Young professionals of high tech industry about the generation gap

Young committees of Philips, NXP, Vanderlande, ASML, Océ, Thales and VDL together with High Tech NL have initiated a joint collaboration to organize an event for all young professionals within their organizations.  At the Evoluon in Eindhoven the young professionals gathered on the 13nd of April for the second edition of the Young High Tech NL event. The central theme was bridging the gap between generational differences. 

Moderator Marieke Grondstra introduced the central theme by providing results of her research related to generational differences. Why does generation Y have different needs and beliefs than the baby boomers and what can be expected of our future generation Z? Which generations or combination of generations will increase innovativeness and growth within companies? These questions, amongst others, were answered by Marieke.

Willem van der Leegte (CEO VDL) answered questions related to his perception of generational differences during a college tour setup. The 35 year old CEO&President of VDL indicated that he is very lucky to being able to succeed his father, but also has been working hard to prove himself as capable leader of the firm currently consisting of 15.000 employees, distributed amongst 18 companies.

After inspiring plenary talks from Marieke and Willem, the Young professionals were divided into mixed teams to discuss three topics related to generational differences:

1.       Knowledge transfer
2.       Organizational changes
3.       Motivation

Mixed teams discussed these topics based on their experiences, views and possibilities to deal with the challenges related to the topics. The discussions were led by senior professionals of all seven firms that organized the event. Each team discussed every topic and since the senior professionals switched between groups, they could use knowledge gained by previous groups as input for the next group.

Overall, the participants were really enthusiastic about the event, mainly because the topic was both interesting and recognizable. Additionally, learning about other High Tech companies and expanding networks with new interesting people were perceived as beneficial. Do not be disappointed if you were not able to join this year, there will be a High Tech NL event in 2018. Hopefully we will see you next year!

We would like to thank our colleagues Andy Swiebel, Jaap Tijhaar, Gerard Hoekstra and Jan-Egbert Hamming for their contribution as facilitators.

On behalf of the High Tech NL committee,
The YES Board