Posted on 03/10/2010 5:11:32 AM PST by decimon
Los Angeles, CA (March 10, 2010) Managing the young generation of workers – sometimes called GenY, GenMe, or Millennials – is a hot topic, covered in the popular press and discussed in numerous books and seminars. However, most of these discussions are based on perceptions and anecdote rather than hard data, partially because no one had established that GenY differed in work values from previous generations.
Until now. Using a large nationally representative sample of young people surveyed since 1976, an article in the Journal of Management (published by SAGE) compared the work values of GenY (born in the late 1980s) to those of GenX (born in the 1970s) and Boomers (born in the 1950s) at the same age. This unique design using data from the past and present allowed the authors to identify differences due to generation and not to age or career stage.
Striking differences emerged for valuing leisure. GenY was much more likely than previous generations to say they wanted a job with an easy pace and lots of vacation time, and less likely to want to work overtime. They also saw work as less central to their lives and were more likely to agree that "work is just making a living." At the same time, they placed more importance on salary and status. In other words, the younger generation wants to have their cake (big salaries) and eat it too (work-life balance).
Press accounts often mention that GenY wants to help others and have a positive impact on society, but the study found no differences in preferences for jobs that helped others or were worthwhile to society – GenX'ers and Boomers embraced such values just as much when they were young. GenY supposedly want interesting and fulfilling jobs where they can make friends, but analyses showed that GenY actually values these things less than previous generations.
These findings have practical implications for recruiting and retaining the young generation. Programs allowing employees to volunteer to help others during work hours or that emphasize social good will be no more successful now than in the past.
"Company programs focusing on work-life balance, relaxation, and leisure, however, fit GenY's values well," writes lead author Jean M. Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of the book Generation Me. "With more and more GenY'ers entering the workplace, these findings provide implications for the recruitment and management of the emerging workforce."
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Co-authors on the study included Stacy M. Campbell, a management professor at Kennesaw State University, and Brian Hoffman and Charles Lance from industrial-organizational psychology at the University of Georgia.
The JOM article "Generational Differences in Work Values: Leisure and Extrinsic Values Increasing, Social and Intrinsic Values Decreasing" is available for free for a limited time at http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/rapidpdf/0149206309352246v1.
The Journal of Management (JOM) is committed to publishing scholarly empirical and theoretical research articles, that have a high impact on the management field as a whole. The journal encourages new ideas or new perspectives on existing research. The journal covers such areas as strategic management, organizational behavior, human resource management, organizational theory, and entrepreneurship. http://jom.sagepub.com JOM is the official journal of the Southern Management Association. http://southernmanagement.org/
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com
Members of the media qualify for free access to this and 560+ other SAGE journals. Contact Jim Gilden (jim.gilden@sagepub.com) for further information.
Been there already. Still in the barrel. 60+ hour work weeks, working in all weather conditions, indoors and out, between -25 and +120. But at the end of the day, I don’t have to wonder if my job will be there tomorrow or if some young pup is gonna want to jump in and take it away from me.
What jobs would those be? In my opinion, any job "helps others" and is "worthwhile to society" if it earns its way in a free economy.
That excludes many government jobs, most do-gooder-type nags, the majority of teachers, etc. Be an auto mechanic and be proud of it.
Again, when I was still in the Navy as a recruiter, most (not all, but most) kids would look down on someone like me who worked with their hands and wasn’t afraid to get dirty. Most of them thought they would go to college, get a degree in underwater basket weaving, then immediately get a corner office with a $100K salary. Hopefully some of them grew up when reality punched them in the mouth. But in my field, you don’t exactly have people beating down the door to get in, which is strange considering the pay, benefits, and job security I have are pretty damned good.
Look at the generation that raised these brats!
Well, I’m not a boomer or an “X”-er, having been born between those eras (if you count the boomers as ending in 1964 and the X-ers as 70’s on.) My dad was just before the boomers, but I never learned anything but a 100 percent work ethic from him. Made it a lot easier when I joined the Navy, and a lot easier now back in the civilian world.
My experience is that this Generation thinks they know everything, really know nothing and expect us to pay them handsomely for the favor of their presence alone.
Moral hazard? There is a variance in any group. So maybe GenY is skewed a little bit one way or the other. But like every group it has its work-a-holics, its risk-takers, and its spoiled brats.
The smart employer will cherry pick from the group the people who will be the best workers. The workers who are left, who are not the best workers, will be left with the employers who are not the smartest employees.
We see that being played out right now. There is currently a huge number of job openings in most all fields, despite the media fixation on unemployment. The good employees are playing musical chairs, leaving their current job and thus creating an open chair, in order to fill an open chair in a better position in the game of musical chairs. Those who really want to work see the many chairs that open during the game of musical chairs and move quickly for the open chair they have had their eye on.
Those less motivated to work see all the chairs that are not empty and use that as an excuse to not make a serious attempt to grab one of the open chairs.
This game of musical chairs will treat GenY no different than other groups. And it should be noted that this applies not just to generational groups, but to racial/ethnic and philosophical groups.
While the anti (illegal) immigrant voices complain about the illegals taking all the good jobs the game of musical chairs continues with many chairs opening and being filled by those who really want to work and by those who don't spend their time blaming others to avoid persoanl responsibility for their situation.
The researchers are missing the point. People are not stupid. They tend to do what maximizes value.
Baby Boomers saw maximum value in 9-to-5 jobs, with both men and women working. They began adapting to the idea that unlike their parents, they would probably not have lifetime jobs from a given employer, so had to make alternative arrangements for retirement. And by the end of their “wave”, taxes had been so increased that women’s work just paid the taxes, and did not make any additional money for the family.
Generation X’ers went for a different value set. Just grinding out time on the clock went against their desire for greater efficiency. When they wanted to work, they wanted to work hard and get the job done. But when the job was over, they wanted to go to the next job, not just push memos and drink coffee. They had lost any expectation of being supported by their employer, or government, for that matter, in retirement. It was a race against the clock to make their own prosperity.
Generation Y has reached the profound conclusion that the game is rigged against them. They saw how the X’ers worked hard and ended up losing their shirt to a disreputable government and their employers. They are also more than aware that they have to enter the work force with a college degree, but this effectively means that there is no way they *can* become prosperous, because they would spend half their career just paying off their debt.
So what are their alternatives? If they play by the rules, they will never be able to afford a spouse and children, much less own their own nonsensically inflated home. They have no retirement at all, and know that the government won’t help them a bit, since it is more broke than they are.
Boy howdy, are these some motivators for hard work. So why not start work with the idea of having your retirement up front? Since no matter what you do, you will be *cheated* out of your real retirement, and have to work until the last day of your life, why pretend otherwise?
Between an utterly reprehensible and spendthrift government, doing everything in its power to bankrupt and steal from the future, and employers with utter disregard for their employees, other than as “headcount”, why bother?
It is obvious that we are all headed into another, possibly even Greater Depression. Our currency and savings will be used like a stick to beat us, and what isn’t outright stolen or taxed away will be worthless.
So I don’t blame Gen Y one bit. If they want to join with Gen X to throw the elderly baby boomers off high cliffs, rhetorically speaking, I will not be surprised.
If so then I see this as a good sign. The older mentality of one-company employment with a guaranteed pension was an illusion/myth worth losing.
The bottom line is that you can't reform a disfunctional organization from within. What you can do is leave and that's easier to do with such as defined-contribution pension plans.
My thought too, party now because with all the crap in DC going on, they've got no future.
"...However, most of these discussions are based on perceptions and anecdote rather than hard data,..."
Well, anecdotal evidence is still evidence. We all know what we see with our own eyes, and that is this: The character, values, and work ethic is noticeably poorer in younger people, as a demographic, than in older people. Sure, There are lots of hard-working kids out there, but as a percent, it is lower than my generation, and WAY lower than my elders.
I have said before and still believe that if we are going to have a Civil War in this country we had better do it sooner or later, as these slacker kids are going to be less than useless when TSHTF: "What, you want me to be an ammo bearer? No way dude; I signed up to be a fighter pilot. This is bunk, man, where's the bong?"
Thank you. I am a Gen X’er with my own business after leaving corporate america for good. I have watched my older siblings get screwed by cash balances and taking away of promised benefits at IBM. If I stayed at FDX I would have been in the same boat for sure.
Generation Y kids really do understand there is zero loyality in corporate america and even with our Government, hence the lack of care in mass by that generation. They have watched mom and dad get whacked left and right by corporation and the government while the top executives take huge money based on titles and not results. Then you have a Government with two parties that care nothing about the average family.... no wonder they don’t care. I am ready to cash out and leave America for good. I owe it to my kids. They can choose later in life if America is worth investing in or not. I am done.
I understand. When I was in my previous employment, I observed that “professional” employees - most of whom had nothing to do with what the company actually produced - thought they were superior to the people who had spent 20 or 30 years developing products, selling, working with customers, etc.
Both types of employees are necessary, of course, but I think the prestige ought to go to the people who “do the business,” as it were, not to the overhead-type employees.
I agree. These people make it much easier to distinguish yourself.
I saw the start of this in the Navy though, I distinctly remember my Chief (this was shore duty mind you) say, “I’m doing you folks* no favors by cutting the work day so short”. But we always made sure we got our stuff* done and covered our Chief’s toosh*.
And yes, my first 36 hour workday was in the private sector was a wake up call, but only a wake up to life on the f’ing* boat.
*insert salty language here
**also if my CPO, SCPO, MCPO (or hell random noob) ever tried to engage in a ticklefight with me, he was getting punched in the face. Multiple times.
You forgot access to Facebook and Twitter
Not to mention let’s see if we can stuff all of Engdiv into the Lab. The answer is Yes.
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