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In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast we will discuss Generation Y, and how they will change life as we know it as both Employees and Clients.

They are spoiled, self-centered, covered in tatoos, piercings and electronics. They are high maintenance, but luckily also high performers - when they want to be. A lot of them live at home, or at least see their parents once a week. This is our future.

They are a result of baby boomers rejecting their parents' traditionalism, and attempt to instill free thought, free expression, and self-esteem into their children.

They wanted it, they got it. If Gen Y-ers don't like a job, they quit, since the worst that can happen is that they go back and live at home. That would be the equivalent to a death sentence in my day and age (20 years ago), but now, it's accepted. Parents even encourage it, or so I'm told - possibly out of left-over guilt for working while they were a kid, and making up for it now?

They are accepted as they are, for the most part, since 64 million boomers are expected to retire at the end of the decade.

That leaves a huge employment gap, and if a Gen Y-er is proficient enough, leaves a lot of bargaining room for the kid. However, corporations aren't waiting to bargain - they are preparing ahead of time to woo and court and cajole the Gen Y-ers...AND THEIR PARENTS. Yes, their parents, who may or may not attend the interview or meeting with their child!

Things definitely are different today - my parents told me clearly that putting me through college discharged any obligation they had for me hence forth.

I must admit, I am raising definite Gen Y-ers. However, as much as I couldn't imagine turning my children away if they needed a place to go, I WANT my children to be independent enough to live on their own and learn the skills to do it successfully. The longer they live at home, the longer the realities of life get postponed.

Maybe it's just a return to the 50s with the extended family?

Whatever it is, it is WEIRD to me, but makes total sense in the scheme of things. So let's talk about what we can learn about this generation that will be working for us and buying from us. Let's understand them, so we can come along side them. Just don't ask me to get a tatoo. (smile)

Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing & Online Community Magazines

P.S. Sorry for the lapse in podcasts - been swamped, and will be at the National Association of Women Business Owners conference next weekend, so I may lapse then as well. Just a heads up. Thanks for being patient with me!