere eyewash thrown packaged in form of HR policies is not something that can please them for now.

HR Speaks
The HR honchos admit that initially they reached their wits end, literally, in trying to understand them. In Indias context, it was much difficult a couple of years back, when IT companies, in large numbers, had started hiring from the campus. Though now things have improved and are under control to a great extent, it is still a challenge to retain this generation, as they are constantly on the move.

At vCustomer, which topped the DQ BPO Best Employer, 2009, close to 80% of the workforce falls in the Gen Y, and that too below twenty-five years. Navin Joshua, executive director, vCustomer says, We are very careful when we are dealing with these guys. One has to go that extra mile to make them a part of the team. You need to give them a chance, set team goals, and most importantly give them that space to prove themselves.

The key is to constantly engage them, and do whatever you can to make them comfortable, and not give a chance for monotony to set in their job roles, he says. However, one also needs to take care of the fact that as maturity comes with age, these guys need to be offered better prospects with significant roles in support and other important functions depending on their performance levels, and other milestones, says Joshua.

It is often seen that the gap between management and employees too sparks off generational tensions. So is the HR aware of that? Well the smarter ones do take in account the fact that there is a need to plug this gap. Employees views about their leaves, their cabs, office dressing, and so on may be different, thats where the role of the HR becomes crucial.

Hero ITeS, too has made significant changes in the last few years to make the environment friendly to Gen Y and the Gen X. Rakesh Khorana, country head, Hero ITeS points out that they are trying to ensure an open and transparent work culture. Senior management in the business are approachable and on first name basis; frequent communication is done through multiple channelsteam meetings, town halls, mailers, company intranet and blogs, and so on, says Khorana. Over the last four to five years, the Gen Y group has increased from 32-59% at Hero. The percentile drop has been seen in both the Gen X and baby boomers groups with the latter loosing the most to Gen Y. As a result, the average age of the team has reduced in our business.

At CSC, an IT player based out of Noida, the average age of people working is twenty-eight. Neelam Gill Malhotra, vice president, HR, CSC India says, Managing these young kids is exciting as well as challenging, as their mindset is different, and what you need to understand is what drives them, what motivates them, what they get influenced by. Little details about what makes them happy at work cannot be ignored, she says.

For instance, till sometime back, we would look down at people dressing casually, and had this concept of Friday dressing. But we realized that this generation is more comfortable dressing casually so now we recognize it. Office communication is again a crucial aspect that the Gen Y, and to some extent Gen X too, stay guarded about. Quoting another instance, Malhotra says, We now use language more informally in the mails that are sent out to these guys, so that they relate to it.

While it is important to hold this generation, the fact is that this generation needs the industry as much as the industry needs them. While the industry has begun to realize that they are different, retaining them still remains a key issue, as youngsters of this generation do not feel that they are married to any one company. At twenty-seven to twenty-eight years of age, they might already be in their third or fourth job.

Also, people of this generation are often recognized by their more spend-centric attitude, the spends that they make on shopping, food, travel and tourism, and education. And this is what has implications on the organizations, since it causes young people to quote a salary keeping all their spends in mind.

As a result, the regular reward and recognition programs too have undergone certain changes. While the basic principle of the pat on the back goes a long way in motivating employees, Gen Y appear to see quicker recognition of their efforts. Likewise, one sees that this age group desires rewards much different from the other employees. They prefer to get the option to go on an exchange program to a foreign location or have a holiday abroad. More specifically, they are keen to experience new things and cultures rather than get cash rewards.

The industry may not be seeing this as a problem, but the fact is with each generation there would be a socio-cultural understanding that would be required. Todays youth is more consumptive in nature, wants faster gratification, so this is bound to have an impact on how they are managed, and vice-versa.

Urvashi Kaul
urvashik@cybermedia.co.in

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