Is Gen-Y taking over the boardroom?

MUMBAI: Generation Y is impatient, irreverent and impulsive. Yet India Inc is doing its best to understand, manage and cater to them. The reason is clear — age profile of customers and key influencers for companies have been dropping consistently even as it hovers over 45 years for top management and key policy makers.

“We are in some sense over staying in an arena that is obviously yours,” said the chairman of the Stock Exchange Board of India, M Damodaran.

Mr Damodaran was speaking at a seminar on Gen-Y organised by the Department of Management Studies, IIT-Delhi recently. With close to 54% of India’s population under 24 years and an ongoing talent war amid a buoyant economy, India Inc’s attempt to yoke them better is understandable.

The object of the seminar, pointed out Gautam Vinaysheel, professor at the DMS, was “semin, which is the birth of new thought,” in the young management students. Corporate biggies came together at the Leela to relate their experiences with Gen-Y and measures they have employed while dealing with them.

M&M has reaped their benefits first hand. Mahindra Scorpio was developed by a 135-member with an average age of 30 years. “It’s a great opportunity to harness an amazingly powerful source of energy and creativity,” Rajeev Dubey, president HR, M&M said.

While the group’s old economy businesses like manufacturing has just 55% of its employees below 35 years, in most of its new economy businesses like Club Mahindra, Tech Mahindra it is over 85%.

In an age when product cycles are short, customers are getting more demanding and competition more intense and complex, despite all their drawbacks, Gen-Y are the best suited to cater to a company’s business needs. Brought up on the internet, a collaborative mindset, radically diverse with two-thirds of them living in Asia, “Gen-Y are the willing intrepreneurs who have a considerable appetite to take risk,” said Ashok Rout, COO, Bombay Stock exchange. Realising their need and importance, companies are doing all they can to manage them better.

M&M is doing it by things like offering them overseas exposure, making them part of special projects team, instant recognition and reverse mentors. Rohit Bhasin, executive director of PricewaterhouseCoopers said that their company’s in-house magazine helped build a sense of belonging among the young employees. But no matter what, money will always play the big role. “The bottom line is monetary compensation,” says TC Venkatsubramanian, chairman and managing director of Exim Bank.