Does Gen X exist only because of Gen Y?

Reading Ryan Healy’s post on ”A Message to Gen X” at Employee Evolution:

“Most of the questions I get from Human Resources and Recruiting professionals about Generation Y are the same. They are all about why this generation expects to get so much so fast, why we feel entitled to flexibility, why we think we deserve high pay immediately, and so forth. The thing that surprises me every time is that it’s not the Baby Boomers who are so upset with Gen Y, it’s the Gen Xers. The more I pay attention, the more obvious it is that it’s the Gen Xers who think we’re just lazy, entitled Millennials.

The problem is that Generation X did not get what they asked for, and Generation Y is seemingly being catered to like we are owed something.”

From Ryan’s article, Gen Y is better positioned to take the reigns from the Boomers than Gen X because of the following factors: 1) better demographics, 2) better use of technology, and 3) better teamwork.

I will add 2 more factors 4) Globalization awareness, 5) Diversity advocates.

Yes, Yers grew up in a world where technology is always on (Internet, TV) where collaboration is intuitive. Yers value simultaneity (thanks to micro-blogging and social networks). Yers endorsed the globalization, they already traveled abroad for their study or their work, speak a foreign language. To them, they did not know the cold war, the fall of “the berlin wall” was just another fallen wall, the rise of China is a given fact and since 9/11 they learnt two things: 1) the world is multilateral – 2) there is no certainty about tomorrow.  The current crisis is their first crisis, however thanks to their background and their current situation (no family) this shift is full of opportunities for the future. Yers use this coming years to learn and to train in order to assume high responsibilities when economic growth comes back.

Most of all, they see diversity as a strength. Confronting, exchanging ideas make them focused on delivering results in a team spirit; finally their playground is not anymore their home country but their geographical region if not the world.

Xers, on the contrary grew up in a completely different environment.  The factors that shaped this generation are 1) Economical environment, 2) Technology revolution, 3) Unilateral vision of the world.

They entered the work life in the mid 90s, just after the early 90s crisis. Then, they jumped into the web bubble of the late 90s. They were young and ready to push the boomers to retirement, however the bubble burst and 9/11 tragedy blocked their way up. Corporations’ reigns stayed with Boomers or late Boomers. More recently, another crisis affects them.  This time they are older, in some cases with kids, family, mortgage too…

From a different perspective, Xers grew up with a PC but not in a connected world, the concept of sharing and collaboration, fast access to information is something they are learning along the way. Finally their teenage years were dominated by the West and lead by the US in terms of technology, lifestyle, way of consumption…

Therefore, I believe Xers are getting impatient: having to deal with Boomers that does not want to go out of the professional life in one hand, and looking at the rise of Yers on the other hand.

Interestingly Boomers understand perfectly this situation, in April 1969, Fortune Magazine wrote, “Because the demand for their services so greatly exceeds the supply, young graduates are in a strong position to dictate terms to their prospective employers. Young employees are demanding that they be given productive tasks to do from the first day of work and that the people they work for notice and react to their performance.”

Does this sound familiar to Boomers? And who are Yers: Their children. They feel in Yers, the same passion they once had.

As a conclusion, here is a thought of a Xer, Kris Dunn from hrcapitalist.com on Gen X vs GenY:

Here’s my take – numbers are numbers, so if Gen Y has more people, that’s cool.  But I honestly don’t know a Gen X professional who is upset about the attitude of Gen Y. The coolest thing for me as a Gen X’er is that the Y’s are focused on work/life balance, and that has a spillover effect to everyone in the workforce.  As for the technology piece, if an X is in trouble because they haven’t kept up with technology or marketing trends that follow, that’s an individual limitation you can’t pin on our entire generation.

…

When it comes to stereotypes about generations, see this post by John Hollon of Workforce.  It may have been obvious to you, but amidst all the talk about the Millennial, I forgot one very important fact.  Some of them aren’t going to be very good.  Some will be great, some will be average, some are going to stink.

The workplace sorts it all out on an individual level.  Big box stereotypes about entire generations are marketing hype.

In the end would that Gen X vs Gen Y battle be orchestrated by Boomers?

For more information on GenX and GenY

Generation X	Generation Y (Millennials)
Born 1966-1976 51 Million	Born 1977 -1989 75 Million
Accept diversity Pragmatic/Practical Self reliant/Individualistic Reject rules Killer life Mistrust institutions PC Use technology Multitask Latch-key kids Friends — not family	Celebrate Diversity Optimistic/realistic Self-Inventive/individualistic Rewrite the rules Killer Lifestyle Irrelevance of institutions Internet Assume technology Multitask fast Nurtured Friends = family
Mentoring Dos Casual, friendly work environment Involvement Flexibility and freedom A place to learn	Mentoring Dos Structured, supportive work environment Personalized work Interactive relationship Be prepared for demands, high expectations * Diane Thielfoldt and Devon Scheef