Yers won’t settle
As stressful as the last few weeks have been to anyone with a pulse and a 401(k), nothing’s been quite so disturbing to me as the inordinate number of times I’ve been asked, “With the economy the way it is now, will Gen Y stop being so demanding?” It may sound innocuous at first, but once you’ve heard the line a few times, it quickly becomes clear that what it really means is, “Now that you don’t have any choice, will you finally stop forcing us to do right by you and just settle like everyone else, for crying out loud?”
Well, thanks, folks. Good to know that, in all this turmoil, the silver lining for some people is the potentially broken Gen Y spirit.
But don’t start celebrating just yet. As a high-profile Los Angeles businesswoman told me last week, what said schadenfreuders don’t realize is that the outcome of the financial crisis may not be a defeated Gen Y, but a more determined one — determined, that is, to follow fulfilling work. “There won’t be any trust in companies,” she said. And the fact of the matter is, without that trust, corporate America becomes even less attractive to standout young employees than it was before the recession hit. The security that a Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch business card used to mean — never mind the cachet that they carried — began to evaporate as even those peers who chose the “stable” path of, say, financial services found themselves jobless. And as the list of the white-collar unemployed grows longer every day, it’s beginning to look like they’re gone for good.
Believe it or not, a paycheck doesn’t necessarily make up for all that. True, it may get a few young candidates in the door. It may even get them to stay a little while. But as today’s far more footloose Yers wait longer for spouses, kids, and mortgages — the trifecta of entrapment for the company men of generations past — they’ll be harder to corner. Every time they get a paycheck, they’ll be wondering if it’s their last. And they will always resent a company that uses that paycheck as a shackle — not to mention as an excuse not to improve the myriad other aspects of worklife — rather than as a reward for a job well done. So much so that the moment something better appears– whether it’s an NGO in Bangladesh, their own small business, or a plain old better job as the economy stabilizes — they will be out like The Flash.
So what’s a company do? (Besides advise managers not to hope for a generation of employees cowed by financial instability, of course.) It’s simple: See this time as an opportunity, not to snare young candidates while they’re down, but to distinguish your organization as one that can shine in difficult times and, as a result, attract and retain the very best employees. Yers are all about partnership, so talk to them about the challenges your company’s facing, and use those challenges to build that stirring startup energy that gets young hearts beating. And even when layoffs are a must, do them humanely, so all your employees can stay and go with dignity (and without saying mean but true things about you on every blog this side of Gawker).
As a Washington utility executive reminded me recently, Shakespeare wrote, “Sweet are the uses of adversity.” We Gen Yers are learning that, I think. Let’s see if the people in charge can, too.
I don’t know whether or not you’re right, but I’m not going to kill off your energy and idealism. Rock on, Nadira.
I agree that transparency and corporate responsibility are two major issues Millennials take into consideration when searching for a job, which is why so many of us “never settle;” why we denounce climbing the corporate rungs by taking on our own, independent approach.
A recession and layoffs are something no one should have to face, regardless of their generation, but Millennials specifically are dealing with not being able to find that first job out of school. If they do land a great entry-level position, they’re most likely the first to go if and when layoffs occur (who needs support-level employees when there’s less and less business to support?).
Millennials are determined. We’re witnessing first-hand what not to do with our lifestyles, careers and occupational goals. With work trends like telecommuting, the four-day work week and contracting professionals for individual projects, along with tech. advancements like Skype conferencing and microblogging, Millennials might stop pursuing their dream jobs, team up with each other, and start functional, fulfilling companies of their own.
I don’t have any hard data to back this up, only what I’ve seen lately, but it seems like Gen-Xers are getting much harder hit by this downturn. Gen-Yers are still young enough that they’re affordable to downsizing companies, and Boomers are in upper-level management at this point. It’s the Xers in the middle who are taking it on the chin.
Your mileage may vary. I’d be curious if there’s any DOL data to support or deflate this assertion.
Gen Y’s have created a better work place for all of us. Coming out of school during the last serious recession years (‘79) meant many baby boomers would do anything to get & keep a job — thank God things have changed… but not enough! Especially when technology has provided so much more opportunity for flexibility — and letting Moms balance work more easily — it’s a shame when backwards companies don’t utilize (or know how to?) the advances that make places like Google such a good place to work!
Its funny, I see that most of the old-timers can not make the most basic decision with asking their boss for permission. The opposition to any form of change appears to be embedded in their culture.
Y’ers are demanding because we know our “superiors” can not use the most basic software in the office. It is hard to show respect to inept manager. The whole idea of promotion due to tenure must be re-thought.
Thanks for this post N. In a few hours I will be joining the overgrown pool of GEN Y cast offs.
Thanks for this post N. In a few hours I will be joining the overgrown pool of GEN Y cast offs.
What a joke, another gen y analysis based on whimsy and self-importance. Guess what, you’re all about to learn about the partnership between insolence and unemployment.
“The outcome of the financial crisis may not be a defeated Gen Y, but a more determined one — determined, that is, to follow fulfilling work.”
I couldn’t agree more. I recently drew a similar comparison to journalism. Print media’s traditional climb-the-ladder philosophy has backfired with Yers who, rather than take the time to climb that ladder, circumvented the system and started their own blogs and sites. Now it is too late for most newspapers to bring this generation back. If corporate America can learn from this mistake (by following your advice), hopefully they won’t suffer the same fate as the print media.
“The outcome of the financial crisis may not be a defeated Gen Y, but a more determined one — determined, that is, to follow fulfilling work.”
I couldn’t agree more. I recently drew a similar comparison to journalism. Print media’s traditional climb-the-ladder philosophy has backfired with Yers who, rather than take the time to climb that ladder, circumvented the system and started their own blogs and sites. Now it is too late for most newspapers to bring this generation back. If corporate America can learn from this mistake (by following your advice), hopefully they won’t suffer the same fate as the print media.
Gen Yers need to realize that they’re not necessarily worth the trouble. I’ve hired many of them that work well, because they work with the company. But I’ve passed on more than a few because they brought mommy to the interview. If you can’t make a decision without your mommy, you’re useless in the real world.
Gen Yers need to realize that they’re not necessarily worth the trouble. I’ve hired many of them that work well, because they work with the company. But I’ve passed on more than a few because they brought mommy to the interview. If you can’t make a decision without your mommy, you’re useless in the real world.
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What started as a quirky Fortune cover story on Generation Y in 2007 has turned into a full-time job covering the fastest growing segment of the American workforce for Nadira A. Hira. But it's on The Gig that she's been able to speak directly to the much discussed, much maligned, and she thinks, very much underestimated Yers themselves, reflecting with them on everything from finding meaningful work to hiding meaningful body art. Herself a Yer, Hira has always been interested in engaging her peers, from her time writing for MTV News' Choose or Lose 2004 campaign, to her work spreading the Gen Y story as a speaker and television personality, from CNN to VH1 and back again. A recipient of the NewsBios 30 Under 30 award, showcasing business journalists on the rise, the would-be poet, sometime bartender, and professional sports fan, calls downtown Manhattan - and The Gig - home.
“Fulfilling work” is one thing (and really, is that a birthright of one generation?)…but couple that with a general lack of critical thinking skills and an oversized sense of entitlement, and you have yourself a really insufferable combination. Not all Gen Y’ers, of course, but a sizable minority that, to be fair, probably gives the rest a bad name.