Monday, December 1, 2008

News You Can Use: What sets your Gen X and Gen Y employees a-Twitter?

In collaboration with Editor in Chief Kelley Butler's article in the December issue "Leveraging BlackBerries and buzzwords," EBN conducted its own (albeit unscientific) research to figure out how your Gen X and Gen Y employees best communicate.

Following the model set forth in the original study, published by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, we asked a number of employees what terms they most did (and didn't) identify with.

Meaghan Lynch, second year medical student at Boston University

Disciplined: Very
Carefree: Not so much
Family-Oriented: Very
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Not at all.
Charitable: Very
Optimistic: Very

Other words: Happy, honest, social, motivated, practical



Gina Anderson, researcher at Corporate Executive Board

Disciplined: Yes
Carefree: Somewhat
Family-Oriented: Not very
Hard-working: Yes
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Yes
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Extremely

Other words: energetic, intelligent, intellectual, organized, and conscientious



Alison Noelker, field sales representative at Eli Lilly & Co.

Disciplined: Very
Carefree: Not at all
Family-Oriented: Somewhat
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Somewhat
Technologically Savvy: Very
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Very

Other words: driven, energetic, determined, go-getter, empathetic, loyal



Molly Bernhart, associate editor at Fierce Markets

Disciplined: Somewhat
Carefree: Very
Family-Oriented:
Very
Hard-working: Very
Expensive Taste: Not at all
Technologically Savvy: Somewhat
Charitable: Somewhat
Optimistic: Very

Other words: poised/tactful, creative, principled



Kristina Libby, U.S. Program Coordinator, Global Entrepreneurship Week

Disciplined: very
Carefree: somewehat
Family-Oriented: not yet
Hard-working:
yes
Expensive Taste: relative to my income range
Technologically Savvy: Exceptionally
Charitable: yes
Optimistic: sickeningly so

Other terms: occasionally ambivalent, determined, open minded, fast paced, detail oriented, creative, knowledge hungry, bored with static nine-to-five hours, overachiever



In keeping with the idea that the Gen X and Gen Y audience best respond to messages distributed via Web 2.0 material, EBN has also begun distributing its own messages through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, and a corporate blog, the Employee Benefit News Daily Diversion. If you're looking to get up to speed with your own employees, we'd suggest developing a familiarity with our own materials through these free and easy-to-use channels.

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