Its become common practice for employers to criticize Gen Y as not being “employable” for a variety of reasons. One is their so-called lack of loyalty to the company, their self-centeredness, their hedonistic lifestyle and their lack of focus on tasks assigned by the company. Being an employer and a member of the preceding Generation X, I have my own share of war stories working with Gen Y. They range from lack of responsibility to complete certain tasks to not turning up for work for important meetings. I still recall interviewing a fresh graduate for a position and was shocked to find him dressed in a crumpled shirt, torn jeans and sneakers.
I was talking to one of my mentors at the first company I joined after leaving school. He coached me and advised me in this early period of my working life and we kept in touch long after I had left the company and he had retired. When I talked about the frustrations I had with this latest generation, he just laughed. He asked me if he had ever told me what his first impression of me was. Puzzled, I said he had not. He went on to say that being from the baby boomer generation, Gen X workers were as alien to him then as Gen Y were to us now. In my first interview, I had worn a shirt and tie, but in his day, nothing less than a suit was acceptable. Also, our impatience puzzled him. It had taken him fifteen years to become a manager, whereas we were expecting to be promoted within five years and were leaving the company if we did not get what we wanted (mea culpa). Our ability and desire to change jobs were confusing to someone who had worked for the same company for thirty years.
I recall saying that it wasn’t a fair comparison as companies had little loyalty to staff now and should expect the same sentiment from their employees. Fair comment, he replied. The world then was different from the world in his day. Similarly, the world of today is different from the world I grew up in. As such, with changing values, changing ways of interaction, a company just has to adapt. His baby boomer generation learnt to accept the world had changed and developed retention and incentive schemes tailored to the needs of the new workers. Basically he was telling me to stop whining and get on with it (never bad advice).
Reflecting on it a day after, its not hard to come to the realization that he has a point. Whatever we say and do will not change how things are. Can we guarantee lifetime employment? Can we guarantee the company will always be around and not merged or taken over or worse, shut down? The carrots and sticks that worked with Gen X no longer work with Gen Y who have different priorities. There will always be those willing to sacrifice everything for money, just like there will be those who are too lazy to do anything, but in general, the mindset of a company willing to get the best out of these Gen Y workers will need to change. What this change needs to be, I confess to not knowing yet. Once the basic hygiene factors of pay and environment have been achieved, the intangibles need to provide sufficient motivation.
There is talk that this generation will bring disaster on mankind with their self centered and irreverant attitudes. I found these 2 quotes:
"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions.Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?""I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint"
If you had thought these quotes came from the baby boomer generation or even the early 1900, you would be wrong. The first is attributed to Socrates in 400 BC. The second to Hesiod in 8 BC. And yet here we are today…a civilization still going strong.
