By Sarah Newton
Generation Y employees are always being discussed and yet again, more research has the papers saying yes, they do have a sense of entitlement.
“Gen Y workers get a bad rap in the workplace, with many a geezer complaining that their work ethic is less developed than their sense of entitlement.” But is that really fair?
Yes, according to new research that has yielded actual data to back up that notion.
In a series of studies using surveys that measure psychological entitlement and narcissism, University of New Hampshire management professor Paul Harvey found that Gen Y respondents scored 25 percent higher than respondents ages 40 to 60 and a whopping 50 percent higher than those over 61.
In addition, Gen Y’s were twice as likely to rank in the top 20 percent in their level of entitlement – the “highly entitled range” – as someone between 40 and 60, and four times more likely than a golden-ager.
And if you think the Gen Yers in your workplace are oversensitive as well as entitled, Harvey’s findings back that up, too. Today’s 20-somethings have an “automatic, knee-jerk reaction to criticism,” he says, and tend to dismiss it. ”
I do think however that the entitled label can send a very negative vibe to potential employees. I like to think of them as expecting the best and wanting more, which I think is a good thing for business and organisations, who so often get away with treating graduates very badly. I was talking to my Dad the other day, who used to train graduates at a top US company and the stories of how they used to make their youth work all the hours that God sent were painful to the ears!
I don’t think Gen Y are entitled, I just think they care about their free time and value themselves, which cannot be a bad thing.
However I think that what can seem an entitled attitude can be a challenge for most employees.
So how do you handle it? Well first, as I have mentioned before, I think you need youth-friendly places but I also think handling this problem can be as simple as using their strengths, for example, their spirit of collaboration.
If you present something as a problem that you need to solve as a team and ask them the best way to meet the objective, you are more likely to get their buy-in. So a “Right, this project needs to be completed for tomorrow, so we are all in for an all-nighter!” would become, “Right, we have an extremely tight deadline on this one, tomorrow morning. How can we work together to sort this out?”
If we focus on what is bad about Gen Y, then that is what we will get, but if we focus on their strengths of collaboration, innovation and creativity, we may just get the very best out of them.
Sarah, Thanks for this post and clearing the air with the survey results. There has been a lot of talk about Gen Y on various subjects. In my opinion Gen Y are individuals who just have a different set of interests, desires, approach and thinking. On the other side they are multitasking, being collaborative using technology and innovative ideas and this does adds value to the business or company. If companies today are adopting many initiatives as part of taking care of employees no matter which generation it is, then why there is so much of talk on Gen Y needs… However the question which needs to be answered is are the organisations ready to adapt to the gen y style of working, considering the fact that 50 % of the population in organisations today being Gen Y?. You might be interested to see this post. http://ow.ly/1O5tl
Kapil
@kapilpoojari
Times are changing, and organizations must adapt accordingly to these changing attitudes and environments. Gen-Y has its own set of behavioral patterns, and instead of judging them and trying to change them, environments must change to accommodate them. Like Vineet Nayar has explained in his book ‘Employees First, Customers Second’, there are certain concepts that must be put into use in a workplace, especially where Gen-Y workers are involved. One of them that comes to my mind right now is the concept of the ‘Inverted Pyramid’. Here, he says that Gen-Y employees are highly capable, and companies must tap this capacity and get rid of traditional hierarchical rules. They must, instead, put all the employees at the topmost rung of importance, and thus make them directly responsible for the organizations’ duties. This transfer of duty, and duty that matters, will give them a sense of importance, which Gen-Y seems to crave for, and also, tap their talent and get them to perform better. That way, the Gen-Y employees will feel better about themselves and their work, and in the process, even the organizations will benefit. We can complain, but ultimately, Gen-Y is the future, and we must adapt ourselves to their demands, and get the best results from them.
Kapil
Hi, I think you thinking here ” Gen Y are individuals who just have a different set of interests, desires, approach and thinking” that is right for sure
I think we talk about Gen Y so much as they are quite different than anything that has gone before and yes that is a big question. I am spending a day with a very Gen Y friendly company so I am sure I will have loads of insights to share. Going of to have a look at that post now.
Kavita
Here here such great words spoken. I wonder what our businesses would be like if we put ‘Employees First, Customers Second’.
Happier I guess
Thanks for the comment.
Sarah