Supervising and Empowering Generation Y and Z Cybersecurity Employees Through an Actionable Framework for Worker Engagement

A leading consulting and cybersecurity research firm, Consulting Ventures, predicted that cybercrime will cost $6 trilling annually by 2021. That amount is a significant increase from the $3 trillion in 2015. According to growing estimates, there could be as many as 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2021. This has created a need for new expertise and workers in cybersecurity and information security from Generation Y and Generation Z. These professionals have different career interests from previous generations in terms of work environments and cultures. These younger professionals are a product of new degree programs that have been newly developed in the last 10 years. But in order to attract, recruit, and retain this younger generation of professionals with these critically needed workforce skills, managers must consider alternative management approaches that look to empower, energize, and engage this new and different generation of employees instead of the use of micromanaging and controlling antiqued performance management approaches.