Motivating Generation ‘Y’ Employees Ms. Dhobale Rajasshrie*, Assistant Professor, Mr. Pillai Brijesh Sivathanu**, Assistant Professor, Mrs. Patil Kanchan***, Assistant Professor *HR Management, Indira Institute of Career Studies, Wakad, Pune, MS, India. **Marketing Management, Indira Institute of Management, Wakad, Pune, MS, India. ***Marketing Management, Indira School of Business Studies, Wakad, Pune, MS, India. Online published on 11 May, 2012. Abstract Motivated employees are definitely more productive and more creative, and add more overall value to an organization. They can, in fact, be the key to an organization's success-a differentiator that sets the organization apart from the competition. As motivation comes from within, motivation cannot be created, taught, or instilled. It can, however, be tapped into, supported, and maintained. Most of the workplace will be occupied by Generation Y in the near future. The Generation Y employees in particular are viewed as idealistic, with a high level of social consciousness. They are frequently anti-establishment and are concerned about stress on the job among other things. Generally outspoken, they constitute the largest pool of young people in the job market today. Promises of monetary rewards and overtime pay may not interest them as much as time off to attend a party, concert or just hang out with their friends. Gen Y, generally considered as anyone born after 1980, are predicted to make up about 75 percent of the world's workforce by 2025. The challenge lies in recruiting, retaining and motivating people from generation Y, as most of the workforce at the modern workplace is Generation Y. Generation Y, is vastly different from previous generations-especially Boomers. Members of Gen Y cut their teeth on computer keyboards, and to them, computer technology and the Internet are as natural as breathing. This generation's members know more about digital technology than their parents or teachers and hence promise to change not only the way families interact and communicate. Generation Y is the most diverse generation in the history. These members are born to the most diverse mix of parents in history as well-from teenagers to middle-aged moms who postponed childbearing to establish a career-from Boomers to Xers. This paper highlights the characteristics of Generation Y. This paper mentions the challenges for motivating the Generation Y. This paper focuses primarily on the Practices followed by the organizations for motivating Generation Y workforce. The author surveys the HR managers to understand their view to motivate Generation Y. It also surveys Generation Y employees to understand the motivating factors for them at the workplace. The author finally attempts to suggest innovative strategies for motivating Generation Y employees. Top Keywords Characteristics of Generation Y, Challenges, opportunities, motivation factors, excellent practices, Innovative strategies. Top |