Written by Claudia Dunn
After stumbling across a Harvard Business Review article titled “what young managers should know about how they’re perceived” it began to play on my mind that we are in the midst of experiencing a real shift in dynamics in the work place. Baby boomers and Generation Y managers are beginning to retire leaving more and more managerial job vacancies for younger people to step in to.
Millennials and Gen Z employees are taking over roles once held by their older peers; so with this in mind, are we going to see a drastic change in the way companies are being run over the next few years?
I put this question to a handful of managers aged 20 – 40 to see if they think things will change, and whether they would be keen to see the dynamic shift in the way work places are run.
“I hope so. I hope that more flexibility within the work space is the norm. People having lives outside of work and not made to run themselves into the ground would be amazing.” Explained an ex hotel manager, who managed a staff of up to ten people over the eleven months they spent working at the hotel.
“The whole corporate culture of work, work, work and then maybe you will make a bit more money needs to die. But it’s going to be when I’m way older and the kids who are teens now that change it.”
A second millennial I spoke to also felt that younger managers potentially have more understanding around personal life. Whereas in the past it was expected for an employee to leave their personal issues at home, the McDonalds shift manager thinks there could be room for more empathy in the work place.
“Younger people have a lot more understanding for people who perhaps have kids and need certain hours or days off, or people with mental health issues too. It’s a friendlier workplace.”
In the Harvard Business Review article the author compares the positives and the negatives of being a new generation manager, listing a number of pros and cons. A negative point that caught my attention was stating younger people may not be able to ‘accurately represent the organization.’
When asked, my focus group felt this an unfair statement.
“Just because someone is young it does not mean they can’t represent their organisation. As someone who was put into a management role at the age of 24 I feel I represented my company in the way I was supposed to and effectively.” Explained 29 year old Lauren, a manager at a popular high street opticians.
Another participant went further to theorise that having a younger management structure will benefit the work environment.
“Younger people will change what it means to represent a company. The culture will change and that could be a scary prospect to some.”
The general feelings of the people I asked were all very similar; young managers should not be underestimated, nor should they have to work any harder to gain the respect of their team – although this is often the case for most young managers.
Many said that they would find it hard to earn respect from both the people in their team and, in some instances, the customers they were serving. Something the Harvard Business Review article also touched briefly on; stating young managers are frequently ‘not trusted’ and their ‘judgement is more frequently questioned.’
“Some staff don’t take you seriously and nor do customers as you’re young, they assume you don’t have much experience.” Agreed another ex-manager. “It can be challenging as a young manager. A lot of people in the older employees did not necessarily respect a younger person, or actually begrudged them due to them wanting a the managerial role.”
Although it would seem younger managers have an uphill climb in order to make their legacy in the work place, the general feeling is that the newer generation of managers are going to make a real difference and we will see some positive change in business structure over the next few years.
What do you think? Leave your thoughts below.
The HBR article referenced in post: