The generation born in the 1980s and 1990s, comprising primarily the children of the baby boomer and typically perceived as increasingly familiar with digital and electronic technology

Teenagers and twenty-something have been dubbed the Millennial Generation, or simply Millennials.

Generation Y definition

The Millennial Generation is also known as Generation Y, because it comes after Generation X — those people between the early 1960s and the 1980s.

The term Millennials generally refers to the generation of people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. Perhaps the most commonly used birth range for this group is 1982-2000.  

It has also been called the Peter Pan or Boomerang Generation because of the propensity of some to move back in with their parents, perhaps due to economic constraints, and a growing tendency to delay some of the typical adulthood rites of passage like marriage or starting a career

Generation Y sets the historical record for having the most access to material goods thanks to the success of their hard-working Generation X parents.  But Gen Y has also paid the price by having to cope with absentee parents, high divorces rates, and the toll that their faster paced lifestyles is taking on physical health.

Gen Y cohorts are much less receptive to traditional marketing ploys and can easily spot corporate intentions that are not in sync with their own personal values. They’ have “seen it all” through old media channels like television and radio, and they’ have grown up with new channels like the Internet, blogs, and social media.

• Job loyalty, for a long time, was shown by how long you stuck around and paid your dues. Gen Y, on the other hand, says, "I show you love by how hard I work, not how long I stick around."

• Tech savvy
• They are techdependent. They're the generation that's come of age with the explosion of technology.
• Communication and teamwork
• When it comes to communication, you can often count on Gen Yers to spread out the message fast and often. 
• Many Gen Y members function fairly well as a group and as "team players," but some struggle in standing out as individual, assertive leaders.
• Money
• Employers, listen up: Gen Y is talking to each other about the money they are (or aren't) making at your organization. They are comparing how competitive your salary is with your competitors -- and they're not afraid to share their findings.
• Recognition
• Gen Y is a generation of the "there are no losers -- everyone's a winner" mentality. 
• Gen Yers don't care how it gets done --they just want to get it done. And they want to be told they did a good job once they do it; recognition is very important.
• Diversity
• Gen Y doesn't embrace diversity -- they expect it -- and if your company says you believe in diversity, but then a Gen Y worker shows up and all workers look the same -- they will think you're not living up to your diversity message. 
• This generation has grown up with a greater awareness of and comfort with diversity of all kinds. From home lives, to school experiences, to messages absorbed from pop culture, they often don't see what all the fuss is. This can manifest as difficulty in understanding why others struggle with issues around differences.


• Work versus life
• "I love my job, but I love my life more" -- that's something you may hear a lot of Gen Yers say.
• We're increasingly seeing workplace flexibility issues evolving in the workplace, and Gen Y workers in particular (though they're not alone) 
• As mentioned above, Gen Y has no problem with work or with the idea of working hard. They were raised with the imperative to "follow your dreams!", and their job and life may intersect in new ways than we've seen in past generations. "Gen Y," Kesher stressed, "doesn't want a job -- they want a life that hopefully includes a job."
• Being green
• This is the generation that's leading the green movement -- so give them the power to build, make changes, and become leaders in your organization's (existing or non-existing) green movement.