“If our generation has a mantra, it’s just to live our lives and let history pass its own judgment. We’ll have blogged the truth about it anyway.” – Nick Armstrong
I’m young. I’m inexperienced. I’m a slacker. I’m entitled. I have a short attention span. I can’t hold down a job.
At least, that’s how my elders see me – a member of Generation Y.
But that’s far from how I see the majority of my generation. We’re in a tough spot right now. Most of us who are lucky enough to have jobs don’t like those jobs and those who don’t are finding job searching impossible. Although we’re ready and willing to contribute, we’re faced with Baby Boomers who don’t understand us and Generation X, who’s stuck between two generations and thinks we’re trying to take their jobs.
The Stereotypes
I keep coming across articles that try to define Gen Y as some sort of anti-work culture. Granted, most Gen Ys are pretty young and mostly inexperienced, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what we’re doing or that we don’t have goals of our own. Sometimes I think the older generations forget that they had to start out somewhere, too.
There are a lot of stereotypes out there, everything from “we’re the smartest generation” to “we’re the laziest generation,” all of which only make it easier to discriminate. The definitive line between where Gen X stops and Gen Y begins ranges anywhere from 1975 to 1985 through 2000.
I’m not saying there aren’t slackers among us. I know some of them firsthand. There are those who grew up having everything handed to them by their parents – Gen Xs or Baby Boomers who were able to make it and wanted their children to have the best of everything. These Gen Ys always have the newest material things, their parents probably paid for college and they may have even walked into their first job without even having to try, just because they knew the right people. But I don’t think that handful of people should define my generation. There are many of us who have always had to work hard for what we want.
Change (Or move over, old farts)
Most people, no matter what generation they’re a part of, are scared of change, and there’s no doubt society has changed during our time. Because of this, some older generations see Gen Ys as a threat. Gen Ys are used to having information at the tip of their fingers, and grew up with an array of rapidly changing technology, making them extremely adaptable.
Why Hire a Bunch of Entitled Slackers?
As far as the current recession, a similar scenario happened during the 1990s. The dot-com bust found many Baby Boomers laid off, putting Gen Xs in a similar position as Gen Y is today. However, after the bust was over and companies began to recover, they rebuilt their workforce with Gen Xs, resulting in an infusion of youth and new ideas. It’s very likely this recession will bring about the same fate for Gen Ys. And employers have a lot to gain from hiring us.
Not only do we focus on being true and transparent, we’re not afraid to share our ideas and tell upper management we think they’re wrong or that there might be an easier way to do something. Aside from our high values, Gen Y has higher collective SAT and ACT scores than previous generations and is able to do lots of things all at once. And while Baby Boomers and Gen Xs think our ability to multi-task is a curse, taking a five minute break to check your Facebook is no different than taking a five minute break to talk about your children, hang out in the break room or go have a cigarette.
“Millennials are going to change the face of business,” Nick Armstrong, of PsychoticResumes.com, said. “Because we multi-task so well, I doubt the eight-hour work day will last much past the economic downturn. I doubt that the eight-hour shift in the office will last either. Personally, I lack the focus to sit in a dreary office, listening to my co-workers ruminate on whatever healthy food they brought in, hear Nosey Nancy gossip about everything and everyone, and spend half my day getting belittled by a patronizing, condescending, hypocritical managerial staff.”
How Gen Y is Coping
Due to the old-fashioned, disappointing work style Baby Boomers and Gen Xs seem to be satisfied with, many Gen Ys are escaping by starting their own businesses. Many of us feel it’s more important to make a difference and share ideas than to be caged into the typical work style.
“I want to express my opinions and share my ideas,” Armstrong said. “I’m vested in the success of the company. It’s a mortal offense to be filtered, unheard, unable to express my opinions. I go to work to be useful and valuable, to contribute ideas and work with my co-workers to make everyone’s ideas better.”
Final Thoughts
I think people my age tend to live more in the now. We grew up facing the dot-com bust of the 90s, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and now have a grave economic recession to deal with. Because of those things, Gen Ys seem to be more concerned with where they are today and about doing something that will make an immediate difference than where they want to be 10 years from now. (Besides, nobody really knows the answer to that question).
We do want to save money and prepare for retirement, just as our previous generations have done, but there’s a more imminent feeling that now is the most important time, and everything else will fall into place. Just because we want to do something fulfilling – and it may take changing jobs 10 times to figure that out – doesn’t mean we’re slackers. We were taught to find something we love and do that for the rest of our lives. We’re taking that to heart – it just may take a little time.
As far as having a short attention span, maybe we do. But that doesn’t mean we can only focus on time-wasting activities like video games and texting. It does mean that we need to be challenged. That’s one Gen Y cliché I agree with. However, I don’t think wanting to be challenged is a negative trait.
I do think that any good boss should be able to recognize when an employee is not challenged enough or satisfied enough with their work and do something to change that. Give them another fresh assignment to work on.
We also don’t want work to be our whole lives. Sure, work is important, but there are other things in life, too. That’s why it’s important for us to do what we love and want to be doing, that way work doesn’t feel so much like work.
And last but not least, we do respect our elders, regardless of what they may say. The problem in their eyes seems to be that we only respect those who deserve it – those who have made a difference, whether that be in our lives or on a bigger scale. We’re also a lot less likely to respect people who have a preformed negative attitude toward us. People should remember that you have to give respect to earn it.
So if you can accept that things are changing, provide a little bit of a challenge and learn to respect us the way you want to be respected, then you can find a good Gen Y employee. If not, you’re most likely going to be faced with a scarce workforce as your Baby Boomers and Gen Xs retire and Generation Y moves forward without you.
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February 17th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Great post. I agree. There has also never been a generation that has a broader range of productivity. The bad gen Y workers are really bad and the good gen Y workers are really good. Technology has amplified the effect that these individuals can have on an organization (both positively and negatively). Never before has finding the right young person been more important.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Gen Y will finally be given their chance to show what they can do. Each generation is defined by the crucible they invariably must traverse. The new “new” economy that is currently being created (it’s going to get worse, and it will not be as good as it was for possibly another generation), is the crucible for Gen Y. Everything everyone had been preparing for is changing, and how everyone adapts will be what defines a generation.
February 18th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Thanks for this post. I agree – the positives of Gen Y are not talked up enough. I find this interesting because over the next 25-30 years, Gen Y (and Z) will naturally take over the workforce. So why not just embrace them, realize as Ted says that there are good performers and bad perfomers (as in any generation), and use their inherent knowledge and skills to supplement the talents of the rest of your workforce?
I’ve become somewhat of a crusader on this issue – perhaps because I’m in this generation and don’t represent the disaffected, lazy view portrayed so often – and have written a number of post on it on the blog of the nonprofit I work for, Winning Workplaces, whose mission is to help small firms create better work envrionments. You can read one such post here: http://tinyurl.com/57sa4w
Again, great topic to tackle. Thanks for keeping this discussion at the forefront.
February 18th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Jennifer, I agree with majority of what you are saying here. This is a crucial generation, especially to businesses where the Internet and technology are paramount, such as where I work. This is a smart generation of kids, who have superior multitasking skills (great example of facebook = smoke breaks!), and have great ideas. Please bear with my mini rant, as it’s with the best of intentions.
The inherent problem that most people have with this generation is that they have no will, want or desire to “pay their dues”. They all want to be CEO tomorrow, and while ambition is good, we’ve all got to “start in the copy room” so to speak. They (broad generalization here, bear with me) want to be included on the insider discussion with the CEO and have their voice heard, threaten to pack up and leave if they don’t get it. They’ve been over spoon fed everything, and have a questionable work ethic at times. I mean, it’s just life that there are times you’re going to work 12+ hours a day in ANY field. Personally, any candidate who has their parent attempt negotiate their offer with me, is having their offer pulled immediately. I can only imagine the look my father would have given me if I asked him to negotiate my offer. What next, will the manager need to justify why they got a bad performance review to Mom and Dad?
We say that they are an entrepreneurial generation and are more likely to start their own business, but is that because they want to strike out on their own, or because they don’t want to take “orders” from a boss? Its definitely a point to ponder.
With respect to the better test scores, I find that to be a moot point, since this is a generation that is raised on standardized testing, and would likely falter when asked to write a paper. They have superb quantitative and analytical skills, but it doesn’t seem to always translate into telling the story or big picture. I’m 33 and this was the case in the 80’s and 90’s when our parents couldn’t believe that we couldn’t do Chemistry, but we could crack the “get 30 free men” code on Contra for Nintendo. ( Man, I hope someone gets that reference!)
Overall, anyone who isn’t aggressively pursuing this generation, is simply nuts. But like with any other generation, we need to be selective to the people who still hold the core values and skills that have made our companies successful.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I’m a boomer, but I agree that the millennials (Gen-Y) have many positives. In addition, thaere are ways that good managers and good companies can capitalize on these positives, as I summarized in http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/2009/01/how-to-manage-millennials-in-startups.html.
Martin Zwilling, Founder & CEO, Startup Professionals, Inc.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 am
Interesting blog and article. But no mention of Generation Jones? Lot of buzz about it lately. Especially because of our new president. Many nationally influential voices have repeatedly noted that Obama–born 1961–is part of Generation Jones (born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X). Google it, and you’ll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and many top commentators from many big time publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) specifically use this term to describe Obama.
Excellent op-ed on Obama as the first Generation Jones President in USA TODAY a few weeks ago:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 am
And another thing. GenY is primarily the offspring of Generation Jones (while GenX is primarily the offspring of the Boomers, born approx. 1942-1953). The parental influences are typically quite important in understanding generational personalities, but even more so here, where GenJones parents have particularly close relationships with their GenY kids. Can you say helicoptor parents? To really grasp GenY, you need to get GenJones.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I definitely think you have encapsulated a lot of what Gen Y can offer in the workplace, and I think it is unfortunate that Millennials have been mislabeled with so many stereotypes. Reseach is; however, finally starting to emerge that shows how misplaced these stereotypes are:
Regarding being lazy, disengaged, and entitled:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080414.wlmillennial14/BNStory/lifeWork/home
Survey by PWC that shows Millennials are no less loyal than other generations:
http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=research&id=5342
Also Millennials are the first generation to have their 18-25 year olds starting companies at a faster rate than 35-45 year olds. This is an incredible trend, and supports the idea that Millennials can be both innovators and leaders. This statistic was pulled from a Wall Street Journal article written on May 19th, 2007 written by Michael Malone titled: America’s Next Frontier. I would highly recommend that everyone read that article because it succinctly demonstrates the incredible potential of Gen Y.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:00 am
The motivated, bright, and insightful will thrive. The college degree is given these days. I hope that the character of this generation will be strong and that they will have the strength of character to speak up when facing deceptive decisions/policies that got our country in the current situation. Here’s to a future without Enron, Countrywide, Fannie Mae, and our government’s failure to support today’s military veterans.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I’m not disagreeing with the potential or the savvy this generation has, but it seems everyone wants to dance around the 700 pound gorilla in the room, which is the fact that they have done little without the guide of their parents and this has crept into the workplace. We’re also missing the fundamental point that they don’t want to pay dues. This goes as far as how they feel they should be graded in school (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?_r=1)
All good points, but let’s fairly assess both sides of the argument.
Des, GREAT point about Gen Jones, as it is severely overlooked!
March 11th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Take the Gen Y label off the article, and I see me, even though I entered the workforce over 20 years ago. Perhaps there are resonances between Generation Jones and Gen Y.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I agree with Pete and the inability for people to pay their dues. Working as a tweener from a generational perspective – 34 yrs of age. I find that most of the people I talk to come in thinking they know it all and simply believe instant gratification is a must and should not be held hand in hand with time. Truth of the matter, most know a good deal more than we did at that age but how to adapt and apply that to business needs to be learned and that takes time. If patience is a virtue, we need it in spades.