job hoppers and other 60-minute thoughts

I'm not going to sit here and claim that I am any sort of expert on Gen Y or Millennials as 60 Minutes calls us. But I guess because I am part of this generation, child of a couple of Boomers, I can offer insight to my own thoughts and what I observe of my friends and people I know. After watching the 60 minutes segment, I was pretty surprised at how they portrayed us.

According to Sunday’s 60 Minutes segment, Millennials are nothing but a bunch of narcissistic, praise hounds who want nothing to do with hard work. Judging by the dialogue we’ve created on Employee Evolution and the insight of our Millennial peers, CBS needs to do a little more research.

This is a quote from Ryan Healy's post on EmployeeEvolution.com after the show. I do see some of what they talk about (I've been told not to wear flip-flops to work at my last 3 places of employment) but does wanting to wear casual clothing really cause such a stir? I doubt I've ever heard that a suit and tie were comfortable. (Casual Fridays anyone?)

For me, if I don't need to meet with a client, I don't think it should matter. For the most part of my day, I am behind a computer screen or a telephone. Luckily if I need to make a surprise trip to visit a client, then I can run by my apartment and change. No big deal. However, I have respected my employers and have abided by dress codes, but if left up to me, I'd say flip-flops are ok with me!

Seriously, who schedules a yoga class during work hours? Lunch break, maybe. (For the record, I haven't taken a yoga class in my life.) Also, never asked my boss for therapy or to listen to my problems. I might confide in a co-worker but I don't bother my boss with personal problems. I'm with Ryan, give me praise or give me criticism. Everyone wants feedback! No one wants to wake up and go into work to find out you've been fired because you've been doing a terrible job when all this time you've been told that you're doing "wonderfully." A manager is supposed to manage his/her employees, no? Coddling is not going to help anyone. Not the company, not the employee. (Did they really just blame a generation's supposed flaws on Mr. Rogers? Really?) So tell me if I'm doing something wrong. I'm not going to leave the company over it.

Now I've written about my brother before who is still in college. He has similar attitude to the one discussed on 60 Minutes, it seems and wants to change is co-op location because his idea of what is expected of him is different than what actually is. Ok. But is it because of his age, his generation? Or is he just a kid in college who still doesn't know how things work in the corporate world?

I like what Animal said about how the market is changing. Our generation does and will have more bargaining power. Hence, the job hopping. What is wrong with wanting to be able to tolerate your job? Why is it such a horrible thing that someone would want to find something that they enjoy doing? I don't think this is just Gen Y doing the job hopping either. While I think Boomers and Gen Y and everyone in between are starting to realize because the job market is changing they have more bargaining power too. But maybe this is just in my network in my corner of the world. I've heard stories about around 2000 when people would go to lunch and not come back because they found a place down the street who offered them $0.25 more an hour. If you don't like what you're doing, why should you continue doing the same thing? They tell us in sales training, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Why is this any different with one's career?