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What defines Gen Y? /12Before we start talking about Gen Ys as though they come fromanother planet, it’s important to know how they grew up—and theimpact this has had on their approach to work.One of the key differences between growing up in the mid-1980s through to the 1990sand the 2000s (as opposed to previous decades), has been the way in which childrenhave experienced self-directed play and, more importantly, risk and freedom.Many studies and articles have discussed the increased emphasis during recent decadeson the following elements of parenting and education:• risk aversion• positive feedback• adult or parental supervision during play, then during school and now at workYes, we need constantfeedback, that’s part of whowe are, and it’s part of whatwe’re used to from postingthings on social media.Tools like Facebook are justso powerful. Through them,I’m exposed to the details ofhundreds of people’s livesevery second of the day.I’m constantly seeing howthey’re progressing and itmakes me reflect on myown life and ask myself,‘How can I be better?’”Freelance director, Australia(i.e. helicopter parenting).Fundamentally, these parenting and educational trends have changed the way peoplenow behave in the workplace. And, while older workers have been trained to focus onissues of fairness and uniformity in their management style, in many ways this reinforces(rather than bridges) the generational divide.