Ten Work Commandments of Gen YersShould we heed their words?
GordonMiller
Posted: Jul 25, 07 1:13pm The old school...Before I landed my first real job out of college, I was so jazzed about becoming totally independent (off the parent-dole) that it hadn't even occurred to me how to approach this business of landing a real gig. I hadn't thought about any of the key issues: What was the workplace culture of the firm I was interviewing with? Would it be a good fit for me? I didn't know how to negotiate my compensation at that point, nor even had a clue how much I was worth. I could have blamed my ineptitude on my alma mater because they hadn't prepared me for this kind of real-world stuff. But the bottom line was this—I didn't think I had much of a say on any of it, that I was just lucky to have a good job, so I just went with the flow. Today, Gen Yers, those born after 1980, have different priorities than I did. For one, they are content to live at home until they are in their late 20s. From a work standpoint, they want long-term relationships with employers, but on their terms. They want to work flexibly and be judged on what they produce, not the fact that they spend 40+ hours a week in an office. Can we Boomers learn from this new generation?Take a look at what most Gen Yers expect from the workplace per a recent Deloitte study, and decide for yourself:
Do you agree with this approach? Will this kind of thinking will actually work, or is it pie in the sky? Have Something to Say? | ADVERTISEMENT  |
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Posted: Jul 25, 07 1:51pm
I don't want to be a negative nelly (don't work with me!) but what job in the real world could live up to these expectations!? I particularly like these:
"Gen Yers see repeating tasks as a poor use of their energy"
and
"To be provided a rationale for work they have been asked to do and the value it adds"
oh brother...
Posted: Jul 26, 07 10:02am
I agree it can be frustrating to look at this list, especially when you may be working with a Gen Y employee who is in entry-level role, reporting to you.
It's so, so easy and automatic for us to say to ourselves, Well, I did those tasks and I didn't complain and I worked longer before getting a raise, etc., etc., etc.
Marshall Goldsmith has a point in What Got You Here Won't Get You There that is relevant in this discussion:
Remember that you are not managing yourself.
You are managing someone else and that individual has been shaped by factors that did not affect you or affected you at a later time in your life/in a different way.
Looking at this list, from my personal experience managing and with working with Gen Yers, I feel #s 3, 5, and 8 hit the target.
#3. Get over it. They do not feel like they need to pay their dues. This isn't a club to them.
#5. They want face time, they want to talk, they want to learn. And they get frustrated when people lack common courtesy. Do you?
#8. I feel most Gen Yers really do have a commitment to a company’s values and that is why they get offended, readily, by assumptions that you have to pay your dues or it is quite normal that people will be mean or disrespectful, etc. Those behaviors are not acceptable to them. Hmm . . .
That said, my experience tells me that they do get disillusioned faster than "we" do. Again, that is because this list rings true and they aren’t afraid of asking why more than once.
Posted: Jul 27, 07 10:31am
Leila, great points... I do actually appreciate their attitude about being treated fairly and getting paid well... to be treated like a valuable member of the team. I absolutely believe in those values.
It's the sense of entitlement that galls me. No matter what you do in life, you've got to prove yourself. You've got to be willing to work hard, limit the complaining, and pitch in with the crap jobs. I don't know a single successful person who hasn't gone through it all.
Posted: Aug 6, 07 1:17pm
Another thought to add to this discussion: how will Gen Yers manage?
A thought on that topic and discussion comments are posted online at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5736.html,, from HBS's Working Knowledge site.
Posted: Aug 8, 07 9:06pm
I wonder how we, as a nation, can be competitive in a world economy in the face of the Gen Y requirements? I doubt that the Gen Yers in the emerging economies have the same work requirements. What the US Gen Y workers are asking for is expensive. It may be desirable, but it comes at a cost. Who will pay for this? I do not believe that the economics of much of this will prove favorable and that is what drives good business decisions.
Posted: Sep 15, 07 6:57pm
Ask young people about their generation's top life goals and the answer is clear and resounding: They want to be rich and famous. See this article by USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-09-gen-y-cover_x.htm
As an Entrepreneur, I'd consider hiring a Gen Y applicant particularly for a commissioned sales position for my business. They have a hot and unique product and service to sell, and have unlimited income potential based on their results. For those with management or higher income goals, they can develop a sales force, thus giving them more potential for reward based on others results and ultimately their skills in leadership, and motivation.
I take great comfort in knowing that there are not enough jobs with high pay for the Gen Y crowd. In fact, of the 25+ million businesses in the USA, over 95 percent of them have less than 50 employees.
So Small Business is not only the real economic engine in the USA, it's where Gen Y will flourish. And with millions of budding entrepreneurs out there, the opportunities for savvy thinkers (those who market a product or service) whom court Gen Y with "entrepreneurial opportunities", the income potential is awesome for all parties involved.
Posted: Sep 16, 07 6:28am
If I learned one thing in the work world it was this: If work was fun, you would have to pay for a ticket to get in the door. That's why they call it "work." Of course, you try to find a meaningful job, but if you can't, the bills don't get paid by your idealism. The real problem is something you said by accident. "You graduated college and were looking forward to getting off the parental dole." By the time I graduated college at the ripe old age of 20, I had been semi-self-supporting for eight years. At twelve, I worked for a pants maker after school and Saturdays, and earned enough for all my pleasures and enough to save for college. My first significant purchase with my own money, at 13, was a Royal manual portable typewriter which lasted through college and into graduate school when I bought my first electric one.
I paid for college - my parents barely made enough to pay rent, food and medical necessities until I was in my twenties when their income rose dramatically - hooray for them! They got a taste of an easier life in their later years.
My son, born in 1969, though he was more like your description than I was, earned his own allowance and more from age 15 at which age, he and a friend would play their guitars in the subway concourse in downtown Philadelphia for donations, and did they ever get them. In college, he developed his own business called "Gorillagrams, where he wrote singing telegrams for people who wanted a message delivered to someone. He almost got himself killed by an ardent suiter to whom he wrote and sang a "Dear John" letter. Do I have to tell you he became a professional musician and songwriter?
My granddaughter, now almost fourteen, has been a touring professional musician since age six and knows what it is like to work full-time for pay and how to save money as well. Presently, she is completing a double run in London where she has her own morning kiddie show and performs in her family band at night. She still does her school work, too. It isn't a picnic but she has the choice to keep doing it all or not. Any of you lucky enough to attend Sarah Lawrence College, or live in the NYC area, can see her on the 20th of this month in performance along with my son.
Me? I ended up having careers that were mostly fun, earned me a decent living and hopefully made the world just a little better place, because ... I was an entrepreneur who worked for myself for the majority of my careers - yes plural. My third distinct career is in real estate. I used some of my hard-earned capital to buy apartments and at age 68, I am embarked on yet another adventure in capitalism. I learned one thing: Nobody ever has to starve to death in this country. You can always find work is you are willing to sacrifice ideals for sweat.
Bleep working for the man! Under the best of circumstances, it sucks vinegar through a dirty straw. If you want all the things that your gen-y-ers want, be a pathfinder and make your own way in the world. It will be scary at times,and more work at the beginning than you think you can handle, but remember this one fact: When God created the world in seven days, he did not ask for help from a committee!