Question:
Are Millenials really the whiny, entitled, spoiled bunch of brats I hear so many Boomers claim they are? I hear again and again they're lazy, expect to be given whatever they want, catered to, and on and on. Is there any truth to these generalizations or is it just a bunch of aging farts bitching about the younger generation?
I'm asking for real and I'd especially like to hear from a few millenials. I think there's a few on this site.
"Baby Boomers have certain expectations of young employees based on their own experience
Boomers entered a company and were expected to pay their dues in order to move forward. The understanding was if they started at a lower level role as an accountant, for example, and worked hard for the company for several years, they’d be rewarded with pay raises and promotions. If they stayed with the company long enough, they’d have a pension and a 401K.
This was the bargain struck between an employee and company in the old days: you work hard and in exchange, we’ll give you security and stability.
Now, Boomers expect Millennials to work for the same bargain. They think Millennials want to progress too fast and aren’t paying their dues, which comes off as lazy. Boomers also assume Millennials are flighty and don’t stay in their roles with any kind of commitment. What Boomers don’t realize is the other end of the deal they had, the end that’s supposed to be a payoff for the employee, isn’t there anymore.
It’s a whole new world out there, and Boomers have to recognize that if they’re going to successfully manage Millennials
They also have to understand what Millennials actually want.
Because Millennials don’t expect to stay with a company for the long-term, they might not even want to stay in the same city for the long term. For example, reports show that Louisville, Kentucky is becoming a popular city for Millennials to work and live.
As a result of this short-term mindset, Millennials’ interest is in what can benefit them now.
This doesn’t come from an inability to commit. It’s the result of massive turnover rates, an unstable economy, and a more competitive business environment.
What Millennials are learning from their work experience is they will inevitably get fired, let go, shut down, or need to look elsewhere for personal growth. They expect to leave a position in a very short amount of time, so they want to get paid competitively and want to take on more responsibility quickly. They treat work as a way to build their own professional equity and skill set as future bargaining chips so when it’s time to move on, they’re prepared."
It's the bitching of an older generation about a younger generation. An annoying trend as old as time Millenials tend to have to work MULTIPLE jobs to be able to make ends meet and do not have the economic privileges boomers had of a booming economy where ONE wage could support an entire family. Not to mention, the amount of selfish spoiled boomers or Gen x'ers is higher than those generations would ever admit to. Greed selfishness and being spoiled is not limited to young people. And in addition to that, WHO raised said younger generations to be greedy and selfish and spoiled?! The boomers and Gen X'ers that's who! Goodness forbid they take some responsibility for raising a generation so "poorly" they bitch and complain about.
But don't take my word for it. Here's some research top back up what I've said, which is worth more than anecdotal life experience I might add
Every generation thinks that the next generation are exceptionally selfish, whiny and incompetent. That is because they have forgotten how, selfish, whiny, and incompetent they were, when they were that age.
The delusion is compounded by the education systems of the world, who put out the myth that they turn out fully finished humans qualified for anything. When in reality life is complicated and it takes forty or fifty years at least to master all the skills, social and intellectual, needed to make a good fist of it, and some never make it. You have to cut the young some slack, because twenty years old is still a baby, and thirty is only a toddler, and it always has been so.
Amen!
People are all different regardless of their age. There are some selfish entitled kids and there are some amazing socially conscious ones. Some are hard working students or skilled workers, some are into substance abuse and crime. This generation had less opportunities than previous ones
Well I've heard that this is a similar perception to what older generations generally have of younger generations no matter the century or millennium. As a millennial myself, I think that there is some truth to this perception. Although, the thing is that if we look at the U.S. living conditions and economy over the span of decades, there are certain ways that older generations have had better access to the resources that they can better their lives with. One example of this is college, which was far more affordable the earlier the decade.
Who are you listening to? Generizations are just Dumb & usually there is a nasty hidden agenda involved.
It's an ongoing argument among some Boomer friends, several of whom keep making this charge against millenials. I don't know what they base it on other than some weird irrational hatred over that generation.
@Sgt_Spanky don't ALL older generations bitch about those coming up? Their hair/clothes/music, their "ethics" etc etc etc....meh!
@AnneWimsey That's what the argument has sounded like to me -- the older generation bitching about the younger one. I just wanted to confirm it sounded like that to others as well.
Sure, some millenials are that way. Some Gen Xers are that way. Some Boomers are that way. There's people in each generation that way. I don't think its fair to say that millenials are any worse than any other generation.
Boomers got upset if a black person used the wrong water fountain or sat too close to them and were scared that communists were hiding behind every tree and bush. Everyone who wasn't a straight white christian male was treated as a second class citizen at best and marginalized or persecuted at worst.
Millenials are probably the most progressive generation and the most open and accepting of other people.
Can you show me a generation that gets everything right? No, because it doesn't exist.
For the record, I'm a Gen Xer.
In my opinion this directly related to how they were brought up and educated by their parents in the ways of the world ,Those parents who did nothing of this most likely will end up with kids of those traits but those who have installed the right work ethic and attitude will have ambitious kids
Definitely not my experience at all. The older generations are handing down a cluster fuck and then wondering why the younger folks are having difficulties. Each generation is different. For the things my kids don’t do or know, there are as many new skills and demands that none had before.
I can't paint with broad strokes here, but I have only my own experience to go from regarding new workers in the last few years. It's not so much that they're lazy, and this doesn't apply to all by any means, but I've noticed that a lot of people entering the workforce, in their early 20s, don't want to do the lower-level work that builds experience. Nobody I knew from college when I was 22 years old expected a job in management fresh out of school, and none of them thought they should be telling seasoned employees at their new place of employment how to do their job. But in the last few years I've seen a lot of this: an unwillingness to work their way up the ladder, a bullying attitude when people don't do what they want, a dismissive and denigrating attitude when it comes to older employees who've done the job successfully for many years, crying (literally shedding tears) when told by a supervisor they aren't performing to expectations, and so on. Again, it's not all young workers — not even most — but it's a disturbing trend within the last five to ten years that I never saw earlier in my career. The thing is, though, that they're not typically lazy and are willing to work hard when it's on their own terms, but they don't want to do the tasks they see as menial. They're looking to start out in top-level positions (though hired for lower-level jobs), with authority and clout, not understanding the need for building experience. More than laziness, I'd say there's an attitude of impatience and a sense of entitlement among a sizable minority of new workers. And it often works to their advantage (which is a problem with management in general, but that's a separate issue of confusing unrestrained energy and enthusiasm for sound judgement and leadership). I'm not dumping on an entire generation, as most of the new entrants to the workforce I've had the opportunity to work with have been good, hard-working, and eager to learn. It's just a smaller number recently who think they have all the answers and that nobody else has anything to teach them, and they think they have the right to set policy and procedure on day one. Even some of the 20-somethings I've worked with in the last five years or so have noticed this mindset and have been critical of it.
I found an article that directly addresses the trends you may have noticed and the whys behind it. "It’s a whole new world out there, and Boomers have to recognize that if they’re going to successfully manage Millennials
They also have to understand what Millennials actually want.
Because Millennials don’t expect to stay with a company for the long-term, they might not even want to stay in the same city for the long term. For example, reports show that Louisville, Kentucky is becoming a popular city for Millennials to work and live.
As a result of this short-term mindset, Millennials’ interest is in what can benefit them now.
This doesn’t come from an inability to commit. It’s the result of massive turnover rates, an unstable economy, and a more competitive business environment.
What Millennials are learning from their work experience is they will inevitably get fired, let go, shut down, or need to look elsewhere for personal growth. They expect to leave a position in a very short amount of time, so they want to get paid competitively and want to take on more responsibility quickly. They treat work as a way to build their own professional equity and skill set as future bargaining chips so when it’s time to move on, they’re prepared.""
Being the father of 4 millennials and knowing them and their friends I’d say the above description is typical of the crap that permeates social media. I’m sure there are some that might may fit that description but to paint the entire generation in those terms is ridiculous.
My feeling exactly. I hear that stuff about them again and again and it strikes me as a lot of "these kids today" kind of complaints. There's good and bad in every generation.
@Sgt_Spanky True, but today the extremes are the norms, they for the most part think only in black and white, right and wrong, with right being judged on the criteria of only "how does this impact directly on me." rather than is it actually the right thing.