Summary Of The Tethered Generation By Kathryn Tyler

During her article, “The Tethered Generation,” Kathryn Tyler proposes that millennial’s relationship with technology has had an effect on, “the way millennials work, communicate, make decisions, and interact.” Tyler also notes that because the constant interaction of millennials with friends and family the lines between personal and work life often become blurred causing parents to sometimes intrude upon their children’s professional career (2). Born between 1980 and 2000 the millennials are rapidly entering the work force, filling many of the lower level jobs in companies. This has led Human Resource workers to look for ways to adapt to the unique challenges this new generation poses. As they enter employment millennials and the business’s

While this site is annoying to some and an example of everything that is wrong with Generation Y it actually highlights one of their skills. Millennials are actually very proficient at multitasking. In fact millennials have been multitasking from the time they were young teens. Robert Wendover director of The Center for Generation studies states that millennials can “do their job, surf the web, IM friends, have a chat with colleagues on the side, and pay attention to everything” (qtd. in K. Tyler 6). They have grown up surrounded by technology which gives them access to anything they want at any time. This has led to them occupying their attention with multiple forms of entertainment at once. Obviously this sounds like a negative when you look at it from the point of view of company looking to hire new employees, but Wendover notes that if millennials are getting job done even with all the distractions it’s best not to complain (6). An employee who can focus on multiple projects at one time is someone who would be an asset to any prospective

Schawbel and Bisharat note that “nearly seven out of ten hiring managers say millennials have skills that prior generations do not, and more than eight out of ten believe that millennials are technologically adept”(1). As businesses innovate and grow they come to rely more and more on technology. They need people with the skills and ability to use the new technology that is powering the work force. Millennials are the ideal candidates to fill these roles. The irony of this is as noted by Tyler almost all the problems human resource managers complain about with millennials are technology related (2). So in a way the biggest weakness of millennials is also their biggest strength. Modern businesses do not have a choice they need the technologically dependent millennials to make their companies