Next year, the first baby boomers will be turning 50. And behind them is a generation that promises to look at the chemical industry from a fresh perspective.
Most sources say this younger generation, dubbed Generation X after a 1991 novel by Douglas Coupland, consists of those born between 1965 and 1975, making them between 20 and 30 years old. Other observers include those as old as 35 and as young as 14. While no precise definition exists, Census Bureau data indicate that Generation X, defined as people between the ages of 20 and 34, make up 22% of the total U.S. population.
Attitudes may be a better differentiator than birth dates. Compared with their baby boomer coworkers, Generation Xers are generally more open to new ways of doing things - an attribute that will serve them well at a time when, in the midst of industrywide reengineering programs and quality initiatives, change seems to be the only constant.
And now that Xers have begun to infiltrate management ranks at chemical companies across the U.S., they are poised to make some changes of their own. Like many young people in generations before them, they have little patience for bureaucracy. But what sets them apart is their willingness to speak out against it.
More educated about the power of computer technologies, they are encouraging the use of e-mail and the Internet to help their companies become more competitive. And some argue that Xers, questioning the necessity of dressing in uncomfortable, expensive business attire, have been the driving force behind the adoption of casual dress codes at an increasing number of companies across the industry.
Xers are also pushing for more policies that will allow them to better balance their work and personal pursuits, having seen the price that baby boomers have paid for trying to have it all. "Whether it be flextime to attend night classes in pursuit of an advanced degree, or a part-time classification to care for an elderly parent or young child, we are implementing flexible options as appropriate while still being able to carry out our business objectives," says Jerry Fultz, manager of employee relations, development, and human resources at Phillips Petroleum.
Although Xers prize their personal time, they are equally as passionate about their time at work. Their greatest motivators: constant challenge and winning the respect of their peers and supervisors. And 20- and 30-something professionals are generally savvy in managing their careers. Having witnessed massive downsizing programs across the industry even during their brief careers, Xers don't expect to remain at the same company for 30 years as their parents might have. Instead, many Xers already understand firsthand the need to be flexible and industrious in the job market.
For example, some Xers took their skills to other industries when job openings in the chemical business were sparse. When Arthur E. Orscheln, 31, now the quality services supervisor at Phillips' Houston chemical complex in Pasadena, Texas, graduated in 1986, only a quarter of his chemical engineering classmates had jobs. Although chemical companies were not hiring at the time, he was able to find a job with a consumer products giant. Similarly, upon completing his chemical engineering degree in 1986, John F. Kill, 32, now normal &agr;-olefins product specialist at Chevron Chemical, put his dream of working in the chemical industry on hold for a bird-in-the-hand job at a major snack food company.
Given today's work environment, "Xers have a more realistic view of employment," says Wendy Spivack, 28, a human resources associate at Union Carbide's Taft, La., plant. They are not expecting as many job guarantees such as employment for life. Loyalty today "is defined more by the quality of their relationship with the company rather than the tenure of that relationship. If [Xers] quit a job or are laid off, they don't see it as a severing of a contract as preceding generations might, because they recognize that no contract really ever existed."
"The social contract is and always has been a myth," says Kendall Justiniano, 27, senior process engineer at Dow's bulk pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Midland, Mich. Instead, it's really a trading issue, he says. "I add value to my employer in exchange for a wage," which includes base pay, benefits, raises, and other fringe benefits. "The trade must be equitable in both my estimation and my employer's. If it's not, either party has the right to terminate the trade at any time. Neither party can afford to be blindly loyal. I need to constantly evaluate my value on the open market."
In fact, Xers are more likely to take career risks and to job hop than boomers are. "People are viewing themselves as individual markets and continually looking for better opportunities," says Julie A. Babcock, 34, who manages Xers and boomers as superintendent of Dow Chemical's anions resins plant in Midland. "They may stay at a company only five years and then move on to a new opportunity."
Changing jobs and companies more frequently no longer carries the stigma that it once did. In fact, companies recognize it as a reality of the times, and they are developing programs that make transitions easier.
For example, Union Carbide recently launched a formal mentoring program under which all new professional hires, many of whom are Xers, are assigned someone who will show them the ropes, says Spivack. Basically, a mentor might coach the new employee on what's valued in the corporation, familiarize them with the Carbide culture, help them to deal with a challenging supervisor or peer, or listen to a dry run of a presentation. With people changing jobs more frequently, they need more help getting up to speed at a company to reach a productivity plateau sooner. Also, says Spivack, "I think it highlights that Carbide is dedicated to creating an enabling environment where each new hire is given the best opportunity to succeed."
Generation X is nearly
one-quarter of population.
Recognizing that they can no longer promise employment for life, companies are looking for other ways to provide security to employees. Lonza, for instance, is investing in the training of its employees so that they have greater career opportunities within the company and the best chance in the job market should business reasons require them to find another employer," says Peter Sage, Lonza's vice president for human resources. "Ultimately, the best form of job security today is to have marketable skills," he adds.
For its part, Dow Chemical recently began revamping its employee benefit programs that until now were set up to fully reward people only after they had spent their entire career at the company. "With dual-career families, downsizing programs, and increased mobility, we recognize that we're clearly not living in that kind of environment anymore," says Catherine Maxey, 29, communications manager for human resources issues at Dow.
For example, starting in January 1996, Dow will unveil a pension plan designed "to more equitably reward people for the contributions they make throughout their career" and not penalize them for leaving Dow before retirement. Under the old plan, if someone quit at age 45 to start a business or go to another employer, there would be very little pension benefit. But now, someone leaving Dow at midcareer can get "a very fair pension benefit" that either can be deferred to age 65 or taken immediately," says Maxey. And under the new plan, the pension benefit rises substantially even for people in their late 20s and early 30s, she notes.
Companies have begun to revamp their promotion policies, too, to reflect the diminishing number of lifetime career employees. Union Carbide, for example, "is moving away from a culture where seniority was heavily emphasized as a criterion for promotion," says Spivack. "Instead, we are moving to an environment where the best players - no matter what their tenure - will be the ones who are considered for advancement."
Even while more Xers are being considered for promotions, there are not as many opportunities to pounce on. Companies have pruned their layers of middle management, creating a flatter, more efficient organizational structure. As a result, Generation Xers' definition of career success is much different than that of upwardly mobile boomers. Career development and growth must now be measured as much in terms of lateral movement or increased responsibilities as in vertical movement, says Spivack.
Recognizing that there are fewer rungs on today's corporate ladder, companies are encouraging employees to rotate into different jobs and, increasingly, to participate on teams to stem burnout, bring job satisfaction, and develop new skills. Teams, in particular, provide a valuable forum for "gaining the exposure and career enrichment that employees may not be able to get in today's flatter organization," says Sage.
Even in the face of strong competition for advancement and diminished job security, Xers in the chemical industry are more likely to challenge their superiors than previous generations. "If younger people see phoniness or false pretense in a decision - if it's not going to add value to the business - they question it," says Fred Broussard, quality improvement manager for Chevron Chemical's olefins and derivatives division. "Back when it was all us white males, [management] talked and [employees] listened. The 'Yes, sir' mentality was more prevalent than it is today." In contrast, he points to a recent town hall meeting - informal employee gatherings in which Chevron's upper management provides updates on corporate plans and fields questions - in which "a few minority women stood up and asked some tough questions and made strong statements. I was struck by the fact we would never have seen that at a meeting 20 years ago."
Although professionals in their 20s and 30s tend to be very career-oriented, they're less likely to just "take the company line and run with it," says Phillips' Orscheln. "We are more open to telling our bosses when we think something ought to be done differently. Baby boomers, I think, were probably more likely to just keep their mouths shut. Xers have their own ideas, they want them to be heard, and they're not afraid to have them shot down."
Unlike generations before them, Xers realize that organizations "don't have all the answers, and that employees don't have to defer judgment to some nebulous company line," says Dow's Justiniano. At the risk of being labeled as antiestablishment or idealistic, says Justiniano, "I feel I must think for myself. Companies succeed when everyone takes responsibility for their own judgments. I'm paid to think. And anyone who asks me for blind faith or blind loyalty is asking me to stop thinking."
If he and the company differ widely on an issue, he says, "then I've got a significant conflict to resolve. Like many Xers, I get frustrated when I see others in the company wasting time on arbitrary issues or making poor judgments rather than doing something really productive. Bureaucracy and complacency drive me crazy!"
Last month, with a dynamic and no-nonsense style characteristic of his generation, 32-year-old Peter Huntsman, president and chief operating officer of Huntsman Corp. (the former Texaco Chemical), led the negotiation of an unprecedented six-year contract with 11 unions. By pulling together all the unions around one bargaining table, Huntsman was able to draw up a contract over the course of only two meetings, moving the company about three months ahead of the rest of the industry.
"If [the unions] were still working for Texaco we wouldn't be talking about a six-year contract. We see the company's [Huntsman] open-door policy worked very well," says Larry Sartain, international representative of the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union.
Huntsman adds: "We were able to see eye to eye on most of the issues. There are no egos to placate here. We have common interests in safety, profitability, and the development and well-being of our people."
Observers see a variety of reasons to explain why Xers are more apt to challenge the status quo than preceding generations. Some say that the oldest Xers remember Watergate - a political event that shook Americans' confidence in their leaders. "We're leery of our leaders - we're going to question," says Huntsman.
Others argue that Xers - having been bombarded with information from various media since they were infants - have a tendency to draw from many sources and authorities before making a decision. "They've had the benefit of more information, more education, more from television, more from computers," says Broussard. "So when they address a problem or issue, they are more likely to step back and say, 'Wait a minute. Let's look at all the facts.' "
And Xers are privy to more corporate information than previous generations were at the same age. "In the past, corporate information was always dealt out carefully," says Broussard. "It came from the top and many documents were carefully stamped as confidential. Today, tools like e-mail and voice mail have helped to break down that barrier. Today, I can freely communicate with people halfway around the world on a daily basis, but 15 or 20 years ago, I'd have to be careful with that. We've become more open."
Young people seem more comfortable with that openness. "Xers are less inhibited by the corporate organizational structure," says Broussard. "If they need an expert opinion on something, even from someone much higher in the corporate organizational chart, they'll go right to where they need to get the information and get it."
Sheri Roberts, 29, product manager for detergent products at Shell Chemical, agrees. "Younger people are not as intimidated by senior management as older managers seem to be. In fact, a lot of the Xers that I work with are very comfortable talking to senior management. You don't hear, 'Oh, I better do this or say that because so-and-so is in the room.'"
Some Xers say they may be more willing to risk speaking out because they are part of a dual-career family that isn't solely dependent on their individual incomes. "We know that companies are laying off employees more often, but many of us can also say that if we were put out on the street tomorrow, we could continue to pay our bills at home because we can rely on our spouse's income," says Orscheln, a father of a one-year-old and a seven-year-old and whose wife is also a chemical engineer. "The second income opens you up to take calculated risks and make constructive moves that you think will help the company and your career."
Although some Xers report that their confrontations make their supervisors uneasy, most say that their ideas are welcomed, especially when they are expressed in a healthy, constructive way. Managers today know there's a real danger inherent in everyone thinking the same way in a company, Dow's Maxey points out. "When a group of professionals get together, especially in a large company like Dow, people tend to have group-think," says Maxey. "But there's a real downside to that. You risk losing innovation and creativity, and that can result in being less competitive in the marketplace."
And the need of Xers to speak out dovetails nicely with new corporate policies ushered in by reengineering programs and quality initiatives - to bring decision-making down to the lowest levels. At Union Carbide, for instance, "Management wants to empower us to make decisions and reevaluate work processes so that we operate more efficiently," says Leah Patterson, 31, project scientist for acrylates R&D at Carbide's South Charleston, W.Va., technical center. "So our willingness to speak up about our concerns falls in right along with that type of thinking."
The proliferation of dual-career families has pushed companies to move toward employee-friendly programs, "but it's not the single driver," says Dow's Babcock. They see that "people today are interested in more free time and have a more defined sense of their personal values."
Jon Bryant, 26, a petrochemical specialist in customer and distribution services for Chevron Chemical's olefins and derivatives division, believes that companies have become more flexible simply because Xers have demanded it.
But those in charge of implementing these programs have found it hard to sell the concepts to many in upper management. Baby boomers and older generations have had a strong view that the stockholder is the only stakeholder and so resources should be focused there, says Kill. This is changing as Chevron has acknowledged through its mission and vision that customers and employees are equally important. As part of Chevron's Human Dimension Team - a cross-functional, multilevel team that formulates strategies to make Chevron Chemical a "great place to work" - Kill is still frustrated by the need to continually disprove assertions that employee-oriented programs will negatively impact the short-term bottom line.
For example, some managers objected to Chevron's recently adopted 9/80 workweek in which employees work 80 hours in nine days, taking off every other Friday. They worried that this policy would pull too many employees away on Fridays, leaving customers high and dry, and thereby hurting business. However, Chevron's normal &agr;-olefins sales team conducted a study that showed that customer relationships actually improved as a result of the 9/80 program, says Pete Erickson, normal &agr;-olefins market development supervisor. "In the nine months since going to the 9/80 schedule, we've increased our face-to-face customer contacts by nearly 20%," says Erickson. The group is also telephoning customers more frequently than before the 9/80 program began.
The study shows what many quality programs pronounce and Xers take for granted: that improving the quality of life for employees means they are happier and more productive, and that's going to drive the whole corporation toward a better bottom line, says Broussard. "It hasn't been easy for some older Chevron executives to adopt these new programs that require them to look at the business differently. So, they deserve a great deal of credit for having the foresight to make these changes," he adds.
And companies realize, too, that they need employee-friendly programs to continue to attract and retain good young people who are the future of their company. Patterson applauds Carbide's adoption of flexible work hours at the South Charleston technical center where she works. "I would be pleased if Carbide offered part-time work or work-at-home options," which she believes that many employees, regardless of age, would want to participate in, depending on their personal situation. Recently married, Patterson thinks ahead to a time when she and her husband might want to start a family. "At that point," she says, "it would be nice to be able to structure my work schedule to allow me to have more time with the children while they are young."
Whether they aspire to have children or not, Xers value their personal time. "I don't think Generation Xers are going to be quite as willing to make the same sacrifices that their father or mother made in their careers. They are looking for a more balanced life," says Lonza's Sage.
Dow's Maxey adds: "I don't think Xers buy into the 'have it all' mentality the way baby boomers might have two or three decades ago. Having learned from their experiences, I think we're savvy enough to realize that everything is a trade-off and it's all about balance."
Toward that end, Xers generally reject the notion of staying late at the office or coming in on weekends just to impress the boss - something Sage remembers doing as a young employee. Xers are willing to put in long hours if the job requires it, "but once the work is done, it's time to relax," says Scott B. Harvey, 28, research engineer in Lonza's R&D department.
Generation Xers are very careful about scheduling their personal and leisure time. They figure that if they have to work hard, then they want to enjoy pricey cars and new homes. And scheduling a nice vacation is a priority, says Maxey, who adds that she makes time for a Caribbean scuba-diving trip once a year. "I don't know anyone my age that loses weeks and weeks of vacation time," Maxey says. "In contrast, I've met a number of over-50 Dow employees who brag that they have not taken a vacation in years or that they have not missed a day of work for being sick. That's something people my age just can't understand. What good are you at your desk if you're deathly ill? The point is performance, not attendance."
And Xers are less likely than previous generations to mix work and pleasure. Orscheln attributes the shift to the predominance of dual-career families. "In many cases, the wife is no longer at home to get everything done, so men have to share in much of the work. It's not realistic to think I can work until 6:30 PM and then go have a drink with coworkers all the time. Instead, the kids need to be picked up from day care and Mom's got a meeting at school or Dad's got a men's club meeting at church and Mom's going to feed the kids."
Huntsman observes, too, that the days of entertaining customers with lavish and lengthy dinners followed by nightclub entertainment are over. "I consider myself a workaholic. I don't do much besides work and spend time with my family," which includes heavy involvement in the Mormon church, he says. "I don't belong to a country club to entertain customers, and I haven't pursued interests that would take me away from my work and family on a regular basis."
Huntsman believes he is not an exception. He notes that other young people within the Huntsman companies are equally devoted to their work and families. "Maybe the pendulum is finally swinging back toward families after having swung too far the other way in the sixties and seventies," he says.
Orscheln, who admits he is "conservative," has the same hunch. "Generation Xers were steeped in an educational system that came out of the 1960s that promoted liberal concepts. Now I see a lot of 30-something Xers who are waking up and saying, 'This is nuts.' We need to go back to a more conservative stance and promote traditional family values."
One part of Xers' 1960s upbringing that they have held onto may be a disdain for racial and sexual prejudice. This generation was raised in an era when closer contact between races was deliberately encouraged - with the lowering of immigration barriers, the desegregation of schools and neighborhoods, the shunning of racial epithets in public, the introduction of multicultural school curricula, and the appearance of multiracial programming in the media, say Neil Howe and William Strauss in their book, "13th Generation: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?" The book is a reference to Xers as the 13th generation since the Constitution was ratified.
As a result, it's not surprising that Xers are generally more comfortable with diversity in the workplace than preceding generations might have been. "If someone comes up to me in the hall and tells me a joke with a racial or sexual slur in it, it irritates me," says Orscheln. Adds Shell's Roberts, for Xers, "diversity is the norm - something we take for face value. It's not something we've had to adjust to."
And younger men seem more at ease working alongside women than their older colleagues do. "More Xers grew up with mothers who worked outside the home and sisters and female friends who went on to higher education to infiltrate the traditionally male-dominated fields, like science and engineering," says Carbide's Spivack.
Kill points out that women made up 29% of his chemical engineering class, whereas 20 years ago, women might have represented only a few percent. "I see the diverse workforce as a natural extension of the way I grew up."
Believing that education and job opportunities are now available to a diverse population and that the playing field has become more level, "I don't think most Xers buy into extreme affirmative action and other programs that needlessly tip the scales," says Kill.
Orscheln adds: "I believe that in today's world, companies must err on the side of equal opportunity. As a result, your potential to land choice assignments and win promotions may be better as a woman or a minority. I think most Xers just want to be treated equally [and be judged] on their performance rather than their race or gender."
Xers believe, says Kill, "that the cream of the crop - the best qualified individuals - will succeed regardless of race or gender."
Younger Generation Xers also tend to be generally more at ease with using computers than older Xers and preceding generations. Engineers in the baby boomer generation are more likely to pull out a piece of graph paper to get a quick and dirty analysis of data, whereas Xers might "dump data onto a spreadsheet and slap a chart up," Orscheln contends. "That allows you to identify trends more quickly so you can begin running experiments that might prove our theories."
Lonza's Harvey notes that his manager "still likes to put notes in my box rather than e-mail me."
Still, resistance remains high to new on-line programs such as an electronic employee newsletter that Maxey's department launched one year ago. "The newsletter allows employees to log in at any time and get more real-time news rather than wait until we can assemble information and mail it out to them. According to a survey we did, employees love the electronic version of the newsletter, but some managers don't want to believe that. They would rather get their news in the mail than have to rely on their office professionals to print it out and get it to them."
The next step will be widespread corporate use of the Internet, Maxey predicts. Xers are really interested in using the Internet to do market research and competitive analysis, she says. The problem is that senior management, which decides what kind of resources can go into these programs, just really doesn't understand what the Internet is all about, she adds. "If you've never cruised it, if you're not computer literate, you can't see the possibilities. So I think it is going to be up to the young people to help today's upper management see the information superhighway as an indispensable business tool."
Xers also look forward to a day when they will be the top decisionmakers in the industry, with the power to harness the computer technology for which they have a great appreciation. At the same time, young people today seem destined to bring some very human issues to the table as tomorrow's leaders.
"Under the leadership of Generation X, I believe chemical companies will be committed to making a profit just as they are today," says Chevron's Bryant. "But, I believe that there will be more concern for people and their happiness."
Carbide's Patterson hopes that Xers will remain color-blind. "Diversity," she says, "will be a way of life."
Changing the culture of the industry "won't come easy," Bryant says, "but I believe Generation Xers will see [the overall satisfaction of their employees] as a priority and work to make it happen."
Open communication - both inside a company and around the industry - will be the norm in business, Xers predict. "The consensus decision-making process involving employees is very beneficial to Chevron today, but it has been somewhat painful to those managers who progressed upward over the past 20 years using more autocratic methods," says Broussard. But Xers, in contrast, have a penchant for openness that makes involving others in decisions seem very natural to them, he says.
That's certainly true at Huntsman Corp. In the past, when a senior executive came out with a decision, it was a final decision, Huntsman acknowledges. "And, right or wrong, it was their employees' job to make it look right at the end of the day." But he says he would be "very disappointed with our people if I proposed a major change and they did not question it. In the end, I expect total support for what I am implementing, but I also expect some open-minded conversation and discussion on that issue before it becomes final."
Huntsman also predicts that the post-baby boomer generation will be more willing to work in joint ventures and partnerships with competitors. One of the problems in the industry today is that each company operates as an island, he says. "I look at four ethylene plants within a mile of one another. We've all got our own pipeline systems and our own storage and dedicated maintenance crews. It's like having four airlines serve Houston at four different airports. So as I meet with my compatriots at these companies, I am compelled to ask: 'Why don't we combine services? Why don't we combine plants?'"
Despite a more open and friendly demeanor, few predict that Xers will be
less ambitious than their predecessors. "I'm anxious to see how the younger
generation's tenacity and aggressiveness will manifest itself in the business
world," says Huntsman. With massive downsizing programs and constant changes
in business processes, only the fittest will likely prosper in the chemical
industry. "Dealing with the kind of uncertainty that exists in the industry
today makes people fight pretty hard for what they have," says Huntsman. "By
the time they reach the top, they're going to be very tough competitors."
[ACS Home Page]
[ACS Publications Division Page]