# I hired a herd of Millennials
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 27, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113 "2015-03-27T14:21:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/1 "2015-03-27T14:21:31Z")
One of the departments I mange is our (customer-facing, 24X7) support desk. I’ve had a lot of turnover, mainly due to the staffing model I inherited (too few people working _way_ too many hours). I changed the staffing model to have a bunch of part-time college-aged people working all the night and weekend hours. For the most part, it’s working out pretty well. My full-timers are working a normal, 40-hour work week, don’t have to work nights or weekends, and aren’t being subjected to the stress and burnout-inducing nightmare of 60-80 hours per week like my predecessor had them doing.
The trouble is, managing Millennials is kind of a pain in the ass, at least for this Gen-X’er. They’re really high maintenance, they all seem to have a deplorable work ethic, think nothing of rolling in late and leaving early, they do as little actual work as possible, and waste even more time on the internet than I do (which is a _lot_). So, I’m reading up on how to manage Millennials, and a lot of what I’m reading is that my experience is typical, that Millennials tend to be narcissistic and lazy, and that I need to creatively work around that in order to manage them.
Anyways. Share your experiences, comments, etc.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/2 "2015-03-27T14:26:31Z")
I dunno. My kids are millennials and you described them perfectly.
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### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/3 "2015-03-27T14:30:09Z")
College students are Millenials now? What the hell does this term even mean? Also, “I have to work with young people and they’re annoying.” Terrific.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/4 "2015-03-27T14:31:53Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> College students are Millenials now? What the hell does this term even mean? Also, “I have to work with young people and they’re annoying.” Terrific.
New term to me too.
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### Author:  [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/5 "2015-03-27T14:34:25Z")
How would you have dealt with a 30-year-old acting like that, or a 40-year-old or a 50-year-old?
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/6 "2015-03-27T14:34:40Z")
I’ve never been a manager, but my first thought is “These are your hours, these are your duties. If you can’t comply with either, good bye.” That doesn’t work?
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/7 "2015-03-27T14:35:57Z")
You are likely their first employer. That means they need to learn to be employees. You can either let them sink or swim on their own or teach them to be employees.
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### Author:  [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/8 "2015-03-27T14:41:33Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#):
>
> They’re really high maintenance, they all seem to have a deplorable work ethic, think nothing of rolling in late and leaving early, they do as little actual work as possible
So, in other words, they are pretty much just like college students with part time jobs in every other generation… ?
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### Author:  [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/9 "2015-03-27T14:44:02Z")
> [@Robert163](#):
>
> So, in other words, they are pretty much just like college students with part time jobs in every other generation… ?
I don’t know. You tell me. When I was a college student, I worked my ass off. And despite my self-deprecating comments about wasting time on the internet, I _still_ work my ass off.
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### Author:  [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/10 "2015-03-27T14:47:27Z")
Aren’t Millennials people born in 2000 and after? Those are some young college students…
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/11 "2015-03-27T14:48:16Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> College students are Millenials now? What the hell does this term even mean?
“[Millennials (also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and ends. Researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials)”
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/12 "2015-03-27T14:49:56Z")
> [@Robert163](#):
>
> So, in other words, they are pretty much just like college students with part time jobs in every other generation… ?
Pretty much yes, but there are noticeable differences between generations. What I notice about the millennial grads is that they think their college degree is a golden ticket to an easy career. They don’t realize that once they get that high paying job after graduation that they have to actually work, and work harder then they did in college. The fun part is a few years out when they have to deal with the new grads themselves. I think that’s the point where they finally mature and realize how green they once were also.
Anyway, despite an occasional urge to tell them to get off my lawn, they aren’t all that different from my generation or any other. They’re young, some of them will continue to learn, improve, work hard, and be very productive people. Other won’t, and that all has been the same for every generation.
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### Author:  [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/13 "2015-03-27T14:51:01Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> “[Millennials (also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and ends. Researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials)”
Oh, we call those “80’s babies” around here. Usually with much derision 😃
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### Author:  [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/14 "2015-03-27T14:51:25Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#):
>
> I don’t know. You tell me. When I was a college student, I worked my ass off. And despite my self-deprecating comments about wasting time on the internet, I _still_ work my ass off.
So did I. But I’ve allways outworked 95% of the people I’ve ever worked with. In almost every job I’ve ever had the majority of the people were lazy and incompetent.
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/15 "2015-03-27T14:53:02Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> College students are Millenials now? What the hell does this term even mean?\
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> “[Millennials (also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and ends. Researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials)”
It just means you don’t want them on your lawn.
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### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/16 "2015-03-27T14:58:37Z")
> [@Robert163](#):
>
> So, in other words, they are pretty much just like college students with part time jobs in every other generation… ?
No. Every generation of students is better than this one. This will be true no matter when it was said.
> [@Crotalus](#):
>
> It just means you don’t want them on your lawn.
Ah.
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### Author:  [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/17 "2015-03-27T15:02:49Z")
I’m a Generation Xer too, and I remember people saying much the same things as unarguable truths about our generation when I was in my 20s. From the Wikipedia article on Generation X:
> [@](#):
>
> In 2011 “The Generation X Report” (based on annual surveys used in the Longitudinal Study of today’s adults) found Gen Xers, defined in the report as people born between 1961 and 1981, to be highly educated, active, balanced, happy and family oriented. The study contradicted the materialistic, slacker, disenfranchised stereotype associated with youth in the 1970 and 1980s.[18] Various questions and responses from approximately 4,000 people who were surveyed each year from 1987 through 2010 made up the study.[19] Clive Thompson, writing in Wired in 2014 claimed that the differences between Generation X and its predecessors, and followers had been over-hyped, quoting Kali Trzesniewski, a scholar of life-span changes, as saying that the basic personality metrics of Americans had remained stable for decades.[20]
So, basically, every generation thinks the next set of college-age kids is lazy, self-centred, spoiled, etc etc etc. Then the kids grow up and turn out just fine.
Forget when they were born. Don’t manage them like they’re a separate species. Just tell them what the job expectations are, and what the penalties are for not fulfilling those expectations. Then follow through. The basically sensible ones will do fine, and you’ll get rid of the basically useless ones.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/18 "2015-03-27T15:06:41Z")
> [@Robert163](#):
>
> So, in other words, they are pretty much just like college students with part time jobs in every other generation… ?
More like people in their first job, in any generation and location, since the first time someone actually got a job.
I’ve heard the same descriptions applied to people moving from day laborer or self-employed (cabbie, farmer…) to factory or office jobs, for example. Many of them had a strong work ethic, but not one which included such concepts as “being in the same place at the same hour every day for five days a week”.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/19 "2015-03-27T15:09:53Z")
nm. Shoulda refreshed before posting.
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### Author:  [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hired-a-herd-of-millennials/716113/20 "2015-03-27T15:11:19Z")
Too late for edit:
Are they working separately or in bunches? Because you seem to be going on the assumption that the shitty work ethic is uniform. If they all got hired at the same time and they’re working in a group, a few of them are going to be setting the tone for everyone. If there are a few who make it clear straight off that the point of this job is to goof off on the internet and talk to each other, rather than getting the work done, it’s very easy for the rest of the group to slip into that mode. If you can nip that in the bud, get rid of the real wasters and make it clear that that mindset isn’t going to fly, the rest may well shape up.
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