The Millenials are Coming!

Comment

Comment by Magnificent Mary Tuchowski on July 1, 2008 at 1:59pm

I believe that the most valuable lessons from this program segment were those I learned when I went to the 60 Minutes website. I scanned most - and read many - of the hundreds of blog entries that were posted there before noon the day after the program aired. I actually have much more respect for and understanding of the generational differences that exist in our workplace as a result. As we discussed with Steve in Queensbury, people predominently leave bosses, not organizations or jobs. Better knowledge of what does motivate Millenials benefits us only if we focus on how we can engage them at work.... not if we use that new information as a lesson in "what to watch out for" in our youngest colleagues.

As I have engaged our NYSDOT employees in conversations about generational diversity during training events, I am struck by what appears to be a pronounced barrier between our Gen X and Millennial employees. As a Baby Boomer, I have experienced first hand some hardcore resentment from a few Gen Xers who made no secret of the fact that they do not share Boomers' workaholic values. So, I expected our Gen X employees to be more tolerant of their Millennial co-workers' laid back attitude. Definitely not so! It's apparent to me that some Gen Xers reject the Millennialls' work ethic more vehemently than they do the Boomers' work ethic. We all really need to stop rejecting and start "entertaining" the potential positives of these differences.....

Comment by Bennie Covington on June 29, 2008 at 9:32pm

I don't think your not for diversity when you say that the millenials annoy you. I agree with you in this regard. I think some of their priorities are misguided. I think there is a sense of entitlement, and selfishness that leave little room for humility with this group. However, I do see problems with the the current employees of today too. I think that the millenials strengths ( more efficient, and putting quality of life over work) are qualities that contemporary employees should learn to adopt, however, I do believe that the strengths of the more traditional workers ( paying dues, and hard work) should be adopted by the mellenials. As always, there is a middle ground here that many are failing to see. If we look hard at the work ethic spectrum we will find that either extreme can be debilitating, and the balance between the two ideologies is where progress will be made.
The bottom line for businesses, is to recognize that the millenials will be many of their future employees, and failure to recognize that will lead to loss of profit. After all, many of the "millenials" are very talented and resourceful, and will add to the workplace, just as the more traditional worker haver before them.

Comment by Lorraine Woodward on June 29, 2008 at 11:26am

So as much as I say that I'm "for" diversity, all of this hype about "millenials" really, really, REALLY annoys me. I'm quite tired of everybody pandering to that generation as if they are some rare, exotic lap dog that needs to be catered to at every turn.

But seriously--how realistic is their attitude in the current economy? I live in West Michigan, where the economy is in the gutter. A friend of mine just moved to Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) where there are major oil jobs, and as a result, McDonald's has trouble holding onto employees for $15/hour. In an environment like that, I can understand people getting away with the "I don't like you; I'll just get a new job" attitude, but here in the US? I just can't see how anyone would SURVIVE with a mentality like that.

What's funny is that I have heard that my attitude is definitely common among Gen X'ers . . . so apparently I am a bit of a stereotype myself . . .