The Rumor Is That Millennial’s Wear Flip Flops To Work
Jasmine Flowers January 14, 2008
Over the past year I have read several articles about the war for talent and preparing for the generation gaps that will occur as more Millennial’s enter the workplace. Unfortunately, most of what I have read was not the most positive perceptions of the Millennial generation. In simple terms, we are unmanageable, high maintenance, and have a sense of entitlement. As a Gen-Yer I didn’t take too much offense to what was being said about my generation because I think it is all part of the growing pains towards bridging the gap between generations. However, recently I read an article in HR Magazine entitled, Generation Gaps: Millennial’s may be out of touch with the basics of workplace behavior, which I found to be especially interesting.
According to this article, not only are Millennial’s unmanageable and high maintenance but we are also a flip flop wearing, illiterate, hypersensitive, non-critical thinking generation. The article utilizes a few examples and observations that may indeed be true but are in most cases the extreme and not the norm. Some of the points that I found most interesting were in regards to written communication, accepting and giving criticism, and critical thinking skills.
Regarding written communication, apparently “millennial’s are so accustomed to using shorthand for text messaging that they may not remember how to spell words correctly…the impression you give when you use shorthand is illiteracy.”
On the topic of criticism, the author talks about how we are a generation that grew up during a time where “there was a trend to not correct children’s mistakes to preserve self-esteem”; as a result Millennial’s did not learn how to take criticism well. The article also blames our inability to accept or provide criticism on the increase of narcissism in society. The author managed to parallel the increase in narcissism to more aggressive millennial’s as it relates to experiencing insult or rejection.
The final interesting observation was regarding our lack of critical thinking skills and that we have a “see, do” mentality. This meaning that “on the job, the person becomes dependant on what other people, computers, or machinery tell them to do.” Apparently, now we are just robots in the workplace, we “watch Rescue 911 and Cops and think this is just like the one I saw the other night, only it’s actually happening, and they don’t know what to do.”
I am interested to hear from others on this topic. Are the points made by the author of this article valid or completely void of facts?
Posted in HR Consulting, Human Resources, Recruiting, Recruiting Consulting, Retention
January 14th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Some old hack is judging newbies from the point of view of his own experience. He was probably a loser when he first started, too.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
For the most part, I give articles about “generational differences” as much credence as I do astrology.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:33 am
I just read the article and I completely agree with Recruiting Animal…
January 16th, 2008 at 7:06 am
As a millennial these characterizations are painful to hear. Unfortunately, like most stereotypes, this one has some basis in fact. It seems like the slacker exception that wouldn’t be tolerated in our parent’s day has become the norm in our generation. The up-side is that those millennials that are driven to succeed shine all the brighter in contrast to their “peers.”
January 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Millennials will be bored in most workplaces. Creative thinking is difficult to reward without arousing jealousy of co-workers. Also, the use to technology (always looking at cell phones and black berries) is not accepted by older generations, especially in meetings.
January 21st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
As a millennial, I find it rather absurd. At the same time, some people do take things to an extreme - poor spelling (or text message spelling) can be annoying, even (especially) to me, but I haven’t seen much evidence of this in the professional world. Anyway, it’s just an older generation not understanding how a younger one operates - we’re different, but that doesn’t mean we’re not as capable.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I interview and hire lots of millennial’s in both professional and industrial jobs and recently have had some interns that were unbelievable. I think this article was unfair in it’s one sided judgment. I will say that I sometimes find recent college grads to be a little unrealistic about starting salary. And more often than not I have to coach them about work history. Sometimes no matter the offer or how tough the job is you need to show commitment. I have interviewed many people that think 6 months is a real track record. Being from GenX I remember the same sort of unsavory information about us, the original slacker generation. Each new generation is an experience in change. We brought these kids up catering to them, moving our schedules to accommodate whatever interests they had, gave them technology in the crib, and told them they could do anything. Now we can’t turn around and complain that these people always want accommodation when actually it’s the very people that wrote that article that raised them to be that way. I appreciate the focus on work/life balance in this generation.
Kel
February 7th, 2008 at 7:42 am
I have worked for a recruiting firm for the past 6 years. I can’t say that I have seen it all but I have seen Baby Boomers who are unreliable, Gen X’ers with long track records of steady employment, and Millenials who are incredibly dependable and reliable. But overall, that is not the case. I think that our job is to find the “diamond in the rough” and find them a great fit. Right now the workplace is being run by Boomers and the occasional Traditionalist and the Millenials don’t fit into that. In a few years the workplace itself will evolve and we won’t be hearing so many complaints about flip flops. Good Luck Millenials, hang in there!
February 8th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I recruit advertising people, and they have to pay their dues now just as they did in the previous generations. I am a Gen-X guy myself, and fought the “slacker with short attention span” stereotype. Plain and simple, today it’s still: pay your dues or we’ll find someone who will.
The biggest difference I see with Millennials today is the affect of technology on their social and working lives. Previous generations relied more on other people to teach us the information we needed to live and work.
Millennials have always had information at their fingertips, and they don’t need a Ph.D to publish. Just look at facebook or myspace or blogs like this. They say the same things to their friends we did, except they now do it in a forum for everyone to see.