Another Frustrated Boomer
It seems that a lot of my work lately is around coaching Baby-Boomer bosses on how to work with the newest generation in the workforce – the twenty-somethings (AKA “Millennials”) – and teaching the twenty-somethings what no one ever taught them – how to get along in the world of work. On the same day last week, a health care professional and a chef/restaurant owner bent my ear about their frustrations with this youngest generation. What was not surprising was the usual rant about how much time many members of this generation spend on their cell phones either talking or text messaging their friends, their aversion to anything but positive feedback, the apparent lack of time management skills (“you mean deadlines matter?!?”), and their sense of entitlement. However, what I am beginning to hear more frequently is a frustration around the twenty-somethings’ lack of common sense and good judgment, the ability to “think”, and the extent to which they are totally self-absorbed. What both of these bosses told me last week was that each has to spend a great deal of time telling the millennial exactly what to do – long after they should know how to do their job – and that when something occurs that is “off-script”, the typical twenty-something becomes “fartoost” which is a great Yiddish word that means bewildered, disoriented, discombobulated, and otherwise seriously confused. Such behavior on the part of the millennial causes these two bosses to exclaim with great exasperation, “Don’t these people have a brain”.
I think they do. However, most are products of a seriously flawed education system where passing standardized tests has replaced helping students to learn how to think.
The tension between the generations in the workplace is increasing dramatically and the reality is that these twenty-somethings are the ones filling the pipeline of talented workers and future leaders as the baby-boomers retire. I am interested in hearing from others on not only their experience with generational tension in the work place, but also how we can better prepare twenty-somethings for the world of work AND how the world of work needs to adapt to this newest generation.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Hi John,
This is a response from our daughter Jane (age 28, working at Whole Foods for 8 years now, I think–while finishing her BFA degree and working as an artist as well); she said it was fine to share it after I forwarded the link to her:
How true. I think these folks are just slightly younger than Jonah and I- but I’m not sure how the issues can be solved. If it weren’t for their incredibly self-centered nature there might be a possibility of helping kids learn to think and reason for themselves, but the narcissism makes them
believe everything should be constantly laid out for them, re-explained, and any problems with results are then the fault of the supervisor.
And although the education system is at fault, I can’t help but place a good amount of blame on this generation’s parents. If these kids weren’t raised by television, video games, and the internet, they would have developed interpersonal skills, the ability to read body language, and better etiquette. It is also the parents’ responsibility to ensure that the education their children are receiving is the kind that will help them survive in the “real world”- and uninvolved/uninterested adults are at fault for not zoning in on this issue sooner.
These kids need discipline. Talking/texting on the clock is not acceptable, and if they don’t know that, they need to be told- in no uncertain terms. Many work ethic/efficiency issues are no longer common sense to the masses; I deal with this at my job daily. Although it is frustrating to have to describe seemingly obvious and basic techniques and expectations of labor, they will never learn or develop the skills without someone explaining why their methods are not sub par.
I think we’re all screwed, of course.
[She takes after her father in some ways.]