Drivers of emerging HR practices
Introduction
A workplace is diverse in many ways. There are people of all age groups, nationalities, education levels and not to forget, both genders working together. These factors and many more, individually or in combinations bring about change in the traditional HR practices. Thus we can call such factors as the drivers of emerging HR practices. It is important to understand the drivers so that one can make pertinent policies that will help integrate them into the workplace without alienating the remaining workforce.
With this in mind, I set out to find the harbingers of change. For my literature review, I narrowed down to a few drivers such as expatriates in the workplace, increased women workforce, the advent of internet, the generation gap and the emergence of Gen Y or the millennial as a force to reckon with. I looked up online journals and databases such as HR Quarterly, Personnel Psychology, Emerald Insight, EBSCO and JSTOR. A search for each of the factors mentioned above was carried out in the said journals and databases. The maximum results came for the topic of Gen Y. A lot of people are trying to understand Gen Y and what makes them tick. Another thing that goes along with Gen Y is the fact that they take to internet like fish to water. There is a lot of extant literature on this phenomenon (Bolton 2013). This paper will be focusing on the contribution of Gen Y to emerging HR practices.
Generation Y is roughly defined as those born in the years 1982 to 2000 (Twenge 2008). By that logic, the youngest member of Gen Y will be 14 years young and the oldest 32 years old. At this rate we will have new members of this generation joining the workforce every year. Their thinking has been shaped by the environment they grew up in. This generation is also known as the Digital generation because of the undeniable influence technology has had on them. They are also known as the Entitlement generation (Spiro 2006) probably to contrast them with the Baby Boomers who had emerged right after the World War.
The millennial have a penchant for getting things done at an express speed. They need constant feedback and appreciation (Hershatter 2010). They are interested in having their opinions heard and they want to integrate their value system into their work. This can be seen in their increased involvement in programs for social benefit. It is also observed that they have a high regard for education (Spiro 2006). More women of the Gen Y are returning to work after maternity (Twenge 2008) and organizations are accommodating that with new leave policies and baby care infrastructure. The rest of this paper will deal with the above mentioned of the traits of Gen Y in detail and the expectation that they carry to the workplace and the practices that have emerged as a result.

Internet, social media and Gen Y
Gen Y has a strong affinity to internet. They are quick to adopt any new technology and grasp its intricacies quite easily. They have expertise in content creation and engaged interaction (Hershatter and Epstein 2010; Cowell and Kupritz 2007; Kapoor and Solomon 2011). Data from Salesforce Rypple -a cloud computing-based social performance management platform- points out that Gen Y professionals are flocking to the social networking sites to connect with their superiors and co-workers. Seven of every 10 Facebook users have befriended a co-worker or supervisor and 68 percent of Twitter users have followed a co-worker or superior.
There are two facets to this movement. On one hand, organizations are using the widespread reach of social media to attract new recruits, but on the other hand they have strict internet usage policies for their employees in office. Lets examine these two sides one by one.
To attract the Gen Y workforce, Employers need to create a brand for themselves. To do this organizations are turning to social media to connect with the youngsters and to be perceived as desirable employers (Reichenberg 2009). Many organizations now have an official Facebook page from where they disseminate information about their requirements and recruitment drives. Such avenues are also used to maintain a constant trickle of posts regarding the company ideologies, their latest achievements and products. This way they are in constant touch with their prospective employees and since they have a wide reach, they get a diversified pool of candidates to pick from. Apart from creating an image for themselves, organizations use social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to gather information about job candidates which might not be available from conventional sources like CV and application forms (Collins 2012).
An example of organization’s use of social media is Cognizant. Cognizant’s Facebook page contains information of their walk-in interviews, career tips, video discussion boards and testimonials from employees and interns giving a firsthand account of what it is like to work at Cognizant (https://www.facebook.com/Cognizant) (Faour and Heinze)
Some organizations have put in place a referral system that is same at all parts as a conventional referral system except that employees refer their friends through their Social network website. For example, the ‘Work with me’ Facebook app put in place by the enterprise Rent-A-Car provides existing employers an option to recommend jobs to their friends. If the person then applies and is selected to work at Rent-A-Car, the app tracks recommender and they receive an employee referral bonus in keeping with the company policy for referrals.
Yet another pertinent example of organizations being influenced by their Gen Y workforce and incorporating social networking in their functioning is what IBM did when they organized a virtual conference using the ‘Second Life’ platform. Second Life is an online virtual world. Users are required to create a virtual avatar of themselves. Using this avatar they can explore the world, meet other users, socialize, create and trade virtual properties and services with each other and participate in individual and group activities. In 2008, IBM spent $80,000 to create a secure, virtual conference setup where around 200 of its employees from all around the world met for a 3 day Virtual World Conference within Second Life. The conference was a resounding success and IBM has since been conducting virtual meetings on Second Life.
On the flipside, organizations are facing a tough time as the internet addicted Gen Y workforce spends a substantial portion of its work time on the internet (Griffiths 2010) It is very common for employees to use internet for non office purposes like booking holidays, emailing friends, downloading movies, shopping online etc.). In fact, in a survey conducted by the International Data Corporation(Snapshot Spy, 2008), up to 40 per cent of the respondents claimed that they used internet access provided in the workplace for non-work related browsing, and 60 per cent of them admitted to making their online purchases during working hours.
Faced with such facts and a corresponding decrease in productivity, clogging of network and increased incidents of security breaches at the organization (Pee et al., 2008; Clayburgh and Nazareth, 2009; Weatherbee, 2009), organizations have come up with restricted internet usage policies. According to a 2011 survey by Robert Half Technology, asking Gen Y employees if they are allowed access to social networking sites at workplace, 51% responded that their firms do not allow employees to access social networking sites for any reason while at work; 19% were allowed access for business purpose only; 16% were allowed access for limited personal use and 10% had unlimited access for personal use.
Gen Y and communication
Feedback and clarity of commands are integral to how the millennial function. Many managers might call their Gen Y subordinates needy, demanding and whiney (the reason why Gen Y is also known as Gen Why and Gen Whine!) and constantly looking for appreciation but it must be understood that they come from a time where they received certificates just for participation. When in doubt or in need of any sort, Gen Y workers do not hesitate to seek clarification or help from higher authorities. This is partly due to their schooling where they are encouraged to ask doubts and discussions are promoted between teachers and students. The teachers encourage students to challenge them. This culture is in contrast to what the Baby Boomers and even Gen X experienced. Questions were stymied. Doubting the pre-existing know how was frowned upon. Students in that age were forced to think within the box. No generation has been pushed to probe beyond the obvious as the Gen Y. In order to meet this need of constant guidance, a lot of mentorship programs are coming up where Gen Y employees are paired with a mentor from the Baby Boomer generation. Such pairing is more successful than that with Gen X ((Hewlett et al. 2009).
With the ease of connectivity provided by new age digital communication- through emails and Skype, they have access to everyone in the organization should they want to contact them. As a result, organizations are moving from a hierarchical structure to ‘Flat’ organization structure.
Value system of Gen Y
The Gen Y employees seek to integrate their value systems into the organization’s. They expect the companies they work in to go beyond the traditional volunteering programs. Gen Y employees seek active participation in the CSR activities of the organization. In Bangalore, there exists a group called ‘The Ugly Indian’. Its made up of youngsters from different fields of work who target filthy areas in the city and carry out ‘Spotfixing’ missions in those areas with the help of localites. When they target IT parks its observed that the youth come out in large numbers and don’t mind getting their hands dirty to clean up the filth, clear out the garbage, position flower pots so that people don’t throw garbage at the same place again and finally paint the walls as good as new. This example should give an idea of the kind of social involvement the Gen Y is willing to put in and expects from their organizations.
Having grown up in an age where they were educated from primary classes about the importance of conserving natural resources and have been threatened with an impending doom on earth if things did not change for better, they are extremely aware of sustainable practices and aim to implement them at workplace. Thus the emergence of ‘Green Teams’. Green Teams are formed by groups of employees who get together to recognize and put into action specific plans that will help their organization to become environmentally sustainable. Green teams may be formed by employees voluntarily or on direction from the company.
Work-life balance and Gen Y
Employees of all generations hope for work life balance, but the millennial have the courage and conviction, and not to forget, the technology to demand it (Hershatter ,Epstein 2010). In a study by Brain Drain, 87% of the Gen Y respondents say that work–life balance matters. This emphasis on work-life balance comes from their own observation and the general shift in society towards the family. Millennial experienced firsthand the sacrifices their patents (the baby boomers) made to achieve corporate success. Many of them have spent time at day care centers because their parents had to be present at office for fixed timings.
Consequences of these observations are seen in the Gen Y’s desire for a high degree of work life balance. To accommodate these requests companies are introducing policies like flexi work timing. An employee is now expected to work for 8-9 hours a day, but which 8-9 hours of the day they will be, is for the employees to decide themselves. The fixed 9-5 job timing has become fluidic.
Gen Y women in workplace
As more and more young women are completing college and joining the workforce, companies are slowly changing policies to encourage the trend and attract more women. In order to ensure safety of the women, many steps have been taken by organizations. Companies nowadays have a strict policy against sexual harassment. Employees are compulsorily made aware of this policy at the time of induction. Any complaints of such nature are dealt with absolute seriousness by the highest echelons of the company.
Companies prevent women from working beyond the designated working hours by giving the facility of work from home. In the event that they must work late into the night, cabs services are provided (at company expense) to drop them to their residence.
Given the increased level of education of women at present times, it is quite common to see many women returning to work post child birth. In their interest, companies have incorporated crèches within their campuses and have provision for work from home (Twenge 2008). The Govt. of India, in September 2008 approved an order which increased maternity leave of their women employees from the original 135 days to 180 days for each of their two children. The order also had the provision for women employees to "take care" of their two children by availing paid leave up to two years (730 days) without affecting their seniority. The women employee can utilize this child care leave by breaking it down in any way till her two children are 18 years of age.
Most policies that came into being because of Gen Y women have been extended to all other employee segments as well. For e.g. Work from home, Anti sexual harassment policy and company arranged transportation.
Gen Y and the dress code
The Gen Y workforce is fairly relaxed and informal in their dress (Twenge 2008). Youngsters goto great lengths to show that they did not spend any time or effort in dressing up. The out of the bed look is so sought after that in my last YouTube search there were over 1,160,000 videos instructing youngsters on how to style their hair and clothing to give an appearance that one has emerged straight from the bed and put minimal effort in getting ready. To accommodate this informal dress code many organizations have come up with “Casual Fridays” when employees can come to work in casuals on Fridays. Some companies like Google and Cisco (both of which were founded in the same time period that the Gen Y youngsters were born in) allow their employees to dress up as they feel comfortable thus leading to casual dress code every day. Such a policy is consistent with their creative fun and young culture.
On the other hand some companies like Infosys, IBM and Wipro are not very welcoming of this trend and have strict dress codes in place that define what the employee can and cannot wear for each day of the week. (http://careers.wipro.com/it/campus/faq.htm).
Conclusion
The Generation Y has appeared at the workplace at a very opportune moment in time in terms of technology at hand. The sheer ease with which they handle this technology and the amount information at their disposal, combined with their out of the box ideas, creativity and fearlessness enables them to operate in a world with no boundaries. Thus they have a lot to contribute to the organization they are a part of. Having seen this potential of the Gen Y, even organizations are doing everything to adapt and make themselves desirable to the Gen Y. Organizations are evolving their policies and practices to accommodate the ways of Gen Y. Considering everything, both sides have a lot to gain as long as their goals are in sync.

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