In Grown Up Digital:
“Two out of three Net Geners [Generation Y] said they would rather work for one or two companies than a variety of companies, our research shows. But they’re not loyal to an employer; they’re loyal to their career path. They’ll stay at a company that offers them structure and internal mobility. If a company refuses to invest in them they’ll leave.”
The Company is People
I didn’t live through the 50’s, but my impression is that in those years, a company saw their employees as the “bottom line”. Profit, cash, and sustainability came in as secondary goal. Not to say that a company would go bankrupt to keep their employees, but that they would do everything possible before laying someone off. Employees were loyal to their company, and in return, a company was loyal to its employees.
The Company is Profit
These days, profitability is clearly the number one “bottom line” and there seems to be nothing that competes closely with that at all. If you look at the way companies invest in off-shore development, the way they hire contractors instead of developing internal talent, they way they “right-size” (the politically correct term for layoffs) … it is pretty clear that employees are considered fungible resources. Even the term, “resource” (for a living, breathing, human being) furthers this ideal. I’m a person, not a resource.
It’s Your Career
I think the Net Geners are simply acting on what the rest of us have failed to recognize. Dedication to a single company is admirable, but it is best for long-term individual interests to spread that experience over many companies.
Tags: business culture, change
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