Fast Focus
	Employers who want to get the most from the 20-something generation should understand their view of the world.
	This is the best-educated generation in American history, with nearly one third of people ages 25 to 29 earning a bachelor’s degree.
	Employers are learning to retain talented young people whose generation views job-hopping as the norm.

Trophy Generation

The 20-somethings, the most well-educated generation ever, want to succeed and want it all now. How do you deal with that?

By  Tim Logan

Ready or not, they’re coming.

Generation Y. Millennials. Whatever you want to call them, 20-somethings are moving into the workforce in a big way. Like every generation, they bring with them certain tendencies that often mystify older colleagues—from sharing seemingly every detail of their lives on Facebook to their sometimes urgent need for feedback.

At the same time, they’re bringing something else the insurance industry needs: fresh legs. And just in time.

The insurance workforce is aging fast. In 2008, 18% of brokerage employees were 55 or older, according to consulting firm McKinsey. Another 29% were between 45 and 55. The recession and slow recovery have kept some of those people in the workforce longer, but there’s still a lot of experience moving toward the exits.

Glenn Spencer knows it. He’s chief operating officer at Lockton, where one fifth of the 2,700 U.S. employees are due to retire in the next 15 years. Replacing that generation of talent, he says, is “one of the two or three critical challenges” Lockton faces over the next decade.

“We have to,” Spencer says. “If we can’t bring younger people into our company and get them up to speed and effective, we’re not going to be able to serve our clients.”

In other words, Millennials are the future. But if that’s the case, well, who exactly are they?

Two Sides of a Coin

To hear the stereotypes, today’s 20-somethings are disloyal, needy, and—having been reared by parents who tended to emphasize self-esteem—overly impressed with themselves. Oh, and they’re, like, totally hooked on social media, whiling away the workday scrolling through Facebook and tweeting about their awesome vegan lunch.

Do these sound like the kind of people you’d trust with your business? Of course not.