21st Century Drama: The Baby Boomlet Cometh

"Raised in a high-tech, information-saturated world, many of these young adults know how to tap into an unlimited knowledge base. They have at their fingertips the equivalent intelligence of every Nobel Prize winner rolled into one. They are just-in-time experts in nearly any subject."  

The house lights dim. The curtain rises. Enter about 64 million young people. No, they're not the cast members of the latest Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway extravaganza. They're the cast members of the Baby Boomlet - a.k.a. "Generation Y" - the group born between 1977 and 1995. And they're on their way to a workplace near you.

What do the critics have to say? Early reviews are mixed. A recent survey of Baby Boomer teachers (ages 32-50) panned the current crop of K-12 students, with the majority describing them as disrespectful and unmotivated. Some experts, however, discount those findings. Notes Concordia College professor Jim Ollhoff, "Virtually every generation says the next generation is
going down the tubes."

Indeed, initial claims that the slightly older Generation X - or Baby Bust - is a collection of loners and "slackers" are being proven largely groundless. Now that they've moved out of adolescence into young adulthood, many Xers are showing themselves to be just as hardworking and family-oriented as their older counterparts.

Quite a few observers reject the concept of applying identifying tags to an entire generation. "It becomes detrimental when general culture buys into these labels and suggests that there's a group of people who all have these attitudes," explains Thomas More College professor Amy Cassedy. On the other hand, every generation demonstrates some sort of collective attitudes
and behaviors. As long as it's understood that those collective attitudes and behaviors will hold true for individuals to varying degrees, generational designations can provide a useful framework for discussion.

We don't have to look too far back in time to see how a generation's collective attitudes and behaviors are influenced by the specific societal conditions in which members are raised. Baby Boomers, for example, grew up in the post- WWII era of seemingly limitless economic growth and widespread middleclass lifestyles; many members of that generation developed a sense of security about the future, a feeling that the "American Dream" would come true for each of them. Generation Xers, meanwhile, were born in an America that was shaken hard by the Vietnam War and Watergate. They were raised during an era in which rates of divorce, inflation and crime all skyrocketed. As a result, most members don't take future prosperity for granted; many are even quite cynical.

Much as society has affected them, each of these generations has had - and continues to have - a tremendous impact on society. This is particularly true in the workplace. The collective attitudes and behaviors of each cohort present distinct sets of challenges for managers. [See HRI's White Papers "Generation X" and "A Middle-Aging Workforce."]

Now let's return our spotlight to today's generation of children and teens. The Baby Boomlet will dwarf Generation X in size and, thanks to ongoing advances in technology, will have even greater potential for making a mark on society. According to at least one older Boomlet member, "We are going to make a big difference in this world."

What sort of difference will that be? Unfortunately, we can't be sure, because the first Boomies (as we've termed Boomlet members in this White Paper) are just beginning to reach adulthood. All we can do is analyze the relevant societal factors and make projections about the generation's possible collective attitudes and behaviors.