ABSTRACT

Generation Y or The Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) account for over half of the population in India. They have been defined variously as “echo boomers” because they are the children of parents born during the baby boom (the baby boomers) of the United States of America, Millennials, echo boomers, internet generation, iGen, net generation, etc. They will also form 50% of the global workforce by 2020. The purpose of this survey was to (a) understand their career aspirations and attitudes about work, which will eventually define the culture of the 21st century workplace, to answer (b) what motivates of the Gen Y in India, and (c) to suggest policy modifications HR managers. A survey close to 150 subjects from both the factory workers and the corporate communities in Gurgaon and Faridabad, Haryana was conducted. Overviews of Gen Y motivators in Canada and USA, Sweden, and China have then been briefly discussed, before discussing the country context of India.

The survey results suggest that the Millennials in India value two aspects, namely, “the pay and respect for me as a person” the most within their departments and companies. This indicates that there is a high sense of self-worth among them. They are hence impatient and critical of system that asks them to put in a requisite amount of time to the job at hand. Gen Y considers it appropriate to be ambitious and therefore asks for immediate results, in other words “if something can be changed for the better, then we better do it now and not wait for things to happen at some later date.” The survey thus concludes that Gen Y is all about self-actualization an aspect that is demonstrated in their “inside-out” attitude toward how they perceive their career, Gen X and the world in general. They want to solve problems that plague them and they do not hesitate to be creative about the solutions. They are often critical of Gen X which they think is holding them back. They are adaptive and are not adverse to change.