MIAMI – It was only five years ago that Miami accounting firm director Richard Berkowitz thought he had a problem during tax season relating to his younger workers. “When I told them it was mandatory they come in on the weekend, they looked at me like I was out of my mind.”

Today, his younger workers are much easier to manage. The recession has brought a shocking reality to the Generation Y professionals who stumped baby boomers when they first entered the work force with their desire for work/life balance over the corner office.

Additional Photos

Michelle Zubizaretta, center, poses with some of her Gen-Y employees at her Zubi Adverstising in Coral Gables, Fla. The Associated Press

Stunned by a barrage of pink slips instead of promotions, Generation Y — people between ages 18 and 30 — has swallowed a piece of humble pie. Those who still have jobs are adopting new workplace attitudes and making themselves more valuable.

They still want a chance at career development, but they are no longer demanding that it happen on the fast track.

“This is the generation that dreamed they wanted to be CEO of a public company but didn’t have an idea what to do to get there,” Berkowitz said. “What’s happened is that realization set in. They’ve discovered you have to be on the ground and working hard to accomplish great things.”

In some ways, this coddled, tech-savvy generation, also known as the millennials, is best positioned to prosper post-recession: They never really trusted corporate America. They know how to scour the Internet for opportunities. They grew up innately adapting to change and embracing fast-paced innovation. As a group with high self-confidence, they are approaching their plight with optimism.

“They are seeing this as a re-evaluation period,” said Tamara Bell, editor-in-chief and president of Y Gen Out Loud, a news platform for political and public policy conversations. “They will tell you, ‘We can do this. We can make the change necessary to get the engine going.’ They see it as an opportunity to change what they were doing and learn something new instead of being in complete panic mode.”

all measures, the newest members of the workforce are bearing the full effect of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. The recession brutalized their income, savings and career-ladder potential.

About 37 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds have been underemployed or out of work during the recession, the highest share among the age group in more than three decades, according to a Pew Research Center study released in February. Even more, the unemployment rate for Gen Y remains much higher than the national rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the overall national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in June, the latest figures available for making that comparison, for Gen Y it was 15.3 percent.

Because of these stark numbers, many of them realize that they can’t make demands for raises, promotions, time off, training and the hottest technologies during a recession.

Cesar Alvarez, executive chairman of law firm Greenberg Traurig, thinks the recession was the wake-up call for this group of workers, much like other generations had defining events that changed their behavior.

“I think their concept of the ultimate safety net has shattered,” Alvarez said. “I’m seeing them much more engaged. I think this was a tipping point that helped the new generation suit up for the game.”

Some seek their goals by working for themselves. For some millennials, there is little to lose in becoming an entrepreneur: no mortgages, no families and not many obligations. They often start businesses on a shoestring or borrow from parents.

Sonny Palta, 23, has started two businesses alone and co-founded two others, including Green Monkey yoga centers in Miami. He won’t even consider working for an employer, nor would many of his peers. “We look at it as unbearable. Work without passion is nothing to me. I’d rather do something I love for bare bones and hope I hit that one idea that makes it big.”

Almost five years ago, the consulting firm Deloitte turned to Stan Smith when it became alarmed by the high turnover of its youngest employees. Smith not only studied this group for the firm, but he also went on to publish his first book, “Decoding Generational Differences: Fact, Fiction … or Should We Just Get Back to Work?”

Smith, now an independent consultant, said the recession has made Gen Y workers more concerned about their future, more compliant to employers’ demands. But he’s believes the attitude change is temporary.

Indeed, this is where employers need to be cautious, said Bell of Y Gen Out Loud. “They will go into a job to the pay bills, but really are looking for something fulfilling. If they can’t find it in the job they take, they will stay until the economy turns, but at some point they are out the door.”

Bell said the best way to keep young workers is make them part of a team. “They want to know their contribution is valued and they are sitting at the table with everyone else.”

Michelle Zubizarreta manages a Hispanic ad agency whose workforce skews heavy toward millennials. She has done exactly what Bell suggests: given her young staffers a seat at the table. “They are motivated by having their ideas heard and feeling like they count. I will call them into a new business pitch, saying, ‘We’ve got to talk to the young consumer. Talk to me about how to do it.’ “While the national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in June, for Gen Y it was 15.3 percent.

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