GenY workers value leisure more than Gen Xers

Washington, March 10 : The young generation of workers, sometimes called GenY, GenMe, or Millennials, have markedly different work values from previous generations, researchers have observed.

Principal investigator Jean M. Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of the book Generation Me, made a comparison between work values of GenY (born in the late 1980s) to those of GenX (born in the 1970s) and Boomers (born in the 1950s) at the same age.

The study found GenY was much more likely to want a job that could spare lots of vacation time, and less likely to want to work overtime. They also saw work as less central to their lives and were more likely to agree that "work is just making a living."

But they were also found to lay more importance on salary and status at the same time.

Twenge said: "Company programs focusing on work-life balance, relaxation, and leisure, however, fit GenY''s values well. With more and more GenY''ers entering the workplace, these findings provide implications for the recruitment and management of the emerging workforce."

The article in the Journal of Management has been published by SAGE.