How are companies dealing with millennials in Romania

Baby boomers consider their work part of their identity, the X generation see it as a means through which to earn their living, and the Y generation see it as a way to get to know themselves better. These are only some of the differences among generations that challenge Romanian HR managers in today’s labor market, says EY Romania.

Andreea Tint

Baby boomers, found in a larger proportion in the energy industry than in others, “identify with the company, the industry, the job they’re doing, much more than today’s youngsters do,” said Florin Tataru, Head of Human Resources & Organization at ENEL Romania, during a discussions after the launch of EY Romania’s “Urban generations and their priorities.” His statement confirms the EY study’s findings that 53 percent of the baby boomers find the work they do to be an important part of their identity, while only 37 percent of the X generation and 27 percent of the Y say the same.

For the X generation, their work is predominantly a means through which they earn their living and maintain their current lifestyle (48 percent), while 16 percent of the Y generation saw it as a means to learn and get to know themselves better, compared to 6 and 4 percent for the X and boomer generations, respectively.

More worrying, however, for the HR head of ENEL Romania, was the position of the X generation. While in theory the X generation is made up of company managers, he drew attention to the fact that a similar number to those from the Y generation, who are young and exploring their options, saw their work only as a means to earning a living, according to the EY study. “The X generation is, if you will, the spine of the company and if we have problems there, perhaps we should be more worried than if we have problems with a generation that is only now discovering the business world,” added Andreea Mihnea, Human Resources Director with EY Romania.

Nevertheless, the changes and priorities of the Y generation should not be discounted. “In the next ten years maximum, what we see now with the Y generation will be the norm,” said Oana Datki, SEE Managing Partner, Consulteam and TACK Intl. “Business will change so that what surprises us now, that [the Y generation] want flexible schedules, are no longer proud to work and the job is only a means to earn money — what we see now with the Y generation will happen, and is already happening, for all generations,” explained Datki, emphasizing that the norms will be dictated by the preferences of the Y generation.

In this sense, the EY study found that, while 51 percent of the Y generation respondents don’t have any form of flexible schedules, 53 percent of the boomers have some flexibility in their work hours and 7 percent do project-based work. Further speaking to the importance of flexible scheduling for the Y generation, Irina Stoian, HR Director, Cetelem IFN SA, recalled a recent candidate her company offered a higher wage to. “[The candidate said that they] chose work for a company that made [them] a comparable wage offer, but had flexible schedules, which means they had short Fridays,” Stoian detailed.

The need for flexibility was not the only chief characteristic of the Y generation that was brought up during discussions. The overall lack of patience that the Y generation exhibits is a main challenge for employees, said pundits. “For me, what I fight most is that managers tell me that they [the younger generations] are no longer responsible,” exemplified Mihnea, talking about how the Y generation responds to the business model that the older generations were applying.

Moreover, the younger generations’ in-tune relationship with technology means that sometimes they say that while they like the overall work environment of a company, the technology is not one they wish to work on, pointed out Stoian. This results in companies having to keep up with technological changes in order to fulfil a need that the younger generations, much more technological savvy than their older counterparts, come with in the office.

Another way in which the Y generation is demanding that the business model change is in terms of performance management, communication within the organization and the compensation and benefits packages. Regarding the first, companies have switched from the type of schedule that had one yearly feedback meeting, to talking monthly, according to Datki. “Communication must be much more increased, very open. Compared to what happened a few years ago, the successful organizations communicate a hundred times more and more freely,” she added.

Regarding benefits, many work-life balance programs have appeared to fill out a need among employees, “plus transparency. This doesn’t mean that the wages are put on intranet, but there is a lot of communication in terms of compensation and benefits,” further specified Datki.

Nevertheless, in industries such as energy, “you can’t change everything for the Y generation,” added Tataru. “There remains a need for discipline, for respecting the process,” he said, pointing out, however, that an equilibrium must be found between said need for discipline and “a much more open and collaborative way to work with them [the Y generation].”

Both the EY study and the discussion that followed suggested that the most significant differences in perception over the balance between the professional and personal lives are between the older baby boomers and the younger Y generation, with the X sometimes taking after the boomers and sometimes after the Y. It is clear also from the statements made by the panel members that the Romanian business environment has to keep up with the demands of the new generations, lest it lose its labor force.

The “Urban generations and their priorities” study was conducted on a sample of 2,562 respondents aged between 18 and 55+ and predominantly from the urban environment, through the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) method.

Navigating relationships and work

In terms of relationships and maternity, the generations also have quite different perspectives. On the one hand, the EY study found that while the X and Y generations saw income level as the most important factor in terms of deciding whether to have a child (24 and 22 percent), baby boomers looked at the general improvement of their economic situation and the ability to ensure a house for the family (23 and 20 percent, respectively).

Income level, which stopped many of the respondents from starting a family or owning a home (78 percent of the boomers, 64 percent of the Y generation, 59 percent of the X generation), “is still relevant for [Romania],” pointed out Stoian. Financial concerns further caused 14 percent of the X generation and 11 percent of the Y to postpone having a first child, while it led a large majority of boomers (64 percent) to give up on relaxation activities such as hobbies or holidays. The younger generations proved more reluctant to give up the latter, only 39 percent for the Y generation and 42 percent for the X.

Moreover, the Y generation showed to be more likely to change its workplace after the birth/adoption of a child/children, with 23 percent reporting having done so while 38 percent of the boomers said the change had no impact on their professional lives. The two generations also clashed in perceptions in terms of the change in number of weekly worked hours after the birth/adoption of a child/children. More than half of the Y generation (55 percent) said that there was no change in work hours, while 52 percent of the boomers said that the number increased, nearly twice as much as the number of Y and X generation reporting the same (24 and 27 percent, respectively).

What was surprising, however, was that when it came to taking maternity/child rearing leave, 22 percent of the Y generation and 21 percent of the X generation in Romania opted for up to five days. “I know that the border between the professional and personal lives for the digital generations is very thin to non-existent, and I know women who took no break, but the percentage still surprised me,” shared Mihnea.

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