Seriously? You’re asking for data that people have always bitched about their jobs? For fuck’s sake. If you must, Gallup finds the number of people “completely satisfied” with their job to have risen dramatically between 1989 and 2014, and the number “somewhat” or “completely dissatisfied” to be constant.
Apparently they don’t have a roadmap to adulthood and it isn’t their fault.
I like the Guardian, but they have been doing a spate of millennial articles, including one about why we should stop labeling millenials millenials, which is making me a bit grumpy, stabby and getoffmy lawny. I think the millenials has become the Guardians version of the Daily Fails does/does not cause cancer schtick.
As opposed to what, serfdom? The days of the Industrial Revolution?
Things aren’t ideal, but they’re better than before.
Well, that’s a data point, a pretty weak one, but tomorrow I’ll give cites that show another side to things. Perhaps you’ll be able to convinnce me that your first point was valid, perhaps not.
The expectations employers have of workers of workers is different and the expectations workers have of employers has also changed. I think most of these changes are just rational outcomes that have developed through the changing needs of the market.
The average american will have 9 jobs between the ages of 18 and 32 -
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-04-23/the-new-rules-for-the-modern-workplace
Freelance is becoming the new norm, in large part due to a change in companies’ willingness to hire.
Many companies, even older traditional companies such as google and PWC are embracing these differences, and adapting to take advantage of them.
http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/managing-tomorrows-people/future-of-work/managing-millennials.jhtml
Personally I’m all for initiative or innovation. If you find another way of doing something which produces the required results, great. The issue arises when you don’t produce the required results. There’s a reason why “standard practice” procedures exist.
Those metrics are directly related to your hours the following week. If the metric isn’t met, you, the PT worker, will have your hours cut. You’ll be angry about that because no hours = no money. You, along with your fellow PT coworkers, will grouse about it. No matter how many times I point out the metric and amount of work done vs. not done, you’ll either 1) not get it or refuse to get it, or 2) see the light and buckle down the next time you’re scheduled. Or maybe this job simply isn’t for you and if that’s the case, then I don’t want you either.
That makes sense since a smartphone is, at its core, a portable computer. Before smartphones staying late was imperative in some industries. I’m willing to bet, though, that you cannot perform every single job-related program on your smartphone and that you’re going to have to stay late at some point because of a project or what-have-you.
See #3.
There’s nothing wrong with work and play being mutually exclusive. Work is work and play is play. When I walk though those doors on Monday morning I need to be an “edgier” version of my usual self in order to get whatever needs to be done done. I’m not the only one either.
Just remember we’re the workers who paved the way for your privileged backside.
It’s also your priviledged backhanded attitude which raises ires like mine. Give me lip and I’ll give it right back to you.
And no, I’m not going to say get off my lawn either.
Good luck in your job search. You’ll need it.
Peter Gibbons: The thing is, Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.
Bob Porter: Don’t… don’t care?
Peter Gibbons: It’s a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime, so where’s the motivation? And here’s something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
**Bob Slydell: **I beg your pardon?
Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.
Bob Slydell: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired
Except that Peter Gibbons is a stereotypical Gen-X IT employee.
Broad brush warning: a few observations about my younger colleagues and direct reports are that many seem to have cell-phone syndrome. And I don’t mean they talk on them all the time, but they talk as loud as if they were on them all the time when they’re using a conventional phone. They also seem to have less respect for the people around them when it comes to noise control. Almost all our work is done virtually, so most of us are on the phone for meetings all day. 9 times out of 10 it’s the younger men and women who sit around with their speaker phones on in the cube farm. Also, they seem to expect promotions far more quickly than others. If they did a good job on a project, I’m sometimes asked, “So, when will I move up?” You’ve been here 6 months and I give you a kudos and suddenly you’re eligible for promotion?
One of the things I do appreciate about our younger crowd though is that they almost force the rest of us to work less. I don’t like it when people “not my job” me. Nor do I appreciate it when people think it’s acceptable to come in late and leave early. But I do appreciate people who value work-life balance, which is a HUGE, HUGE problem in my company (it was rated one of the worst companies to work for in the US).
I also like that the younger colleagues of mine who do come into the office (many telecommute) tend toward non-traditional meetings, like walking meetings or standing meetings, for in-person discussions. I’m chained to my desk sometimes 10-12 hours a day. Having a chance to get up for a reason other than to pee is nice. My older colleagues often look at me like I’ve grown another head if I suggest something other than a meeting at a desk or in a conference room.
Waitaminnut. Google is an “older traditional compan[y]” now? 
And I guess PWC = PricewaterhouseCoopers(a staffing agency) so I suppose you’re talking about the overall workforce including more and more millenials, which is … obvious, I’d think, as the older workers age out and retire.
Yeah, some terrible posting on my part. I tried to edit it but missed the window and just gave up:(
I’m even worse than those millenials.
Impossible!
Sure, but what the OP is describing is more or less what Peter’s describing, minus the part about eight bosses.
If they bust their asses, show up on time, etc… there’s nothing in it for them relative to slacking and showing up late. And the only real fear they have is losing their jobs.
So they work just hard enough not to get fired.
That part’s universal; I suspect it’s always been the case wherever someone’s paid to do work and doesn’t have a reasonable stake in the company.
IMO, that’s why companies make so much noise about “The Company X Way” and all sorts of other corporate-culture BS- they’re basically trying to guilt/fear the employees into giving them something (more work, more dedication) for nothing (no raises, no more loyalty, same working conditions).
Er… huh? Who cares about giant plug earrings? At most it’s probably a lazy editor’s ill-conceived notion of visual shorthand for “young people these days.” I wouldn’t at all ascribe bias to the article based on such a thing, especially since the Web is full of articles on the same subject, almost none of which feature any visual or other references to giant plug earrings. 
Maybe you’re the one who’s biased if you think such a thing matters in most work settings?!
Bit of anecdotal, just for the record. I know three people with gauged ears. One is 42 and the others are closer to 40 than 30.
It’s not hard to find material online that is truly biased “against” millennials, so I could understand a certain amount of sensitivity to that possibility. To me, the article wasn’t biased in such a way.
I think this is a really awesome thing about that generation. I’ve been hoping for social mores to shift in that direction for-freaking-ever, so I’m psyched about it.
A nice defense, from author Elizabeth Gilbert, of “teenagers”, so either the youngest Millennials or the leading edge of the succeeding generation:
Ok, FINE, you’ve convinced me. I’ll actually read the friggin article and see if has any validity.
My wife and I are renting our old apartment to a millennials age couple. They do seem a bit needy. The heat doesn’t work right (and yet it worked right when we lived there for ten years and seems to work fine the three times I checked it), the hot water pressure isn’t as high as we’d like (it’s fine).
The latest is the upstairs neighbors make too much noise and the building management won’t do anything about it. I’m not your neighbor’s landlord and I don’t own the damn building. Do what I used to do. Go upstairs yourself and ask them to shut the fuck up or call the police who will be happy to fine them for violation of local noise ordinances.
I’ll never understand that attitude. Hell I gave a two week notice when I left my fast food job at age 18. Even working for a temp service I did my best in every assignment.