By Rachel Konrad
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 2, 2000, 4:00 a.m. PT

Richard Kong works for a hot Internet start-up in Silicon Valley, happy with his salary, options, job duties and co-workers.

But what pleases the 22-year-old software engineer more than anything is the prospect of sleeping in, then working until midnight--or whenever the urge strikes--and telecommuting when he can't bear the traffic.

"The No. 1 thing I look for is flexibility," said Kong, a 1999 graduate of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo now working for a networking company. "If the company is not flexible and requires 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, then forget it."

Kong's dismissal of the traditional workweek isn't merely rebellious bravado or a byproduct of America's full-employment economy. Labor experts and sociologists say he reflects the priorities of Generation Y.

The nation's youngest demographic group, born from roughly 1975 to 1988, is just entering the work force en masse. While not necessarily rejecting behemoths like IBM or General Motors where their parents and grandparents spent decades, they're shunning traditional work schedules. Moreover, because the corporate world doesn't hold as much sway over its modern values, the Generation Y work force isn't burdened with the intense fear of job loss that paralyzed its predecessors.

"They don't want to work all day, all night, in an office," said Amanda Freeman, director of research and trends for New York-based Youth Intelligence. "They want to be able to work on the go, from the train or plane, or at a coffee shop. They're trying to find ways they can make their jobs integrate into other parts of their lives."

According to numerous studies and focus groups, Generation Y places more value on flexibility than on any other quality when weighing job offers or determining their career paths. And given the size and impending influence of this group, 9 to 5 may soon get the deep six as a general business rule.

"Employers can ignore them at their own peril," said Leslie Cintron, a research associate at Harvard University's Radcliffe Public Policy Center in Cambridge, Mass., which recently completed a detailed study of generational work habits called "Life's Work." "They won't be able to attract and retain the kind of employees they say they need if they don't offer flexible schedules that these people want."

Although world immigration trends and domestic birth rates will continue to shape the size of the group for the next decade, most demographers agree that Generation Y is poised to become the largest group in U.S. history, representing roughly 80 million people.

By contrast, baby boomers are the largest generation to date, totaling about 76 million. Generation Xers, sandwiched between the boomers and the Y's, number only 41 million.

Also known as "millennials" for coming of age at the turn of the millennium, Generation Y workers are already starting to infiltrate corporate America.

Sun Microsystems chief executive Scott McNealy said recently that by the end of the year, about half of his company's employees will be young workers with seniority of two years or less. Sun has a boot camp program called "Best of the Best," or BOB, to indoctrinate 500 to 1,000 college students each year in a 12-month program.

Why is corporate America making such a fuss over a group of people who just a few years ago were learning how to drive?

For one, they're poised to become the largest consumer group in history. American teenagers spent about $150 billion in 1998 and influenced more than $300 billion in U.S. purchases.

More important to employers is that the career aspirations of Generation Y can provide a sketch of the American workplace in 2010 and beyond, yielding tips about what it will take to lure the most talented young workers.

In addition to flexibility, some Generation Y members say money alone is not as important as working in a fun or interesting situation. Others are planning to spend five or eight years in a given career, then switch jobs or go back to school. And a surprising number are hoping to drop out of the working world altogether when they start raising families.

Young men already view themselves as fathers first and workers second, according to a survey conducted in January and February by Harris Interactive.

Unlike older men who perceived themselves primarily as breadwinners, at least 80 percent of more than 1,000 men aged 20 to 39 interviewed said that having a work schedule that allows them to spend time with their family takes a higher priority than doing challenging work or earning a high salary. Only about a quarter said that having a prestigious job was very important.

According to the study, 82 percent of men aged 21 to 29 say it's "very important" to have a job that leaves time to spend with family. By contrast, only 67 percent of men aged 40 to 49 rate family time as "very important." The gap is even larger for women.

Many believe that the quickest way to flexibility is to be their own boss. That's a stark change from the baby boomers, who tended to work for larger companies before becoming disgruntled and striking out on their own.

Two decades ago, most new entrepreneurs were 35 to 45, according to the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization in Alexandria, Va. Today, people 34 and younger account for more than 40 percent of all business starts. The Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization, a 2-year-old association that helps college students learn about business ownership--with the appropriate initials CEO--already has 57 chapters.

Jawed Karim isn't his own boss, but he did divert from his corporate path to work at a Silicon Valley start-up. The 21-year-old Palo Alto, Calif., resident dropped out of college after summer internships at IBM, Silicon Graphics and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Stock options and a high salary were obvious attractions, but Karim said his real motivation had little to do with money.

"What is most important to me about a job is that it is cutting-edge," said Karim, who still has senior standing at the University of Illinois. "Whoever I work for must be a worldwide leader in the field they specialize in."

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