4 things Gen Y gets right about work
Working their way / photo courtesy flickr user Jerry Bunkers
(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY If you're managing young adults, you've probably uttered many of the common complaints: they flit from thing to thing and won't pay their dues. They want constant feedback, preferably involving effusive praise. They don't want to work late. Journalist and novelist Sally Koslow sympathizes with these accusations in her new book, Slouching Toward Adulthood: Observations from the Not-So-Empty Nest. Sparked by the wanderings (and post-college stints at home) of her two "adultescent" sons, Koslow writes that "what used to be considered less than conventional -- postponing financial independence, jobs, marriage, a hovel of one's own -- has become the norm for a great many Americans aged twenty-two to thirty-five."
As a member of this cohort myself, I tend to view some of this wandering in a more positive light. And actually, when it comes to the workplace, Koslow said (in an interview) that she agrees that young people have many positive ideas to contribute to the larger conversation. Here are four of them:
1. Everyone needs to be entrepreneurial. We all know the job market has changed -- that companies are competing in a less closed and cozy world -- and that the average tenure at a job has fallen to four years. People move in and out of self-employment these days, too, in a way that renders the fear of "resume gaps" puzzling. Everyone knows this, but young adults really know it. So "they've seen needs and responded to them," Koslow says. If you can't get a job, you make a job. That's a brilliant idea.
2. There's nothing wrong with work-life balance. Because young people have grown up with mobile technology, the idea that you would have to report to an office from 9 to 5 in order to call and send emails to people in other places makes absolutely no sense. Consequently, flexible hours and the ability to work from home are viewed as the default, not privileges to be earned. That, frankly, is how everyone should view professional jobs. Why are you insisting on face time?
3. It's OK to be idealistic. Managers complain that young people aren't satisfied with work that's just a job but here's a question: Why should you be satisfied with it? Life is short. Koslow found many young people who'd quit a decent job without another lined up. "That's a gigantic no no from a baby boomer perspective," she says. But people "were adamant that switching jobs would make them more engaged. If you can afford to do that I don't think there's anything wrong with it."
4. Networks are about people, not institutions. This is related to the idea that there are no permanent jobs. Young people know that "companies cannot afford to be loyal. So they aren't looking for it," says Koslow. But they're not offering their loyalty either. Instead, loyalties are to people, and thanks to the beauty of social networking, you can keep in touch simultaneously with people from all facets of your life. The fact that your cousin, your high school classmate, your supervisor from your first job and a professor from your stint in grad school are all weighing in on your Facebook posts isn't weird -- it's beautiful.
Photo courtesy flickr user Jerry Bunkers
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In all honesty, and as evidenced by the negative feedback within the comments, the day-to-day life of the C-Suite and upper management is something that the "employee" is/has been meant to envy.
It is through prolonged subservience that subservience becomes willful. It is through willful subservience that human beings get other human beings, that they would just as soon throw under the bus, to revere them.
The origin and nature of Gen Y's lack of allegiance, or perceived denigration of "work-ethic" (check how many golf outings your VP, CEO, CFO are taking) are just scary - to the status quo - manifestations of a generation more interconnected and less concerned with the pomp and circumstance of societal hierarchies past.
I have hoped for more than a decade that this generation (my generation) will represent a true coming-to-fruition of the ideals we champion, such as "meritocracy." If our values aren't desecrated by conformist behavior and the pursuit of material wealth, their may come a time when the individual who is most capable wins out over the individual who is 'perceived' to be.
#1. Not all jobs are "professional", until someone makes an ap for a vending machine that dispenses coffee...face time is a necessity for some jobs.
#2. If you come in looking like something a cat threw up --- somebody has to tell you to go home and look presentable. You may think you're a professional; the marketplace and you boss may have a decidedly different interpretation.
#3. Work Life Balance. That is not your employers job nor is it that of your co-workers--If I had a nickle for every time I heard " I sent him a text and told him to do 'x' " I would retire. He apparently assigned as much of a priority to it as you did. Nothing.
In summary, about the only portion of this article that is true is that the majority of the "Y" needs to be treated like a 12 child at the pool wearing floaties who needs to be cheered on to travel the distance of the kiddie pool.
I think the portion about leaving a job early without something else lined up can also be a generational thing. More 25-30 year old adults still live at home and leaving a job doesn't necessarily hold as much weight as when other generations were married and done having kids by then because our nation was producing and jobs were increasing and 'adult hood' began a lot sooner then Gen Y's.
This is a very important subject in short for all corporations to acknowledge. It is there choice to take action on it or not- but great article, love to hear all the point of views.