Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner^

Not

The Demographic Time-Bomb

Jeffrey B. CatrettDean, Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne

The Generations• War Generation

– Born ca. 1920 - 1945• Post-WWII Baby Boomers

– Born ca. 1946-1963• Generation X (Baby Busters)

– Born ca. 1964 - 1980• Generation Y (Baby Boom Echo)

– Born ca. 1981 - ...• Europe = app. 4 years later ?

Some Statistics

Source: Economist

Some Statistics

Source: Economist

Some Statistics

40’s 50’s 60’s 70’s 80’s

- $

Some Statistics

Facing Near-Permanent Workforce Shortages

Some StatisticsPopulation Distribution

Asia Europe / Ex USSR

Africa

Latin AmericaNorth

AmericaOceania

Source: WTO

Some Statistics

Outsourced

Insourced

Hospitality Globalization

7 %37 %

Source: US Dept. of Labor

Some Statistics

49% of Unemployed in US Unemployed > 10 Years

Source: US Dept. of Labor

An Inherent Problem Analyzing Generations

Life

Stage

G e n e r a t i o n

Baby Boomers as Workers

• Idealistic; believe in working their way up• Relatively loyal; slow to change• Interested in benefits, including travel benefits, although

other benefits more important• Moving from formality to comfort because of advancing

age; still ambitious; finance and marketing savvy• Some indications of a yearning for earlier idealism• Hold positions in hierarchy and therefore trust in it

Source: Compiled Observations, EHL Degree Dissertation: Tony Chen

Generation X as Workers

• Distrustful• Opportunistic / disloyal• Interested in free time and money more than position and

travel, meals, etc. : seeking work / life balance• Informal, comfortable, with a short attention span;

technologically savvy but childish• Power and hierarchy leave them unimpressed

Source: Compiled Observations, EHL Degree Dissertation: Tony Chen

The Emerging Generation Y

• Young and still developing; very little spending power, very hard to generalize

• Possess some of their parent’s early idealism – “retro”• Share work / life balance issues with Gen. X• Even greater identity and recognition issues than Gen. X :

interested in position and advancement more than Gen. X• Much of the same impatience as Gen. X, but somewhat

more confident• Coming of age during an economic recession: more willing

to accept economic realities than Gen. X for nowSource: Research conducted by the Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Chess Partnerships and EHL

The War for TalentThe Old Reality

People need companiesMachines, capital, and geography

are the competitive advantageBetter talent makes some

differenceJobs are scarceEmployees are loyal and jobs are

securePeople accept the standard package

they are offered

The New RealityCompanies need peopleTalented people are the

competitive advantageBetter talent makes a huge

differenceTalented people are scarcePeople are mobile and their

commitment is short termPeople demand much more

Source: Michaels, Handfield-Jones, Axelrod, The War for Talent

Can Hospitality Meet the Needs of the Emerging (Smaller) Generations ?

How Will We Address the Issues ?

IM Profitability

ProcessHR Practice