Generation Y - A Wider Focus Please

I have been reading the recent debate about recruiting Generation Y with great interest and an increasing sense of frustration. I have great respect for experts such as Andy Headworth, who talk a lot of sense and make a lot of valid suggestions about the issues that companies need to tackle in relation to managing their Gen Y workforce. However, there in lies my problem. The debate centres around what companies should be doing to attract and manage employees of a certain age. NO STOP, sorry but companies should be taking these suggestions on board in relation to employees of all ages.

The kind of issues that are associated with Generation Y are;

• A need to respected by their employers. I'm an awful long way from being Gen Y, but if my employer doesn't respect me, I'm looking for another job. Fortunately I have a great employer, so no issue there!
  
• They want a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. Again, in middle age, so do I. If I don't understand why I am doing something, how can I optimise what I am doing to achieve maximum results?
• Young people expect to be coached through problems not just told what to do. Well I may be half way to my pension but if you coach me on the best way to tackle a problem rather than letting me find my own way, aren't you developing me and therefore getting best value moving forward? Surely thats good management?
  
• Social Responsibility is a key issue, and has always been a key issue for young people. Just because human nature means most of us become more temperate with age, to suggest that social responsibility is not a major issue for all ages is hugely patronising.
  
• They are entrepeneurial. This is very true and the success of Young Enterprise is testament to that, but are you really telling me that the likes of Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and many, many others are born of a generation that wasn't?
  
• Gen Ys want to be challenged. Hello, me again!
• Generation Y expect potential employers to have interactive websites with Social Networks, Blogs, Forums etc that they can interact with. I am a bit long in the tooth and cynical to expect these things, but sure as hell if a potential employer has them then they are more likely to attract my talents than one that hasn't.
  

Companies should absolutely take the advice of experts such as Andy, but apply them to their whole workforce. Their are two main reasons for doing this;

• Regardless of whether you consider Generation Y to be suffering from spoilt brat syndrome or not, if you consider treating a section of your workforce differently you will alienate the rest of your workforce and lose your best talent. However this should not be used as a reason not to act, but to implement change across your whole workforce.
• The sort of measures that are being proposed to attract and retain Generation Y will be equally attractive to Gen X, Baby Boomers etc. and help you attract and retain the best talent across the board.

As an industry lets lose the Gen Y tag and adopt a Gen Everyone tag instead.