Q&A: Generational ROI

Hi Susan,

That is a great question . . . and I don’t have a quantitative answer.  I’d love to do some research to pin that down some day. 

Here are some thoughts:  First, we’d have to agree on ways to judge “return” for various activities.  What’s the return on an executive who guides others vs. a call center rep who handles direct customer inquiries, for example?  The theoretical answer would be that, in a perfect world, we pay people commensurate with their contribution, meaning that the “return” from each individual would be equal to the “investment” we make in them.  If you believe this, then the ROI for everyone would be the same. 

But, at a generational level, I do think the overall contributions have been a bit different.  There’s no doubt the Boomers have been a highly “productive” generation—Boomers were in leadership roles when we saw some of the most significant increases in productivity rates in the U.S. economy, as the technology was first substituted for highly labor-intensive tasks.  Boomers have also put an extraordinary amount of time into work—leading the increase in hours worked.  So, on a time-based return for the company’s compensation investment, Boomers have been a great deal.

X’ers arguably have worked smarter—and have been more concerned about balancing the time spent at work with that spent with family.  In that sense—including time as one of the investments—I’d have to give them the nod over Boomers.  And, in another possible generational measure of contribution, X’ers founded many of our most innovative and successful (and highest market value) companies today—including Google, YouTube, Amazon, and Wikipedia.

Y’s are just getting started.  There is anecdotal evidence that they are able to perform many tasks faster than any generation yet.  Managers tell me stories of hiring a Gen Y for a 10 week internship and running out of work for them to do after only 3 weeks, for example, because they are so speedy.  The jury is still out on this, but Y’s may up the ante on ROI still further.

Thoughts?

Thanks for asking such a provocative question.

Tammy

Filed under: Comparisons Among the Generations | Published: 12/04/08