Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Millenials

Designed to Work: Customized
Infrastructure to Best Support Your
Local Industries
Leveraging the Natural and Built
Environment to Attract a Healthy
Workforce
Vernon Gerth, CEcD
City of Franklin, TN
Job Creation or Retention –
Advocate for Place AND Talent:
•
Beyond Roads, Utilities, Buildings, and
Equipment….Employees are the most
valuable resource of all.
•
Tips on collaborating with regional
actors in optimizing your infrastructure.
•
Collaborating with relevant agencies to
implement infrastructure changes to
best compliment your economic
development strategy.
Do people follow jobs
or jobs follow people?
Location Choices – the basic trade-off
Moving to the Suburbs…households still benefit
from moving to the suburbs because workers'
longer commutes are generally compensated
by lower housing prices.
Quality of Life Trends By Generation:

Baby Boomers

Generation X

Generation Y/Millennials
Understanding The Generations
Generation
Year
Other Names
Baby Boomers
1946 to 1964
(Wikipedia)
Generation X
Early 1960s to
Early 1980s
(Wikipedia)
Gen-X, “baby
bust” (“latchkey
kids,” “videogeneration”)
Generation Y
Early 1980s to
Early 2000s
(Wikipedia)
Gen-Y, Millennial
Generation,
Baby Boom Echo,
Echo Boomers
Characteristics of Baby Boomers
Values
•Individual
choice
•Community
involvement
•Prosperity
•Ownership
•Selfactualizing
•Health and
wellness
Attributes
•Adaptive
•Goal-oriented
•Focus on
individual choices
and freedom
•Adaptive to a
diverse workplace
•Positive attitude
Work Styles
•Confidence in
tasks
•Emphasize
team-building
•Seek
collaborative,
group decision
making
•Avoid conflict
Characteristics of Generation X
Values
•Contribution
•Feedback and
recognition
•Autonomy
•Time with
manager
Attributes
•Adaptability
•Independence
Work Style
•Balance between
work and life—
work to live not
live to work
•Flexible work
hours/job sharing
appealing
•See self as a
marketable
commodity
•Technically
competent
Characteristics of Generation Y
Values
Attributes
•Self-expression is
more important than
self-control
•Adapt rapidly
•Fear living poorly—
this is related to
lifestyle enjoyment,
not wealth
•Committed and loyal
when dedicated to an
idea, cause or product
• Environment
• Pollution
• Leisure
• Maintaining balance
•Crave change and
challenge
Work Style
•Want to know how what
they do fits into the big
picture and need to
understand how
everything fits together
•Seek active versus
passive involvement
• Money is not the most
•Seek flexibility in work
important thing.
hours and dress code
• Cultivate personal
•Seek to balance lifestyle
relationships
and work, with more
• They’re not afraid to focus on lifestyle
leave a job if it’s not
•They are more
what they want
interested in preserving
• Are less likely to be
their quality of life, even
obsessed with work
if it means staying at the
same position
Trends in Higher Education

Higher enrollment

More females are attending

Increase in students attending college part-time
than in previous years

More students over the age of twenty-five

Several ‘generations’ in one class at a time
Manulife Corporate Park
Toronto, Canada
• Park & Picnic Area
• Secure Bicycle Parking
• Copy & Printing Services
• On-Site Bank & Dentist
• Restaurant
Offers a variety of fresh bakery items, sandwiches,
soups, and salad. Catering Services available for
corporate meetings.
• Travel Services
Provides corporate and leisure travel services.
Regency Park

Hospital

Shopping

Entertainment – Koka
Booth Amphitheatre

Nature Park – Hemlock
Bluffs Nature Preserve

Healthy Living
• Lifetime Fitness
Center
• Regency Park Fitness
Center

15 minutes from Raleigh
Durham International
Airport.

Jogging Trail to
Symphony Lake
New Albany Business Park
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“The New Albany Company and
the City of New Albany, OH have
crafted a disciplined, forwardthinking approach to planning
that has resulted in an
unprecedented level of services
and amenities”.
Leisure trails
Restaurants
Library
K-12 School
Retail shopping
Fiber optics
Dual feed electric
Auburn Technology
Park

Access to the Auburn University
Library

Hotel and conferencing services
nearby

Easy access to interstate
highways

Local airport that
accommodates small and
medium size jets

Access to talented students and
graduates

Access to university faculty

Collaborative research
opportunities
Lakeview Corporate Park
Power Plant, Railroad, Site Adjacent to
Interstate Highway
Technology Academy
• Employee training facility
• Career and college prep program
Prairie Springs Park / Lake Andrea
•200-acre recreational park
•110-acre spring fed lake/private beach
•130,000 sq. ft. Fitness Center
•Pedestrian and Bike Trail System
Pleasant Prairie Renaissance School
•High quality child care
120 Key Business Class Hotel, Conference
Center and Full-Service Restaurant
Pleasant Prairie Premium Outlets
• More than 90 designer outlet stores
City, County, Regional Essential
Planning Strategies
Comprehensive
Use Plan
Land
Transportation
and
Major Thoroughfare
Plan
Integrated
Water
Resource Plan
Master
Parks and
Greenway Plan
Capital
Plan
Improvement
Never Stop Sharing the Vision
Identify and Engage Community Leaders
• Higher Education Institutions
• K-12 Public and Private Schools
• Service Organizations
• Utility Providers
• Realtor & Builders Associations
• Friends of the Parks
• Visionary organizations
• Affordable and Workforce Housing Advocates
• Local and Regional Planning Departments/Organizations
Visionary
Leadership
Partnerships
Engagement