Posted on 04/22/2015 12:12:53 PM PDT by C19fan
As an Xer, I’ve worked with and managed many millennials. And as Michael O. Church writes, people are people. Yet, there are times when knowing a little about each generation has helped me understand a colleague.
When generalizing about any group, it’s first necessary to recognize that not everybody in any particular group acts like everyone else. There is often just as much variation within each group, as there is between groups.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
There are demographic trends though. Millennials are a lot more likely to be the product of helicopter parents which makes them very bad at asserting themselves, it also gives them higher expectations on where they’ll start, and much weaker problem solving skills. I’ve got friends in HR and some of their millennial stories are scary, like their parents calling in to negotiate salary, and refute performance reviews. Is that all millennials? No of course not. Is it most? No. Is it a higher percentage than Xers and Boomers? Yes. And that’s where knowing your demographics comes in. Each group is different, much like you wouldn’t bring in spicy burritos for a team lunch if the team is made up primary of very midwestern white people. Know the trends for who surrounds.
This writer has his generation dates totally messed up.
According to the Census Bureau:
“The only generation we do define is Baby Boomers and that year bracket is from 1946 to 1964.”
Boomers and X-ers have a common enemy. The Participation Trohpy generation.
I’ve seen this play out in the workplace and it’s comical. It’s like watching parents and grandparents talk about how awful someone else’s 5 year old kid is. Lots of knowing nods, sly smiles and under-the-breath comments about the annoying need for constant praise.
I'll add that it's both demographic and cultural. A sizeable portion of the "Millenials" I deal with come from immigrant families -- where the challenges you often find with the children of American-born parents usually don't exist.
You are a child-—four of my kids are older than you.
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If one doesn’t know the people, one can ask the question.
Demographics are statistical in nature - true for the broad brush, but liable to be completely false for the individual.
Demographics are also the handmaiden of identity politics (which translates to other arenas due to categorization errors).
For example, I am a very midwestern white person and would dearly love spicy burritos for lunch! LOL
I have a simple test to determine if someone is a Boomer or Gen-Xer.
Ask someone if they remember Quisp and Quake cereal. If they do, they’re probably Boomers.
I’m and very early Xer, and I have supervised boomers, Xer’s and millennials. I have had to fire some from each generation for one reason or another, but by far the millennials are the worst having seen all three generations in my workplace. The millennials just do not want to work, they want paid but they don’t want to work and they for the most part have little to no self-respect which in turn means little respect for anyone else whether it be co-worker or God forbid a customer.
That being said I have ran across some millennials who get it and work their butts off and try to go the extra mile. I try to encourage this behavior with rewards and recognition. Their lazy co-workers then moan, why do they get to do XYZ??? They want the rewards but don’t want to do what it takes to get them.
In my line of work, that would be immediate grounds for dismissal. I have to be correct (that is, I have to have a strong, technical reason for my opinion), and I have to be assertive about my correctness. If I am ever incorrect, I have to be gracious in admitting it.
If I had an employee unable to defend their position, they would not be an employee for long (assuming they ever got past the initial interview).
I understand what you are saying, and I tailor my speech patterns to the likely experience of my audience (such as not mentioning old TV Shows to younger folks, etc.). But I cannot foresee viably making decisions based on demographic assumptions.
You present your case well, BTW, although I do not agree with it.
Video was too funny having worked with a 23 year old (who recently left due to “job pressure”). Both my kids though are hard working Millennials who put themselves through college.
Unfortunately what question do you ask? Do you have helicopter parents that are going to be calling me every time I scold you? Did you pick your own classes in college? If you can’t solve a problem will you ask for help or will I need to come to you?
Identifying if your millennial is one of THOSE millennials isn’t that easy. And impossible if you won’t acknowledge that these trends exist in that group
Demographics have nothing to do with identity politics. Demographics are just about dealing with trends. They can’t be a religion, because every group has outliers, but it’s good to know what the middle of each bell curve is like. Yes there are white midwesterners like us (Chicago, German stock) who like they’re food to fight back, but the middle of the bell curve tells us that the average blond Iowan will flee in terror when you break out the habanero salsa.
And even those of us that out-lie our bell curve in some places sit in the middle more often than we like, I might like the spicy food, but I also like football, hockey, and prog-rock, I work in software, and I volunteer for a sci-fi convention with all the taste in movies and books that implies. My demographic profile is about 60% midwestern white early gen-X male. Which puts me right in the middle of the “how well do you match your bell curve” bell curve.
Which basically means that the “typical” (who actually probably only make up 10 to 15% of their population) is unfit for your employment. Which means you need to be on the lookout for them because hiring one is a waste of your company’s resources. More so as they get older and become a higher percentage of the workforce you’re drawing.
I wouldn’t say to make decisions based on demographics. I’d say be alert to potential problems. If you’re interviewing a woman in her early 20s and she keeps fiddling with a ring on her right hand that has a diamond she probably recently got engaged. Which means she’s going to get married soon. And probably pregnant. Which means she’ll be taking time off work soon, and she’ll be distracted. Probably. Unless it’s just a ring. Or she’s low maintenance and the wedding will be quick and she doesn’t want to have kids yet. You don’t want to not hire her because of that ring, but you need to be aware that she has probably just entered a certain demographic and structure your interview questions and expectations if you hire her accordingly.
Dealing with people is all about playing the odds. Demographic trends are nothing more than background data to help you place the right bet. But as with all things mileage varies.
Hmmm....maybe for those raised stateside, but I’d fail that “test” as I was raised overseas.
AFRTS had no commercials other than those approved by DoD.
I do remember Franken Berry, Boo Berry, Count Chocula...and a couple of others in the pantry on occasion...but mostly, it was Cream of Wheat for breakfast.
From this, I surmise we agree for the most part. You have to understand the influences that drive behaviors, but judge based on the individual's behaviors (including reactions to those behaviors).
Thank you for engaging in an honest debate - where we present our opinions with reasoning to justify them. (I'm going to be noting when people debate the subject versus when they attack the person as a preemptive strike against election 2016 on FR. You have done very well, FRiend, and I hope I have done the same!)
In my field, I throw them a technical curve ball and watch the process unfold as they try to keep up. If the thought process isn’t up to snuff - they fail.
I am blessed by the fact that I am an expert in my field - and I understand the hows and whys at a deep level.
In other fields - the same benefit may not exist.
It is nice to discuss the facts politely and not the person rudely. There’s a whole demographic shift on the internet with regards to flame wars and such ;)
If you want both awed and creeped out about the power of demographics (especially when coupled with big data, which let’s you get thinner more useful slices of your demographics) read this:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/
The more we’re slicing in demographics the more we’re learning that what makes us individuals is the collection of demographic groups we’re in at a particular moment. People are actually disturbingly predictable if you’ve got the data.
Some of my bosses have been fond of logic puzzles. I like to sit folks down with the game Set. Good way to see how people think, also a good way to see how quickly they give up. We’ve all got our tricks.
And don't ever try to make them think!! You'll end up with a mutiny on our hands. Believe me, I know.
I remember TANG giving away a plastic "moon buggy" on the side of the jar. It was held there by a rubber band.
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