"Mils" In The Workplace: Re-Defining 20-Something

The Millennial Generation is almost certainly going to be a great Career Generation. But probably later in life than when prior generations began to make their marks on the American workplace.

An epochal moment has arrived in American life. Millennials are redefining - surely permanently - what it is like to live life in one's twenties.

First, the good news.

First-Wave (older) Millennials (in 2008, their age is 17 to 26) are much like their parents, who are mostly Baby Boomers: idealistic, empowered, and engaged. They are the September Eleventh and Hurricane Katrina Generation, so they're passionate about helping the less fortunate because it's the right thing to do. They think they're going to make a big difference in life on earth, so they're engaged in the democratic process. One of my newspaper clients, the Columbus (OH) Dispatch, after being trained in Generational Dynamics, reviewed the Central Ohio voting records from the 2004 general elections. Millennials had significantly outvoted older GenX in terms of the percentage of registered voters from each generation.

My corporate clients, whose management teams I train and consult in Generational Workforce Diversity And Human Resource Strategy, describe the positive qualities of their Millennial employees in this way:

"Tremendous spirit; eager to learn; tech savvy; media savvy, good sense of team-think; want their employer to be ethical and eco-friendly; have enjoyed very close relationships with their parents and thus have nice personal foundations"; dynamic, like the Boomers; care enough to speak up when they see something at work they think is unfair or wrong"; and other such praise.

But here's the big pivot that employers are now wrestling with as they hire these First-Wave Millennials:

Because this generation will live well beyond age 100, thanks to this Golden Era Of Anti-Aging research that is now in full bloom, Millennials know they're going to be working for 80 to 100 years! So...

What's the rush?!

Unlike prior generations that left school and instantly got serious about a career commitment, Millennials are using their first decade of adulthood to: (1) have some fun; (2) delay the serious commitment of marriage and parenthood (in 1970, American women married for the first time at age 20; today, it's 27 and climbing); and importantly, (3) sample jobs, sample professions, sample bosses, and sample cities in which to live, thus postponing serious commitment to an employer.

This new approach to 20-something life is called "Extended Adolescence". Or "Odyssey". Or "Emerging Adulthood". In other words, extended childhood.

And it's that third point, above - the sampling - that is frequently creating problems for American companies, many of which need a greater commitment from their late-teen or early-twenties New Hires than those extended adolescents are nowadays choosing to give.

The evidence is unmistakable. Millennials are showing less loyalty to employers than any previous generation of twenty-somethings, including job-hopping GenX (current age in 2008 is 27 to 43).

I received a recent phone call from one of the world's preeminent corporate-finance consulting firms. A senior executive on the other end of the line, from the company's Los Angeles office, said, "Help! Our company tends to hire high achievers when they reach about age 25, and we instantly invest more than ten-thousand dollars in their training. With this new generation, we're watching as they undergo our training, instantly type that training onto their resume', and bolt to the next job!"

My corporate clients around the country repeatedly say that Millennials don't want to work the pay-your-dues hours that entry level usually requires, that their generation often views overtime as an unacceptable intrusion upon their work-play balance, which is very important to them. And, this make-the-world-a-better-place generation is so eager to do meaningful and relevant work - and that's a good thing - that they sometimes consider entry-level assignments to be beneath them.

And because significant numbers of Millennials are living with their parents (a couple of years ago, a UCLA study found that 60% of America's college grads of 2005 were going right back home to live with Mom and Dad), if their new job is the least bit undesirable they can quit on a whim, knowing they still have food and shelter. Prior generations, living on their own immediately after their school days, didn't enjoy the same parental safety net.

Because this is the generation that has been told since birth by its over-protective and nurturing Helicopter Parents, "You are the center of the universe", Millennials also are beginning new jobs with wildly unrealistic expectations about pay and advancement and with a naive sense of entitlement. As one senior executive of a corporation that employs tens of thousands of Millennials told me, "Their attitude is, 'I want a lot from life and I don't want to work too hard to get it'."

So, for those employers that want to make a serious commitment to New Hires and request - but are not getting - a serious commitment in return, we might be looking at a major evolution in the American workplace.

In the future, we might find that, as 20-somethings use that first decade of adulthood to have fun and avoid serious commitments, job recruiters in certain industries might bypass them and permit them to flip burgers for a decade but then hire them in their late 20s or early 30s when they're finally ready to leave their Extended Adolescence.

Right now, most such employers are working diligently to avoid that extreme shift in their recruiting. My clients and I are exploring middle-ground, rather than "showdown" strategies, which include:

• Training management in the unique values and attitudes that Millennials are bringing into the workplace to minimize misunderstandings based on inaccurate
• Identifying - and training management in - bold new initiatives and strategies and workplace accommodations that WILL engender New Hire loyalty;
• And, training Millennials in realistic expectations and helping them to appreciate the affect of their job-hopping on employers.

But the new reality seems to be this:

20-something is no longer going to be adulthood. Because of our rapidly-increasing lifespan, this decade of life is going to be extended adolescence because it can be. First-Wave Millennials just happen to be the generation that is catching this new wave, just as Boomer women caught the Women's Movement wave, and just as Xers caught the computer wave.

And you know what? If employers and 20-somethings both understand this seismic shift, it should work much better than the traditional model. If young people are now going to commit to an employer at age 30, employers can make the necessary adjustments to their hiring. And having sampled for a few years, those 30-somethings will then probably make smarter decisions when accepting jobs.

But at whatever age it occurs, generational study indicates that the Millennials are going to be an energized, passionate, and magnificent Career Generation. Hail the Millennials....

Comments

[newsriffs]

Corporations' prime purpose is maximizing investors' profits. It is not to serve the public or the company employees. There is no "loyalty" to any other aim but maximizing profits.

Workers have been downsized, right-sized, laid off, stepped on and stolen from (" we raised our stock prices by cutting employee health benefits") as part of the standard business practice. Now businesses are asking for "loyalty"? They want team players to play for a team that has no loyalty to the players?

Businesses fire long-time employees after years of service, without any concern for them, but they're upset that some "millennial generation" kid is going to leave the company for a better job after they spent $10,000 in training?!

Businesses seem upset when the employees act in the same way as they do. Can't the worker also say "my purpose is to maximize my profits". If business expects each quarter to be more profitable than the last, then why shouldn't workers expect a raise every quarter? If they don't get it, let them take their experience and training to someone who'll pay more for fewer hours.

If employers feel no restraint in dumping the employer at first moment it seems profitable, why should the employee take any consideration of $10,000 worth of training, or some mock sentimentality towards a corporate entity?

[SisterAnn]

On a financial show several years ago, they said at the end there would be one business. It would be run by 2 people and a computer. One was a guy to keep the computer working and the other was a guy to keep the computer guy from 'messing' with the computer.

We need to think out of the box. If there are less jobs, then let's cut the hours each person works. Instead of a 40 hour week, let's have a 20 hour week.

Think of the time we would all have to enjoy life. Life has became too grim and stressful, just to fill the coffers of the rich.

One of my daughters lived with us a lot while she got her life together. She went to nursing school.

Stay out of debt and enjoy your life. For the first time in a long time, housing won't go up while you 'find yourself'.

[Frankthesalesforecaster]

Chuck,
Sorry to disagree but those "new" trends are the result of 2 old changes in our country. The first is the availability of meaningful birth control (fewer accidental household formations started the trend toward later & later first marriages.) The second change is the increase in affluence created by the jump in U.S. educational attainment that followed WW2 and the dramatic increase in two income households.
These 2 things (birth control/increased standard of living) have lead to a generation, born later, when their parents have enough money to allow the kids to live like landed gentry. Check out how rich kids in Brazil or France approach college, getting a job, and moving out. No hurry there either. AND...
From a darwinistic/attracting sex partners approach leasurely slacking is a clear and outward sign of superior genetic stock (7 years as an undergrad means you have a trust.)
Attracting sex partners aside, the drawback is that waiting to start working just delays the day you have compounded enough capital to tell "the man" to, ahem, excuse him or her self from your presence. That and the first decade of increase in life expectancy cost $100k, the second decade cost $184k, the third decade will cost close to $500k. It will take a lot of compounding to cover the cost of that 3rd decade. Waiting to work exposes one to the risk of not being able to afford that 3rd decade, and seems a vote of confidence that one's parent's wealth will last till it changes hands.

ps imho the first half of what you call first wave mill's aren't really the children of the "boomers." Their ethnicity mix is too minority. The fertility data by ethnicity would have the boomer's echo starting around 1985 with boomer ethnicity not being fully regained until 1989.

[Cathexis]

Young people don't have Company Loyalty? Don't exhibit a well-developed Work Ethic?

Good for them!

I am 50 and in Middle Management. I see on a regular basis how young people are overworked and underpaid until they finally jump ship. "Your reward for hard work? More work!" Yeah, I love that old chestnut. Only problem? They'll tell you that into your 40s, if you let them.

I see the lives of young and old compromised or destroyed by lay-offs that have nothing to do with their performance and everything to do with the CEO's stock options and new Lamborghini.

IMO, Company Loyalty was destroyed in the 90s, during the downsizing boom. Companies huffily informed people that "the old Social Contract (do good work and the company will take care of you) has been ripped up and they owe employees nothing." They quickly foisted off large swathes of Business Risk and Management Ineptitude on the rank and file, for their Corporate convenience and short-term bottom lines.

Only problem ... if Companies don't owe employees, why should employees owe companies?

Within 10 years, Corporations were singing a different tune about Company Loyalty. Now it was a good thing, again. Oh sure ... Companies would and should discard employees when convenient, but now, they assert, employees should do whatever it takes to make the company successful.

And now, when younger generations take a cynical look at Corporations and refuse to partake in the historic exploitation games ... now we're to believe there is something wrong with *them*?!?

No, sir. I suggest that maybe the Yoinger Generations are just a bit smarter or wiser than we have been and recognize a rigged game when they see one. As I have found, even "getting into Management" is no real reward and I bitterly resent every undeserved lay-off I've had to oversee, as well as every year when most or all of the staff gets no raise.

[TheWesternBreed]

As an old boss used to say: "I like to hire teenagers because they still know everything."

[Sundialsvc4]

I'm certainly no twentysomething (never mind!) but I, too, think that "briloker" pegged it.

As (s)he said, prices are much more expensive now, the dollar's worth a lot less, and this generation watched as their parents ... who believed the promises that THEIR parents did ... and who watched those promises get broken. They learned.

This changes the market for labor, just like it changes every other market. It's not a case where "they just don't get it." They're the new suppliers of labor and they're the ones who get to pay your retirement ... if you get one. The promise of "Social Security" proved to be an empty one, and as 'briloker' also aptly observed, it turned into a market for drugs. That generation has seen what those drugs have done to their parents.

It may well be that your entire "retirement nest-egg" is directly or indirectly linked to worthless securities. It has not escaped this generation's attention that YOU AND I may wind up ... destitute.

So, it's a sea-change. Promises and "earning your place" don't mean anything. There's neither the money nor the time. But necessity is the true mother of innovation, and these people are certain to come up with better ways to do things. In fact, they already have.

[erinwithane]

I partially disagree. I am 25 and I work in HR on the Compensation side for a fortune 500 Corporation. I can tell you that never in a million years would we ever hire anybody for any job with no experience for anything over 50K, and neither would anybody else. We can safely hire them at 37-38k because they can"t go anywhere and get more anytime soon. We pay what the market tells us we need to pay to be competitive with other company"s.
I live in an area of the country where the median home price hovers just over 100K, and you could get your condo here for 60K. I would say that the attitude most of these young folks have is not just driven by a high cost of living, because if that were the case it would not exist here, but it does. (Although I do think it adds to the frustration of college grads, and is why most of them moved back in with mom and dad.)
I can"t tell you how frustrating it is when we have applicants come in fresh out of college, with little or no experience just expecting to be handed a six figure job and a corner office. They just have no clue. They want the same lifestyle for themselves that their parents had but they have no idea what it takes to achieve that. I think in that respect parents and educators have failed them.
We want to hire them and extend to them great opportunities, but the jobs that they are often qualified to do right out of college is often an entry level, independent contributor, under direct supervision, with no policy making or decision making authority or responsibility, and that job is only worth 37k.
This is my generation, and I cannot believe how completely informed they are about some things, but at the same time so completely clueless about other things. My generation, I think is going to do many great and wonderful things, but we also need a more realistic perspective.

[realitytrumpsbull]

One of the problems with generational analyses
is that it's basically a protracted instance
of shift change. You WILL be replaced by the
next generation of biobots...who will in turn
be replaced by the next, and the next...only
difference is, kids graduating today and entering the working world are entering a world
of 6.6 billion people. Getting a little more
crowded. In their world, there have always
been home computers. The vast majority have
neither seen nor ridden a horse. Hopefully
they will grow up knowing a second language
but not have to learn a third at gunpoint.
Music is a digital file. There has always been
a space station. They may live to see a moon
base.

Or, or, the whole thing could go straight to
hell, schools falling apart, literacy rates
drop like a rock, dogs and cats living together,
worst parts of the Bible, and end of life as
we recognize it. Decisions, decisions...

[Desiderata]

Millennials: X-Gen payback to the 80s and 90s and 00s corporations that betrayed their workers to quench CEO greed.

[briloker]

I think you get some of it right and some wrong. I am a 26 Year Old with myself and many friends fitting the descriptions you give accurately. I have a couple of things to add.

Financially, I think we may be in a position that is unlike many other generations past. Housing prices and oil are at ridiculous levels. Expectations for pay and relevancy are driven by this. When I look at buying my first condo at $650,000+ and filling my gas tank for $50 a week, etc. I can't afford to wait around and work an entry level job UNLESS I'm supported at home by parents.

Secondly, growing up our generation witnessed many of our parents put in 15-20 years of Employer Loyalty only to lose their benefits, get passed over for promotions, have pensions taken away, etc. All in the name of producing better profits for corporations and stockholders. It's a dog eat dog world, and I am not giving my employer loyalty with no promise in return. Employee ownership plans and profit redistribution are good steps toward giving the employee a reason to be loyal.

Finally, its not just our generation that is realizing it is okay to put off serious commitment until later. Californians have led the way and its just starting to trickle throughout the rest of the county. Life is alot more fun if you don't make commitments until you are good and ready. Enjoy the moment and don't wake up at 60 regretting how much time you put into working for Enron and now relying on Social Security to buy you drugs.

[blueraven]

Um, GenX was labeled with having an extended adolescence in the 1980's. Your generation is hardly innovating that. However, it led to our being dubbed "slackers".