Generationally Savvy: Work / Life Balance is NOT a Perk.

January 21, 2010

Work / Life Balance is NOT a Perk.

Beginning this year, there are more Millennials (GenYs) alive than Baby Boomers. A big shift is occurring and many organizations are not prepared.

Despite tough economic times, many employees, leaders and volunteers still expect to be able to create a balance between their work and life.

In a report released recently by Accenture, two primary qualities were identified by Millennial Women as key to workplace success. First was the ability to balance personal and professional lives and second was a job where they can make a difference.

More than half of the Accenture respondents defined success as doing meaningful work, while maintaining balance between their personal and professional lives (cited by 66 % and 59 % respectively).

Work / Life balance is not a new concept, nor a unique desire of the newest generation of workers entering the workplace, the Millennials.

Baby Boomers entered the workplace with high ideals of creating balance, but soon buckled down to 50-60+ hour work weeks to compete against their eighty million peers.

Fourty-four million Gen Xers entered the labor pool during the recession of the 80's and 90's and had high hopes, but little leverage as they faced a talent pool already overflowing with Boomers. The brief bubble of the Dot.com era gave the Xers a little window to impact the creation of more relaxed corporate cultures which still show up today in many of the companies that are ranked on the list of the Best Companies to Work For.

Now as Millennials enter the scene we have a double whammy. The talent needs are rising and shifting. As the economy picks back up, leaders recognize that the 44 million Gen Xers are not interested in a work-centric lifestyle that doesn't allow them time to be with their kids and prevent a repeat of their latch-key childhood.

Baby Boomers are reaching the retirement age at the rate of 10,000 per day for the next nine years and many of the Boomers that remain or want to remain active in the workforce past that point do not have the technical skills to address the future needs.

While Baby Boomers "lived to work," Millennials "work to live". Millennials still feel like they've got options and they are willing to change jobs, careers, cities and states if it means they can have balance and make a difference.

As organizations begin to compete for top talent and employee retention, the willingness to address the work/life balance equation from the perspective of Gen Xers and Millennials will become integral to their success. Anna Liotta

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Jan 21, 2010 12:20:06 PM

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