3 Questions with a Gen Y Consultant

The topic of Generation Y in the workplace has garnered a lot of buzz in mainstream news outlets and fuels a whole cult of niche bloggers (I humorously thought this blog was a novel idea). I keep hearing about the concept of “Generation Y consultants,” which, like "social media consultants," I feel skeptical, but intrigued, about. (Or perhaps I am simply jealous that I didn't think of it myself.) I asked Bret Bernhoft, a fellow Generation Y voice and partner at Portland, Oregon-based InsYght Consulting, to tell me why companies would want to hire a Generation Y consultant.


Y-rd: Regardless of whether companies should care about Gen Y, I feel kind of skeptical that they really do. What are your thoughts? Do companies care enough about Gen Y to hire people like you to get perspective about our generation?

Bret: I would hope that they care enough about Generation Y to hire people like me to get perspective about our generation. But honestly, I would think that companies do care enough to hire someone like me for their Generation Y issues only after they have experienced an issue with the generation previously.

Are there certain companies more worried about Gen Y than others?

From my experience I understand that any service-based company, such as a law or architectural firm, would consider Generation Y a greater issue than a product-based company.

In my opinion the issue most service-based companies have with Generation Y as consumers and employees is their lack of attention and retention. These are very common perceptions, however accurate, of Generation Y.

What do you see as the largest challenge for companies trying to incorporate Gen Y in the workforce?

The greatest issue for incorporating Generation Y into their workforce would have to be the issue of wasted time.

When it comes to Generation Y and wasting time while on the clock there is no one solution; everything is subjective. However, there is something that can be said for the single most effective triumph in modern management strategy: flexibility. You were onto something when you asked whether or not both Generation Y and the employer must come to a middle ground. The answer is a resounding YES! That is the impetus to incorporate flexibility into the equation.