“So is this the Laziest Generation? There are signs that its members benefit from lower standards. Technology has certainly made life easier. But there may also be a generation gap; the way young adults work is simply different.
It’s worth remembering that to some extent, these accusations of laziness and narcissism in “kids these days” are nothing new — they’ve been levied against Generation X, Baby Boomers and many generations before them. Even Aristotle and Plato were said to have expressed similar feelings about the slacker youth of their times.”
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It’s funny you should bring this up. I’m in touch periodically with former coworkers who are still working for local gubment. As supervisors and mgrs, they interview a lot of Gen Y who come to the interview with visible tatoos and piercings and their phones texting them constantly. Since many entry-level gubment positions’ duties are primarily assisting the public, the gubment has strict dress and appearance codes for these employees who serve all generations of the public. The Gen Y group seems to think its okay to come to work in jeans with bullet holes and a skin-tight tank top or micro miniskirt and I am hearing that even after hire and being given a strict dress code that they have to sign, some of these workers still have to be sent home periodically to re-dress and remove their facial earring(s). Of course, having to send an employee home to come back later is disruptive to the work schedule of the department or section they work in.
To me, this is a downright lack of respect on the part of these young workers who should be ecstatic to have a steady job in this economy. Employers seem to be giving them a lot more rope than they did previous generations (especially on probation) because they apparently don’t have too much else to pick from for these jobs :=0
I’ve also heard that Gen Y balks at getting written performance evaluations but that is how the gubment covers its a$$, since it can only discipline or terminate an employee for cause (after probation is served).
By the time all the boomers have left the workplace, perhaps (the younger) Gen Y will have matured enough to understand the “lay of the land” and follow it, unpoliced.
