
How Gen Y is changing the corporate workplace - freshrap6
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-those-spoiled-millennials-will-make-the-workplace-better-for-everyone/2012/08/16/814af692-d5d8-11e1-a0cc-8954acd5f90c_story.html
======
Shenglong
One part of this article I want to address is 'respect'. Speaking as a gen y,
if I give an opinion at work, I do expect it to be considered - but that's not
due to some sense of entitlement. If I've taken the time to give an opinion on
a topic at work, I'm jepordizing my reputation; I'm giving my peers and
superiors a chance to evaluate me. This neccesarily means I've thought about
what I said, I believe it's actually a good idea. Young people often times do
have good ideas, and it's important not to dismiss their validity.

It's unfortunate that _some_ older people can't grasp this concept. In
business, where adaptivity is key, I find this not to be so much of a problem.
However, academia seems to be the exact opposite. Last year, one professor
told me to express my opinion once I "have over 30 years of HR experience".
Meanwhile I was thinking, "that'll be 30 years too late."

~~~
Kynlyn
Yes, but there are plenty of times that younger workers come up with what they
think is a brilliant idea. In reality, it's the same broken idea that other
people have come up with before and it's already proven to not work. Just
because you have just now come up with the idea doesn't provide any more merit
to it.

~~~
whazzmaster
I'm not a Gen Yer, but I must respond that the situation you describe really
should be a teachable moment to the younger worker; explain to them why their
idea may have been tried before and failed, or perhaps it was fundamentally
unsound for a reason they hadn't thought of.

~~~
Kynlyn
I agree that it should be a teaching exercise. But I've seen countless times
where it turns into "Those old guys just don't understand!" even when they are
explained, excruciatingly so, how their idea has already been attempted.

For example...I've had younger developers come to me with a brilliant new
approach to development. Their idea? Basically, it was waterfall. No matter
how much I explained to them that their idea had been tried and failed, they
insisted that they were on to something new and exciting.

------
columbo
Related Stores about Gen X:

>They don't want to spend a lot of time talking about things or having
meetings. They want to get in, do the work, and move on to the next thing. If
you're looking for someone to deliver a report every week, you don't want an
Xer. I recently brought up the subject of understanding twentysomethings
during a coaching workshop. Immediately a manager complained, with a lot of
emotion, that kids today don't want to work and will only stay for a week or
so and then leave. Well, the job was very repetitive and offered little
challenge. No wonder!

<http://www.coachingandmentoring.com/Articles/> (click on x's at the bottom,
link wont display correctly on HN due to the single quote)

<http://www.newbizs.com/pubs/GenX09-02.pdf>

~~~
ibejoeb
Also notable, from the first article:

>In a l995 survey, Babson College Professor Paul Reynolds found that "10% of
Americans between the ages of 25-34 are actively involved in creating a start-
up company, a rate about three times as high as any other age group...it
should help dispel once and for all the myth that today's youth are
motivationally challenged."

I wonder what that figure is today.

------
Jemm
It seems a bit odd that a generation of selfish free loving hippies are
criticizing their spawn.

Folks, you created these princesses then you turned into unethical, money
grubbing, conservative capitalists and left a generation of ill prepared
people to take over.

Stop whining.

~~~
adestefan
The notion that there was an entire generation of free loving hippies is over
blown. Very much the same way that there is an entire generation of young,
spoiled people that refuse to do work without unlimited vacations.

------
pnathan
While I would love to see things like a ROWE, better maternity leave, a more
thoughtful environment, the reality is, lots of jobs are crappy, and really
the work environment is about having a semi-skilled warm body at the
desk/counter/whatever. I don't _like_ those jobs, but there are a _lot_ of
them, and those employers will be happy to find anyone who doesn't give
trouble, shows up on time, and keeps their nose clean.

I think it will become apparent over time that some people are willing to work
hard and will reap the rewards thereof, and others are willing to complain
hard and will reap the rewards thereof too.

But it's good to work towards having a good work environment when possible.

------
patio11
_We even work 59 hours more than the stereotypically nose-to-the-grindstone
Japanese._

Statistically true, but not supportive of the point being made, largely due to
the difference in employment by gender in the two countries. (Japan:
supporting a 55 hour work week by the simple expedient of not letting the wife
work more than 10 and not letting the husband work less than 100.)

------
calinet6
The reference to autonomy in motivation reminded me of this Dan Pink TED talk
I keep coming back to: <http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html>

I completely agree with this article. Perhaps we're the first generation to
realize the old style of work and business actually negatively impacts
productivity and motivation, and we're going to outright reject it. Everything
about that is good.

Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. People want them because they're the true ways
to success, and they know it. The old fake style of business based on carrot-
and-stick mentalities and personal image is going out the window faster than
an MBA can climb a ladder... or at least we can hope.

~~~
jlarkin353
Don't forget that plenty of people are a lot more productive with some kind of
structure in place. No amount of 'skinny jeans wearing' gen Y'ers will change
that fact.

~~~
bking
I am gen Y and I freely admit that I do more work in a 'designated working
environment'. I hate monotonous work, and it has led me to building scripts
etc to do the boring work for me. Our strength comes from that desire to not
be bored, so we come up with creative solutions to bypass them. If a company
can't bend to that mentality, and we aren't completely financially stuck with
having to work, we will quit for a place that does.

~~~
gnaritas
> Our strength comes from that desire to not be bored, so we come up with
> creative solutions to bypass them.

This has nothing to do with your generation.

~~~
bking
Maybe it is just the timing of being in our 20s then?

------
stephengillie
_Radical-sounding perks such as unlimited paid vacation — assuming you’ve
finished your pressing projects — are more common among companies concerned
with attracting and retaining young talent. By 2010, 1 percent of U.S.
companies had adopted this previously unheard-of policy, largely in response
to the demands of Generation Y._

This "previously unheard-of policy" has been in practice for much longer than
I've been working - it's called "salary". I'm referring to the department head
who takes 2 weeks off in July, 2 more in August, 4 in December, 1 in March,
and 3 from May into June. The retail store director who takes 3 weeks for New
Years, takes his family to Europe from April to June, and still leaves the
office early for his kids's events.

These aren't straw men, and they aren't Gen Y'ers either.

~~~
pasbesoin
In many companies -- in the U.S., at least -- salary has become de facto a
commitment to a _minimum_ of 40 hours/week. In my last corporate gig, I was
expected to be "in the chair" at least 40 hours/week. (And there was a butt-
ugly HR time tracking application for that.)

If I was short, it came out of vacation time (into which sick time was rolled
in an "efficiency" measure), _unless_ a manager chose to "look the other way"
as a "perk". (Corporations are very good at using these non-expense "rewards"
to tweak behavior.)

Salary, in corporate America, is no longer -- if it ever was -- a "two way
street". The employee can be worked extra hours for the same pay but often
faces a raft of problems if they try to take unaccounted time off during slack
periods.

Higher end professionals may encounter more leniency; don't assume this
applies to the masses.

------
SatvikBeri
The key point of this article is that Gen Y'ers are actually demanding and
getting a lot of perks, instead of just complaining about bad working
conditions.

This sounds about right in my experience. I've seen some places where the
expectation is that seniority = respect, and that younger employees have to go
through a few years of "paying their dues." This is stupid and wasteful, so of
course we're demanding more. If someone is producing 10x the value of their
coworkers, they shouldn't have to wait two years for a promotion just because
they joined recently. And nowadays, they won't.

------
kenamarit
"They expect to be listened to when they have an idea, even when they’re the
youngest person in the room."

Speaking as a gen-y-er, I completely agree with this sentiment. From my
experience working in offices, there are always two conflicting thoughts I
consider when speaking up, however:

1\. The established politics of the office and who you are "allowed" to speak
to and what you're allowed to say, and

2\. The reality of the actual task/goal you are trying to accomplish.

Even if your ideas are good and beneficial to the work at hand, sometimes #1
is more important than #2. If this is true then I will quit as soon as I am
able.

It's generally true that I consider my elders peers, not authority figures, as
the article states. This does not mean I don't have a lot to learn from them!
In fact, I want to learn, teach me, guide me!

However, like anyone and everyone you run into in life, an elder in the
workplace has to earn my trust and respect, they need to prove to me that they
are worth learning from. Just because you are older than me does not mean your
ideas are worth listening to. Sometimes having a higher rank does correlate to
being someone worth listening to. Just as often I have found this to be not
true.

~~~
Kynlyn
There's a great scene in Band of Brothers, where a veteran non-com is showing
the young privates about to do a combat jump to hold onto their rifles instead
of attaching them to their gear. "be ready to fight when you land or die" is
what he tells them. The non-com gained that experience first hand after his
first own jump and his rifle was lost in the prop wash.

I wonder how a Gen-Y would have reacted to that...

~~~
portmanteaufu
The article doesn't suggest that Generation Y won't listen to good ideas that
come from the experienced. Rather, it says that they expect all ideas to be
considered based on their merits, not their source.

~~~
MattGrommes
There's also plenty of young people who expect everyone to listen to them
because of their vast entitlement complex, not necessarily out of some
meritocratic ideal. I've had 10 year olds give me dirty looks because I didn't
entertain their idea of what we should do at my kid's birthday party and I've
had 25 year olds with the same look on their face at work.

------
bking
I can definitely agree with this article, especially since it echos my
thoughts about work at 24 years old. The only unfortunate side of the story
comes from the people in my age group who will not step up and do the work
that comes with the additional freedom. I have seen those kids, and I despise
them. I have also seen the young men and women who put forth the effort, and I
am hopeful for the future.

------
sequoia
Born in 1984, became a parent at 20, went to tech school at 21, graduated in
2009 (just in time for the recession, yay) uprooted family & moved to
northeast for work, lived with inlaws a while, worked worked hustled & worked
to stay afloat during recession, now I have a pretty good job where I work
from home 3 days so I can live outside the city. My point? _Stop saying we're
all a bunch of lazy spoiled brats!!_

Guess what? I'm a "gen y"er and it drives me _nuts_ to see my peers pushing
30, directionless and spinning their wheels at shitty food service jobs.

I understand there's a legitimate trend and it's reasonable to describe it as
such, but as one commenter pointed out re: "whole generation of free loving
hippies", these sorts of narratives are just the result of journalistic
laziness and don't reflect the nuance of reality in a meaningful way. It's
notable that the author removes herself from the "gen-y" group, apparently to
make it easier to lambaste them. :)

------
EzGraphs
Article Summary seems to be: Generation Y has different expectations/work
ethic, therefore the workplace will bend to their demands.

In some cases, employers refuse to provide positions to those who don't fit
their current corporate expectations. This might partially be reflected by
higher unemployment rates among this age category:

<http://bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea10.htm>

Not saying this is necessarily a good thing in every case. I work with folks
(in Software Engineering) from around the globe. There are many people from
other countries who happily work extremely hard and make sacrifices that some
Gen Y folks from the U.S. would consider unacceptable.

------
jakejake
Being a little older myself, this is just a variation of same thing I've heard
3 times now. My grandparent thought my parents generation was lazy. My parents
though my generation was lazy. And now my generation thinks gen y is lazy.

This is the same "I walked to school uphill both ways when I was a kid"
argument that seems to happen with every generation. Yes, we get it - it was
tougher back then old timer!

The funnier part for you gen y'ers will be when the next generation comes
along and appear to be lazy in some way. You'll catch yourself saying the same
things and have a d'oh moment! And I will laugh so hard that I'll poop in my
Depends.

------
sreyaNotfilc
I love reading these Gen Y articles. Me being 28, I am the embodiment of this
generation. We, afterall, are the generation of the "can do" attitude.

We grew up on Captain Planet, Ghost Writer, Harry Potter, etc. We've always
felt that if the adults can't get it right, we'll just do it ourselves. Like
John Mayer's song says, we're "Waiting for the World To Change". But our
version of waiting is totally different from our parents.

Waiting means really "until I can get myself in a decent position to thrive".
Entry level and beyond are those positions that we're gunning at. Like a
virus, we can make a difference once we get past the skin.

I noticed this when I first stared 5 years ago. Here I am, only having an A.A.
degree and finally getting a position at a Help Desk. The first day was scary.
It was overwhelming, but once I got the gist of it I was alright. But that was
the start. Once I got the gist of it I realized what was wrong with it. So I,
and the rest of us gen-yers tend to do, took the initiative. I received a lot
of flak for leaving my post (I had to answer phones, but knew that I could
help fix computers, Google yo!), but I single handedly changed the way we
operate. It wasn't an ego thing, I just saw something wrong and NEEDED it
fixed. 5 years later I'm leading a team of web developers maintaining a very
important system for doctors.

Now, we'll all won't get to that point. But we sure as hell are not going down
without a fight. I believe this is great for the office. I see a lot of
barriers being brought down because of our audacity. Its exciting to be a part
of this!

------
manmal
Offtopic: I never bother to click through to the second page on those
newspaper-gone-blog sites. This blatant cry for ad impressions is just
disgusting, IMHO.

------
jedberg
Generally the changes are good, but I'm seeing one side effect. Some workers
in that group feel so entitled that they feel like they can just come in and
work on what they want when they want. If you say "here is a goal for the
company" they say "eh, not interested" and feel like you owe it to them to let
them keep their job.

------
k3n
> [...] Yep, we’re talking about Generation Y — loosely defined as those born
> between 1982 and 1999 — also known as millennials.

And then 1 paragraph later:

> [...] at age 30, I consider myself a sort of older sister to them

Ummmm...

2012 - 30 = 1982

~~~
lupatus
2012 - 30 = September, October, November, December 1981 && 1982

Dates are weird.

Having a birthday at the end of Dec., 1981, I am close to being the last
Gen.-Xer.

~~~
adestefan
I'm more inclined to note the difference as those that were in school when
they banned teachers from using red pens because it hurt the students
feelings.

~~~
_delirium
That's way before either Gen X or Gen Y, part of the 1960s education movement
that also included experimental schools without letter grades.

------
carsongross
Gen Y is the wrong answer to the right question.

-Gen X

~~~
irishcoffee
Gen X created the need to ask the question.

-Everyone

------
mikepmalai
Way to turn an entire generation into a caricature.

I think a more important workplace trend is Gen Y managing Gen Y.

You're seeing fewer and fewer Gen Y vs. Baby Boomer culture clashes and more
Gen Y employees reporting directly to Gen X-ers/older Gen Y-ers with each
passing year. Consequently, we're starting to see more openness and
flexibility in the workplace but the demand for quality work is (arguably)
much higher.

------
supercanuck
I find articles like these obnoxious and nothing more than Another example of
cold readings, so to speak

------
at-fates-hands
> Our strength comes from that desire to not be bored, so we come up with
> creative solutions to bypass them.

Wasn't this the war cry of Generation X? The Millennials are very similar,
they just seem to get a bad rap for the entitlement part - whether its real or
imagined.

------
elarkin
I find it odd that the author claims that Gen Y is anyone born 1982 to 1999,
and yet that it does not contain herself at age 30.

Given that the author herself stands about a 25% chance of being included in
her own definition of Gen Y, she sure seems to hate them.

