Posted on 03/03/2005 8:28:35 AM PST by Ace of Spades
Some call them slackers. Others are more diplomatic. But whatever the moniker, "Generation Y" associates are getting a bad rap for what some say is a flabby work ethic and an off-putting sense of entitlement.
Attorneys from Generation Y -- those born in 1978 or later -- are plenty smart and generally well educated, say firm leaders and industry experts. But these young attorneys also are lacking in loyalty, initiative and energy, so the criticism goes.
well, they are entitled and you can't push entitled people around. There is a fine difference between an air of entitlement and a determination to be independent.
I don't know why anyone should be surprised about this generation-Y feeling entitled to everything. They have been told from day one that what they feel is far more important than what they do.
I don't know, it looks to me like employees' sense of entitlement to a work/life balance is colliding with corporations' sense of entitlement to undying employee loyalty.
More like: "Hard work is beneath them. They think they're too smart". They're satisfied they have the credentials and not what they do with them.
We just can't get the 90 hours of billing time a week like we used to. They keep demanding time to eat and sleep and some even want their own office. I don't understand why they don't like working on card tables together. Next they will want windows. They are just spoiled.
I suspect in a few years, you'll find most of gen Y running their own little Mom'n Pop businesses. That's not a bad thing, is it?
I wonder how many of these people took their bachelor's degree in Victims Studies?
Dagnabit, born in 1979... I guess Im a Entitled Gen Y-er.
"I suspect in a few years, you'll find most of gen Y running their own little Mom'n Pop businesses. That's not a bad thing, is it?"
Not at all.
There's a reckoning coming for corporations. The retirement of the Baby Boomers is going to create a huge brain drain in this county (and not all in jobs you can ship to India), and younger people, after seeing the older generations suffer through layoffs and downsizing, are less likely to give their undivided loyalty to the Company.
actually loyalty to the company is in my opinion a bad virtue seeing as how they can lay you off in 5 minutes. I tell young people that your loyalty is determined by your contract. If they give you a guarantee that you will not be laid off without 1 year's notice, you owe them the same. The days of employers taking advantage of employees is over.
That said, I am not firm on my evaluation of the gen y. Some of them are determined to have more balanced lives that their parents and that is fine, long as they know they won't get the same financial rewards that enabled them to have tuition paid, trips to Europe and "all the advantages". It is not wrong to decide you want more life and less job long as you know less job means less rewards.
"actually loyalty to the company is in my opinion a bad virtue seeing as how they can lay you off in 5 minutes. I tell young people that your loyalty is determined by your contract. If they give you a guarantee that you will not be laid off without 1 year's notice, you owe them the same. The days of employers taking advantage of employees is over."
Loyalty to the company ended a long time ago. I don't quite think the companies have figured it out yet, though. If you're not going to give loyalty to your workers, you shouldn't expect any back. It's that simple.
"Some of them are determined to have more balanced lives that their parents and that is fine, long as they know they won't get the same financial rewards that enabled them to have tuition paid, trips to Europe and "all the advantages". It is not wrong to decide you want more life and less job long as you know less job means less rewards."
That's exactly the trade-off I and others I know have decided to make. I've seen what the pursuit of wealth has done to others... I know some people who became very well-off working for companies, but none of them are really happy and ALL of them have gone through divorces. If I have to give up the extra car and trip to Europe in order to be happy, so be it.
Generation X went from 1964 to 1978? That is a small generation. Are we still in Generation Y, or have we moved on to Generation Z. What's after Generation Z...Generation AA?
I thought generations were 20 years. '45 to '64 is generally considered to be boomers, '65 to '84 then should be Gen X, '85-'04 should be the range for Gen Y, this year should be the start for Gen Z, or whatever the hell the baby boomers want to call it.
"We just can't get the 90 hours of billing time a week like we used to. They keep demanding time to eat and sleep and some even want their own office. I don't understand why they don't like working on card tables together. Next they will want windows. They are just spoiled."
Bingo! Too many law firms are just sweat shops that squeeze every hour they can out of young attorneys, burn them out and then discard the spent husks and replace them with fresh meat they've gotten the law schools to crank out.
Once upon a time, there was a sense of community in the workplace. In too many workplaces, the management attitude is now "The beatings will continue until morale improves."
I am not in the legal business but I have employed Gen Y folks. (broad brushstroke) Whereas, Boomers are more likely to be money mongering, dual income, drop-off-the-kids-at-day-care, drugged out (see "anti depressants"), debt ridden, frantic, treadmill running, disorganized, collectivist, peer driven, maniacs, Y-ers tend to be more balanced, single income, one-parent-stay-at-home, sober, pay-as-you-go, measured, even paced, well organized and efficient, individualist, God driven, average folks. (/broad brushstroke). Clearly, there are exceptions, but my general mangement experience employing people ranging from near-retirement Boomers to early-in-career Y-ers suggests this to be the overall picture. Oh and one other thing, since more Boomers have gotten divorced than any other generation, male Boomers who are indeed divorced have no choice but to earn as much as they can without falling dead, simply in order to pay alimony and child support while paying all their other bills.
Ah yes, the slacker moniker. Translation: We baby boomers are now 60 and still in denial that we are no longer young, so we are going to slam the next generation with the same label we trashed the X'ers with.
It's the unbelievable hypocrisy that slays me. The boomer generation, except for the conservative minority, was the biggest screwoff generation in history. Many were pushing 35 before they even thought about getting a serious job, or even a job. Give me a break.
And company loyalty? Anyone heard of the 80's? The boomers invented company disloyalty. Besides, if the company is not loyal to you, why should anyone be loyal to them? If you want to play, you gotta pay.
Law firms are some of the biggest violators of labor standards.
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