manPower Uprate: Increasing the Output Of Your Generation Y Workers Managers around the world have been perplexed, to say the least, by the influx of a new breed of worker. Commonly referred to as Generation Y or the Millennials, this cohort, born between 1980 – 19991 , does not seem to respond to the tried‐ and‐true management techniques of the past. It’s an issue that’s impossible to ignore—at three times the size of Generation X, they are a force to be reckoned with. The Millennials’ entry into the nuclear workforce, while only a trickle now, will soon turn into a flood. Therefore, new strategies are needed to effectively motivate and engage this strikingly peculiar generation ‐ indeed, the future of our industry.
Nuclear Conundrum: The Labor Pool Has Gone Subcritical Recruitment and training are well known challenges for the nuclear industry. For over two decades, international political support for nuclear science and engineering has been all but nonexistent. This has only recently started to change as nuclear power is increasingly being recognized for what it is: the only viable, baseload “green” energy source available today. But it will take time, and time is in short supply.
Today, Baby Boomers are in the process of retiring en masse, forcing many nuclear plants to face a novel dilemma. As time goes on, the nuclear industry teeters closer to the edge of an increasingly ominous “retirement cliff” in which large numbers of personnel are eligible to retire within a short period of time1. Industry‐wide the numbers look bleak—more than half of all nuclear workers in the United States are over the age of 48 and are eligible to retire within a decade. Sound daunting? The situation is worse and more urgent than many realize—within just five years, 35% of the nuclear workforce could be lost through retirements alone2.
Yet, who will be their replacement?
Gen X, pruned by the emerging popularization of birth control in their formative years, may not be large enough to shoulder the human resource responsibility alone. As a result, it is predicted that Generation Y will enter the work force with a vengeance, accounting for nearly half of all employees worldwide by 20153. Without a doubt, this demographic shift toward Millennials will have a significant impact on the dynamics in your workplace.
1
For our purposes, we will define Generation Y as those born between 1980 – 1999, however, you should know that there is a spirited debate among generational experts as to when the Millennial generation actually started, with estimates ranging widely from the late 70’s to the mid 80’s.