Are Millennials really Different? 5

[zdas04]

OK, we've heard it. And heard it. An heard it again--"millennials are different, they need different things from a workplace". A new study from Hay Research that looked at over 5 million employees finds it to be just another bullshit myth. Folks remain folks and the big difference between generations remains ... age. People in their 20's look at things differently from the way people in their 30's look at things. Always have. Always will.

Perceived generational differences are both nonsense and self-fulfilling prophecies (i.e., if you think someone needs to be treated differently, and you do, then they respond to the different treatment just like any generation would have). There is a story from Inc. Magazine about the study at A 5-Year Study Reveals the Truth About What Each Generation Wants in the Workplace (It's Not What You Think) The actual report can be downloaded at Hay Group Report

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[rb1957]

it's difficult (and misleading IMHO) to compare different generations at a snapshot in time. They'll be at different stages in their careers (or sequence of jobs if you prefer), achieved different things, aspire to different goals, and financially in different spaces, etc.

maybe more relevant is comparing how people have been treated at the same stage of their career. In the 80s new job starts were treated differently than new job starts today, and differently from new job starts in the 60s. The whole culture was different and so everybody's expectations were different. New starts today would not take kindly to being treated as new starts in the 80s, and no-one would (reasonably IMHO) expect them to. The same applies to mid career and later career people.

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[SuperSalad]

As you alluded to; the only difference between generations is their current ages. It never changes and never will. It is a hubris that comes with experience and selective memory that makes people think they were any different.

Andrew H.

http://www.mototribology.com

 

[zdas04]

MotoLuber,
I think that that is the essence of the article. Also the self-fulfilling prophesy element. If we give in to the hype and treat these little darlings differently then they will grow to expect different treatment.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[HamburgerHelper]

The world is different. How can any expect the people to not be? I don't buy in to all the mumbo jumbo but anyone that has had parents laid off so a company can hit its quarterly numbers will of course of a more skeptical view of corporations.

 

[bridgebuster]

The current issue of Informed Infrastructure had two articles about millennials in the workplace; neither were very insightful IMHO.

Link

 

[CWB1]

Genetics remain largely the same so although experiences vary our behavioral response does not vary too much over time. In the military I saw many instances of senior leadership counseling soldiers who got into exactly the same trouble 20 years after their leader did. Last evening I saw a 52 year old friend pull out his college skateboard to ride with my 28 year old wife. Thanks to a family of hoarders who saved letters, postcards, and old genealogy books I know that I share many interests with ancestors who lived more than a century ago, it seems naturally predictable that so many in the modern family went into the trades, industry, and engineering. Times change and new challenges occur but people don't IMHO.

Given recent history I for one am curious to see how millenials address many of the problems unsolved by previous generations. Technically I'm on the border of millennial and Gen X so am hopeful that many of these will be addressed in my lifetime however only time will tell.

 

[zdas04]

Genetics do remain largely the same, and when I pose problems to recent graduates that were posed to me as a recent graduate, I get similar results. Engineers today are not noticeably smarter or dumber than the Boomers or their predecessors. I played bridge with a 92 year old lady this weekend who had a dirty joke for every pause in the play. She was a hoot. She claimed that the trappings of wealth today have different manufacturers and models than they did in 1944 when she was 20, but that the difference is absolutely superficial. I have to say that if I compare 1973 (when I was 20) to today the differences are hugely superficial. A good engineering grad in 1944, 1973 or 2017 would have been good in either of the other dates. A whinny, sniveling born-victim in 1944 or 1973 would have had a higher likelihood of being fired out of hand than the same brat in 2017, but not by much, and that difference is just because we've been told over and over and over and over that these kids are "delicate snowflakes", which I see as pure nonsense.

I just finished re-reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (I read it every few years) and I'm always impressed that the human reactions in 1928-1935 are identical to current reactions. People don't change.

Also, if you apply a characteristic to a race, you are a racist. If you apply a non-biological characteristic to a gender you are a misogynist. If you apply a characteristic to an ethnicity, you are a xenophobe. And so forth. We are all quick to condemn stereotypes based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual preference, but at the same time we all rush to apply stereotypes to Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Y. Those stereotypes are just as stupid to apply to a generation as to apply them to a race. An individual applies pencil to paper (or fingers to keyboard), not a generation.

This is such a hot button for me because the professional societies that I belong to (SPE, NSPE, ASME, NACE) are all in the midst of the process of consuming themselves over the issue of "including millennials". The Society of Petroleum Engineers has put so much emphasis on "Early Career Development" that they have pushed everyone over 40 out of the local chapters and nearly pushed all of us out of the SPE. When I was chairman of local SPE chapter I made it a point to ensure that past chairmen were welcomed to the meetings and included in everything that they were willing to participate in. Two former chairmen went to a recent section meeting and the chairman "welcomed" us as "new members" because he had no clue what went on in the section before he joined 3 years earlier. I hear the same stories from sections of all of the societies I belong to all over the country. The focus on the new generation has pushed the last generation off the page.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[MFJewell]

Millennials are special. Their parents have told them so since birth.

 

[CheckerHater]

I guess that was the only thing their parents had to offer: Link

"For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert"
Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the future

 

[Maui]

Actually their outlook and behaviors appear to be very different from previous generations. For example,

•In 1975, 25% of men between 25 and 34 had incomes of less than $30,000 (adjusted for inflation) per year. By 2016, it was 41%.
•The number of young women ages 25 to 34 in the workforce jumped more than 40% between 1975 and 2016.
•Those young women saw their median income rise from $23,000 to $29,000 in the same time period, although men's remains $11,000 higher.
•Between 1975 and 2016, the number of young female "homemakers" dropped from 43% to 14%.
•1 in 3 young Americans lives with a parent or parents. Of those, 1 in 4 does not work or go to school.
•In 1975, far more young adults lived with a spouse than a parent. By 2016, more young adults lived with their parents than a husband or wife.
•41% of young families had a student debt in 2013, up from 17% in 1989 and the amount owed on those loans has almost tripled.
•Young adults are increasingly putting off children and marriage.

You can read about it here:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...americans-census-report-millenials/100640966/

Maui

 

[IRstuff]

The numbers don't necessarily tell the full story, as they imply that the entire cohort is doing worse. There are a small fraction in computer science that are doing as well as, or better, their Boomer counterparts from the 1970s. Many of them are likely to be doing better than their own parents within 5 years of graduation.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[CWB1]

The world may have changed but the people havent, drop a younger version of boomers or other generations in today's world and they'd be doing much the same as today's youth. That being said, it is my firm belief that younger folks in the US do have it far worse than any other generation in recent history due to rampant political and societal greed over the past 40 years. While I believe the first can be changed through bold leadership and proper legislation I often wonder about the second as that involves giving up personal entitlements that even many generous folks today seem set against.

 

[epoisses_]

"A new study from Hay Research that looked at over 5 million employees finds it to be just another bullshit myth."

I definitely agree with that. Whining about millennials just means you have become an old fart.

 

[controlnovice]

I'm not sure what the article is telling us.

First, that it's all a myth...but the video on the webpage pretty much confirms the idea that Millennials are different. They need constant reassurance that they are doing well(seriously...quarterly raises?).

The writer also lost me with:
"In light of the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, due to white nationalist groups espousing their hate and separatist ideologies, future leaders who will excel the most in our organizations will embrace diversity; welcome differing opinions, ideas, and expressions; and create an open environment that promotes mutual understanding, where people come together for a greater good."

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[zdas04]

I think what the whole article is saying (the part about Charlottesville kind of lost me too) is that people are people with similar basic abilities and weaknesses from generation to generation, but the social/political environment where they are operating does change. It is not so much that this generation is made up of delicate snowflakes as this generation has a large number of people who have been treated as delicate snowflakes and until they are disabused of their delicacy their first reaction to stimulus may be surprising to people of previous generations.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[FoxRox]

Doesn't it go without saying that genetics is not a factor? Is anyone saying that? Whatever we are or aren't, it is most definitely a result of nurture, not nature. Culture shifts from decade to decade. The basic psychology and social structure of our species does not.

As a millennial, I only hope that one day I will be able to look at a younger generation and think, "Wow, they are better than we were." instead of carrying on the traditional "kids these days" mentality.

When the greatest generation (as it is known in the US) was in their twenties, what did the 40-60 crowd think of them at the time?

 

[zdas04]

I can't speak to that, but I'm pretty sure that the "greatest generation" was certain that us "baby boomers" were a bunch of idiots who would destroy the world before we were 30. They were wrong (but the U.S. is $20 trillion in debt, so maybe they weren't all THAT wrong), we will be too.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[hokie66]

Not even sure what "millennial" means, but if is all those youngsters intent on their phones, they are different.

 

[bridgebuster]

[quote="Wow, they are better than we were." ][/quote]

Better in what sense?

Education? Social Justice? Innovation? etc.

I think a lot of younger people live by their emotions and passions rather than objective truth.