Employers have been challenged to think more about Generation Y coming into their workplaces.

The Centre for Information Leadership (CIL) at City University London has launched its first challenge paper, which aims to get business and information leaders thinking about whether they are really prepared for millenials in their workforces.

The interdisciplinary paper, entitled Responding to the Millennial Generation, sets out the organisational and technological challenges posed to the private and public sector as those born after 1985, who have grown up with the web, take up jobs en masse in the post-recession recovery.
 
Co-authored by the centre’s director and former chief information officer, David Chan, and Martin Rich, a lecturer in information management at Cass Business School, the paper highlights the individuality and entrepreneurial spirit of ‘digital natives’ compared with older generations, and discusses how organisations can respond to their needs.
 
Chan said: Web 2.0 has created liberal, diverse young people, who actively choose self-selected teams and crowd-sourced information, not just online but in everyday life.

So, as this new generation becomes the workforce of tomorrow, they will be less accepting of traditional organisational practices and management hierarchies. It is vital, therefore, that businesses start to adapt now.
 
Rich added: At City University London, we’ve had the benefit of teaching millennials for several years, so have evolved our methods to suit their way of working. Conversely, the recession quelled entry-level recruitment, so workplaces are yet to feel the full force of this new generation. As the economy – and the graduate job market – picks up, it’s time that universities share their experiences with other organisations to ensure that they are prepared.