This past spring, Career Edge Organization’s VP, Donna Smith, presented the results of our third installment of Gen Y research at Workforce One-Stop 2012, a new event for employers and educators looking to leverage the skills and knowledge of workers joining an increasingly diverse Canadian workforce.
Building on two successful years of employer targeted Gen Y research, Donna’s workshop explored “twenty something” insights for employers, enabling them to better attract, retain, and develop young Canadian talent in their organizations.
Working with Angus Reid Strategies and Porter Novelli in 2009, our first installment of Gen Y research revealed that one size strategies do not fit all, as we identified four distinct segments of recent grads that each call for unique recruitment efforts. In 2010, our research drilled deeper to gain groundbreaking insights to find out what Gen Y look for in a “great place to work.”
For our third chapter, we continued to explore the theme of what makes an organization an employer of choice and delved into what Gen Y need from their employers at the early stages of their career as they look to grow professionally and achieve their career goals.
Workforce One-stop 2012 conference delegates were among the first to gain access to this hot-off-the-press research that challenges contemporary beliefs about this generation of young, connected workers.
One of the most intriguing outcomes of our research centred on Gen Y’s strong desire for leadership and working collaboratively with colleagues and peers to achieve their professional goals. Our study found that nearly 70% of Gen Y want to manage a team or group of employees within the next five years, evenly balanced among men and women.
We also identified the top three items that contribute to a greater level of satisfaction at work, confirming that Gen Y workers like to take a social approach to the projects they are assigned.
We will be blogging more of our Gen Y research findings later this summer, revealing how employers can incorporate a sustainable and effective coaching model to develop the next generation of managers by building people management and leadership skills in Gen Y employees.
Stay tuned in August for more Gen Y: Part III insights!