A new book, The NeXt Revolution: What Gen X Women Want at Work and How Their Boomer Bosses Can Help Them Get It, is being released by Davies-Black in November. It's written by a mother-daughter, Boomer/Gen-X team.
Excerpt:"Nothing typifies Generation X more than career dissatisfaction. Gen X women are especially frustrated. Successors to a generation of feminists who fought for equal opportunity, these young women expected to reap the benefits of their mothers’ struggles—only to find that not much has changed. Disillusioned, many have chosen to leave the professional workforce. If this "opt out" trend continues, the corporate world will lose an invaluable pool of talent, just when retiring Boomers will trigger a labor shortfall. Worse, Gen Xers will lose the chance to take their place as tomorrow’s leaders.
In this perceptive study, Charlotte and Laura Shelton, a Boomer mother and Gen X daughter, examine the roots of this frustration—in part, the feminist revolution—and what it will take to change frustration to transformation. In the first half of the book, the authors use surveys with more than 1,200 Gen Xers and interviews with many others to create a multidimensional portrait of this generation at work. Personal stories are interwoven with analysis to reveal how Gen Xers experience work, how Boomer workplace attitudes clash with Xer expectations, and how men and women differ in what they want from their careers. "
Interesting tidbits from the Shelton's study:
- 77% of Gen Xers say they’d leave their current jobs if they found 'increased intellectual stimulation' elsewhere.
- 61% of Xer women said they’d leave their job for one that was more flexible.
- 51% of Gen Xers said they’d quit if another employer offered them the chance to telecommute.
- The average Gen X worker in his 20s stays at each job for only to 1.1 year.
- 'Having a best friend at work' was one of 12 key predictors of both job satisfaction and high performance."
This is the group that grew up with computers & is extremely technically savvy. They have probably already been exposed to some level of e-learning or represent a group of people that has very few, if any barriers to using software, e-learning, or for that matter, understanding the importance of learning management systems. If anything, they are seem like they would be heavy consumers of this technology, more motivated, and very savvy customers!
Dave Boggs, SyberWorks
Comments