Unemployment is at a record low and employers are waging a war to attract and retain talent. Today's employee has different career expectations than they did in the past. Employers need to understand changing employee expectations if they're going to win the war for talent.

The workforce comprises four discrete groups; Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y.

Veterans:

Veterans were born in 1948 or earlier. Believing in "command and control" style of work, they grew in a time when the man was the breadwinner in an era pre-dating the principle of equal pay for equal work.

Baby Boomers:

Born between 1949 and 1959 Boomers grew up in a time of hope, idealism and unparalleled prosperity. They grew up on a diet of hard work equals success. Social changes like feminism and civil rights brought promises of new opportunity. Boomers paved the way for equal work for equal pay.

Generation X:

Born between 1960 and 1976, Generation X distrusts authority and "the establishment". Their parents had "jobs for life" but X'ers witnessed good times turn bad and hard work result in redundancy. X'ers value opportunities to develop themselves and develop marketable skills to ensure their job security.

Generation Y:

Generation Y were born after 1977. They're the "Net Generation" growing up exclusively in the digital age. They don't know a world without computers, let alone a world without colour TV! They view many different forms of family life as normal and more than any generation before them, they're comfortable with peers of different ethnicity. For Generation Y, change is not about upheaval; change is a constant - change represents an increased emphasis on self, personal skills development, comfort with change, and a different view of what is a long time in terms of career.

What does it all mean?

Generational differences must shape how we attract, motivate and retain talent. Generational differences mean employees will not pursue one career path within a single organisation. It also means there's a real need to deliver on part time, flexible, creative work arrangements at all levels of the organisation. We need to ensure we have routine honest and constructive feedback mechanisms in our organisations. We should pay for performance and nothing else - paying people "to turn up" lacks leadership integrity and neither Gen X nor Y will tolerate that. Organisations must ensure that the people charged with the leadership of human beings actually know how to lead. We need to foster a culture of continual learning and skills development. And finally, we need to listen to our employees.

This is what the war for talent is all about.