Gen X and Gen Y Careerists – Harbingers Of Change In Business and Personal Lives
I often hear a similar lament from both younger and older careerists….about each other. The younger workers say, “These older people just don’t get it. They expect us to just fall into line, follow bureaucratic rules, and they don’t show us respect for what we know.”
And the older one’s say, “These young people just don’t understand how to function within an organization. They want recognition, promotion, everything before they’ve earned it, like we have. That’s not how reality is.”
It reminds me of a couple that once said about each other – “It’s not that we see things differently. It’s worse than that: We’re seeing different things!”
Exactly. So, what can we make of this? Is it simply the current generation gap? I think it’s more than that. It’s part of a broader, growing shift in the mentality of adults towards career, personal life and the role of business in society. But it’s more visible and pronounced in the so-called Gen X and Gen Y workers, who are the offspring of those “older” workers – the Baby Boom generation now at midlife.
Some interesting research and survey data sheds light on what’s occurring. For example, a study of 3,500 wage earners conducted by the Families and Work Institute of younger workers. One finding was a dramatic shift among younger workers in how they handle hostile or abusive work environments: They won’t stay very long in them, in contrast to how older workers traditionally behave – acceptance and suffering. The younger workers tend to leave, confident that they’ll find something better. Or, they “play” with the situation, not letting it get to them emotionally, while they craft an exit strategy.
Puzzling to older workers is that younger careerists want to know, “How quickly will I take on new responsibilities? How meaningful will my work be — immediately?” They look for a collaborative atmosphere in which all members of a hardworking team share responsibilities. Older people see this as Read more…
Psychological health in a post-globalized world, Work & Career "4.0"
