What is it about Generation Y — the twentysomethings who do not live for work but work to live? And why should employers sit up and take notice of them?

Government statistics indicate that people up to the age of 28 make up about 20 per cent of the workforce, a proportion set to rise as the baby boomer generation retires. But it is only lately that employers have started to realise the importance of this key demographic.

Ambitious and impatient for success, Shaun Orpen, 26, is typical of high-achieving Gen Y. He is actively shaping his career, even if it means making frequent moves.

He says: “In the past seven years I have had four jobs. I started as a trainee insurance broker, moving up the ladder to become a commercial broker, which kept me stretched.”

But then he realised that promotion depended on stepping into “dead men’s shoes”. “I moved to London and switched to software sales. It’s a new product that helps brokers to keep track of clients and to provide them with automated quotes.”

Lamorna Trahair, 23, represents Gen Y’s energy and enthusiasm. She is one of four directors of the League of Adventurists, an offbeat travel company founded by Tom Morgan, which won the Shell LiveWIRE young entrepreneur of year award in 2007. Trahair helps to organise events such as the London to Mongolia rally for small, underpowered cars and an auto-rickshaw tour of India. She enjoys her work.

“We’re a young team — all Generation Ys — and we work to get the job done,” she says. “Some days I might arrive in the office at 8am and work through until 7pm or 8pm and other days, if there’s nothing urgent, I might leave early.”

Flexibility is the order of the day. There are few distinctions between directors and office staff and when there is work to be done everybody mucks in and shares the tasks. Working hours stretch to accommodate directors phoning or e-mailing in the early hours or late at night from far-flung destinations. Marketing is through the social networking site Facebook. “Everyone here gets the chance to travel,” Trahair adds.

A report Generation Y: What They Want from Work, published last April by talentsmoothie, the specialist development consultancy, says Generation Y is “fundamentally different” from its counterparts, Generation X and the postwar baby boomers.

Based on a survey sample of 2,500 respondents, talentsmoothie’s report looks at the UK employment market in relation to Gen Y’s attitudes. Its findings appear to contradict a US labour department survey indicating that a Gen Y would have up to ten jobs before the age of 38. Even so, our own Gen Y is adept at moving on. Fifty-five per cent expects to stay less than two years in their first job, while 44 per cent of second jobs are for five years maximum.

Critics accuse Gen Y of lacking loyalty to an employer and an absence of long-term career goals but this is a misrepresentation, says Sally Bibb, a talentsmoothie director. She adds: “What’s unique about Generation Y is that they are more demanding of an employer than previous generations. They want careers they can feel passionate about and they are digital natives — they fully embrace social networking, blogs and wikis.”

Companies are responding to the Gen Y challenge. Ernst & Young, for example, eleventh in the list, has set up an accelerated leadership programme for about 300 of its early career professionals aged from 25 to 28 to advise partners on workplace issues. Alison Baker, a partner at Ernst & Young, sees a constructive dialogue as helping the firm to gain a competitive advantage.

“Generation Y’s energy and passion for driving change is huge,” she says. “The accelerated leadership programme is producing innovations such as an internal Facebook that pulls together talent and skills from across the organisation.”

Barclays Bank, 32nd in the rankings, is a founder members of a group called the Generation Y Consortium — HR professionals who share intelligence on Gen Y trends.

Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe, head of diversity for the Barclays Group, says: “It’s dangerous to stereotype or make assumptions about Generation Y. Being demanding and ambitious are timeless qualities and we need to value them as individuals.”

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