Millenials! Are They (we) That Bad?

Here are the Strengths and Weaknesses of Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers
Author: Vivian Giang, Sept. 9, 2013

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-millennials-gen-x-and-boomers-shape-the-workplace-2013-9
facebook-offic-tour-ny-facebook-employees-look-for-rihannas-signature.jpg
Daniel Goodman/Business Insider
How different are Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers really?

If being an effective manager is understanding who you're managing, much of that knowledge comes down to understanding the generation that identifies your workers.

A new study published by EY, formerly Ernst & Young, includes insights from more than 1,200 professionals across generations and industries about the strengths and weaknesses of workers from different generations, based on the perceptions of their peers.

It finds that Millennials are tech-savvy, but aren't great team players. Gen X-ers are entrepreneurial-thinking, but rank low on executive presence. And last, but not least, Boomers are team players and loyal, but don't adapt so well.

The participants from the study were both managers and non-managers.

"As management shifts to younger generations, the research reveals areas companies can focus on to enhance skill sets, address the challenges of managing multiple generations, and retain and engage employees by understanding which workplace perks they may value most," Karyn Twaronite, a partner of Ernst & Young, says in the study.

Below are the study's findings on the strengths and weaknesses of Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomers:

Generation Y / Millennials:
PROS: Members of Gen Y are believed to be the most tech-savvy (78% of respondents agree) who know how to use social media to leverage opportunities (70% of respondents agree). These younger workers are also regarded as being the most "enthusiastic" (68% of respondents agree) about their jobs.

CONS: Gen Y-ers scored the lowest on being a "team player" (45%), "hardworking" (39%) and "a productive part of my organization" (58%).

PERKS: More Gen Y respondents wanted to know when and how they can get a promotion (13%) compared to Gen X-ers (5%) and Boomers (4%).

Generation X
PROS: Most of the respondents in the study (70%) believed that Gen X are the most effective managers compared to managers from the Boomer (25%) or Gen Y (5%) generation. Members of Gen X scored the highest when it comes to being a "revenue generator" (58% of respondents agree), possessing traits of "adaptability" (49% of respondents agree), "problem-solving" (57% of respondents agree) and "collaboration" (53% of respondents agree).

CONS: Gen X-ers scored the lowest compared to other generations when it comes to displaying executive presence (28%) and being cost effective (34%).

PERKS: Gen X respondents ranked workplace flexibility as the most important perk (21%) and are more likely to walk away from their current job if flexibility isn't available (38% versus 33% of Gen Y and 25% of Boomers).

Baby Boomers
PROS: Baby Boomers ranked the highest when it comes to being a productive part of their organizations (69% of respondents agree), "hardworking" (73% of respondents agree), a "team player" (56% of respondents agree), and mentoring others (55%).

CONS: On the other hand, Boomers ranked the lowest when it comes to being adaptable (10%) and collaborative.

PERKS: Not surprisingly, Boomers (28%) identified benefits, such as health care and retirement, as the most important perk compared to Gen X (19%) and Gen Y (147%).

Below is a chart illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of different generations in the workplace:

1-1623.jpg
EY


The study found that cash is still considered the most important perk across all generations, with 49% of respondents agreeing this is the case.
 
Gist said:
Here are the Strengths and Weaknesses of Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers
Author: Vivian Giang, Sept. 9, 2013

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-millennials-gen-x-and-boomers-shape-the-workplace-2013-9
facebook-offic-tour-ny-facebook-employees-look-for-rihannas-signature.jpg
Daniel Goodman/Business Insider
How different are Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers really?

If being an effective manager is understanding who you're managing, much of that knowledge comes down to understanding the generation that identifies your workers.

A new study published by EY, formerly Ernst & Young, includes insights from more than 1,200 professionals across generations and industries about the strengths and weaknesses of workers from different generations, based on the perceptions of their peers.

It finds that Millennials are tech-savvy, but aren't great team players. Gen X-ers are entrepreneurial-thinking, but rank low on executive presence. And last, but not least, Boomers are team players and loyal, but don't adapt so well.

The participants from the study were both managers and non-managers.

"As management shifts to younger generations, the research reveals areas companies can focus on to enhance skill sets, address the challenges of managing multiple generations, and retain and engage employees by understanding which workplace perks they may value most," Karyn Twaronite, a partner of Ernst & Young, says in the study.

Below are the study's findings on the strengths and weaknesses of Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomers:

Generation Y / Millennials:
PROS: Members of Gen Y are believed to be the most tech-savvy (78% of respondents agree) who know how to use social media to leverage opportunities (70% of respondents agree). These younger workers are also regarded as being the most "enthusiastic" (68% of respondents agree) about their jobs.

CONS: Gen Y-ers scored the lowest on being a "team player" (45%), "hardworking" (39%) and "a productive part of my organization" (58%).

PERKS: More Gen Y respondents wanted to know when and how they can get a promotion (13%) compared to Gen X-ers (5%) and Boomers (4%).

Generation X
PROS: Most of the respondents in the study (70%) believed that Gen X are the most effective managers compared to managers from the Boomer (25%) or Gen Y (5%) generation. Members of Gen X scored the highest when it comes to being a "revenue generator" (58% of respondents agree), possessing traits of "adaptability" (49% of respondents agree), "problem-solving" (57% of respondents agree) and "collaboration" (53% of respondents agree).

CONS: Gen X-ers scored the lowest compared to other generations when it comes to displaying executive presence (28%) and being cost effective (34%).

PERKS: Gen X respondents ranked workplace flexibility as the most important perk (21%) and are more likely to walk away from their current job if flexibility isn't available (38% versus 33% of Gen Y and 25% of Boomers).

Baby Boomers
PROS: Baby Boomers ranked the highest when it comes to being a productive part of their organizations (69% of respondents agree), "hardworking" (73% of respondents agree), a "team player" (56% of respondents agree), and mentoring others (55%).

CONS: On the other hand, Boomers ranked the lowest when it comes to being adaptable (10%) and collaborative.

PERKS: Not surprisingly, Boomers (28%) identified benefits, such as health care and retirement, as the most important perk compared to Gen X (19%) and Gen Y (147%).

Below is a chart illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of different generations in the workplace:

1-1623.jpg
EY


The study found that cash is still considered the most important perk across all generations, with 49% of respondents agreeing this is the case.
Click to expand...

Yay I can console my narcissistic, uncooperative, poor problem solving, and impoverished millennial self with the fact that I can use Facebook and turn on a computer :)
 
If I were to get conspiratorial and don a tinfoil hat, I'd say much of the millennial hate comes from sheer corporatism because baby boomers are really bad at predicting our spending habits. Ever since the 50's and the end of rationing, there's been certain constants in the economy that brand owners could count on. It's like clockwork, middle-Americans go to university, come home, get a job, have 2.4 children, and during which they mortgage, borrow, and spend on all the shit and tat that their family needs. Then you come to the millennials and...

Millennials aren't buying houses.

Millennials aren't getting married.

Millennials aren't having children.

Millennials aren't eating cereal.

Yes, fucking cereal! Apparently not falling in line like the previous generations and buying a specific product that everyone used to is a problem.

And there's a common answer you see flying around. Apparently millennials are lazy. We're too lazy to buy houses, too lazy to get married, too lazy to have children, and even too lazy eat cereal. I mean that sounds about right, the most educated generation to date also happens to be the most lazy. Sounds legit.

Nah, it's bollocks. Corporate America loves this excuse because it buys into the American Dream mentality, that making money and buying shit increases your worth. These millennials are too lazy to buy into our shit, let's demonise them as lazy. Couldn't possibly be that the 2008 recession hit at the most crucial time of my generation's development, when we were starting or finishing off education, looking for jobs or about to, I was personally at the point where I was thinking, "maybe I should save up..."

Basically, because us millennials got the short end of the stick financially, it's made us a lot less predictable to the corporate machine, and it freaks them out.
 
I read the other day that Generation Z starts with those born in 1995. According to that, you can't include those in their early 20s to late teens in with the millennials.
 
CindyLou said:
I read the other day that Generation Z starts with those born in 1995. According to that, you can't include those in their early 20s to late teens in with the millennials.
Click to expand...

Neil Howe describes generation Z or what's now popularly known as the Homeland Generation as starting in early 2000s and will go on to around 2020+. There aren't actually any set dates though, nor are there for Millennials, we just give a rough estimate.
 
CindyLou said:
I read the other day that Generation Z starts with those born in 1995. According to that, you can't include those in their early 20s to late teens in with the millennials.
Click to expand...

88chaz88 said:
Neil Howe describes generation Z or what's now popularly known as the Homeland Generation as starting in early 2000s and will go on to around 2020+. There aren't actually any set dates though, nor are there for Millennials, we just give a rough estimate.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, when I was in high school I observed a very particular distinction between myself and my peers - '93 - and those two years younger - '95. There was a stark difference, more than there was between the year bellow, and any year above us which I had contact with. I couldn't articulate what this difference was exactly. It certainly is a subjective observation and conclusion which may or may not correspond to some vague notion of generational boundary. But in my view this boundary may be drawn at '95. The vast, vast majority of these did not know what a cassette tape was, whereas only two years older, everyone my age knew. There's certainly a distinct difference in only two years (in my societal context anyway), but whether it's enough to draw an abstract generational line in the dirt of '95, that's another thing.
 
Dragon said:
Being in debt and under/unemployed does not really jive with being entitled, does it?
Click to expand...

This.

I'm generation X and I think things have been tough for both our generations since the baby boomers, but the screw is down much tighter now. The next generation coming up now, I feel even more empathy for.

Of course, if your on the opposite, 'right' side of the class division this applies less.
 
88chaz88 said:
If I were to get conspiratorial and don a tinfoil hat, I'd say much of the millennial hate comes from sheer corporatism because baby boomers are really bad at predicting our spending habits. Ever since the 50's and the end of rationing, there's been certain constants in the economy that brand owners could count on. It's like clockwork, middle-Americans go to university, come home, get a job, have 2.4 children, and during which they mortgage, borrow, and spend on all the shit and tat that their family needs. Then you come to the millennials and...

Millennials aren't buying houses.

Millennials aren't getting married.

Millennials aren't having children.

Millennials aren't eating cereal.

Yes, fucking cereal! Apparently not falling in line like the previous generations and buying a specific product that everyone used to is a problem.

And there's a common answer you see flying around. Apparently millennials are lazy. We're too lazy to buy houses, too lazy to get married, too lazy to have children, and even too lazy eat cereal. I mean that sounds about right, the most educated generation to date also happens to be the most lazy. Sounds legit.

Nah, it's bollocks. Corporate America loves this excuse because it buys into the American Dream mentality, that making money and buying shit increases your worth. These millennials are too lazy to buy into our shit, let's demonise them as lazy. Couldn't possibly be that the 2008 recession hit at the most crucial time of my generation's development, when we were starting or finishing off education, looking for jobs or about to, I was personally at the point where I was thinking, "maybe I should save up..."

Basically, because us millennials got the short end of the stick financially, it's made us a lot less predictable to the corporate machine, and it freaks them out.
Click to expand...

I tend to be a bit cynical towards my own generation, and so I didn't like your post, as I don't 100% agree with it per say. That being said, I like your post, and think that's a very insightful take. There's a great truth to what you said. Consider this even better than a "like" because this took more effort to express my regards for such a post. I couldn't let it slide by without expressing it!
 
Night Owl said:
I tend to be a bit cynical towards my own generation, and so I didn't like your post, as I don't 100% agree with it per say. That being said, I like your post, and think that's a very insightful take. There's a great truth to what you said. Consider this even better than a "like" because this took more effort to express my regards for such a post. I couldn't let it slide by without expressing it!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm glad you didn't 100% agree with my post because I was being purposely exaggerative and sensational in the same way as tabloids and opinion blogs often are when they get into generational politics. It's also worth noting that some corporations have clocked our spending habits perfectly such as Apple and Starbucks.
 
88chaz88 said:
Thanks. I'm glad you didn't 100% agree with my post because I was being purposely exaggerative and sensational in the same way as tabloids and opinion blogs often are when they get into generational politics. It's also worth noting that some corporations have clocked our spending habits perfectly such as Apple and Starbucks.
Click to expand...

A good bit of sensationalisation is like a spoonful of sugar in one's Starbucks coffee. It's sorely needed at times. Dam. They make one rancid brew. Out of all the companies that track us perfectly, it just had to be Starbucks.
 
slant said:
Both generations have been wronged by baby boomer's business practices, and if you'll notice, baby boomers are holding onto their positions of power for as long as they can not allow gen x'ers to move up. It's not just millennials who have been moving back in with their parents- so have gen x'ers because the economic climate created by the boomers were so bad it effected even their children. A lof of x'ers cannot afford to support their own children. X'ers are often called "the lost generation" because they grew up during a time where their parents were experimenting with swinging and drugs, and then suddenly cleaned up in the 80's and became focused on money and power. Hell, the nation didn't even start the missing and endangered foundation or putting kids' faces on milk carton's until the 80s! All these kids were allowed to run around and do whatever they wanted and parents were none the wiser, and typically just believed whatever an adult said over a child which allowed perpetual abuse of the child.

Everyone's whining about how millennials turned up, but there was a reason Gen X was such helicopter parents and attentive- they knew first hand what it was like to have parents who generally weren't paying attention and let bad things happen to them.
Click to expand...

That ^
 
Night Owl said:
Interestingly, when I was in high school I observed a very particular distinction between myself and my peers - '93 - and those two years younger - '95. There was a stark difference, more than there was between the year bellow, and any year above us which I had contact with. I couldn't articulate what this difference was exactly. It certainly is a subjective observation and conclusion which may or may not correspond to some vague notion of generational boundary. But in my view this boundary may be drawn at '95. The vast, vast majority of these did not know what a cassette tape was, whereas only two years older, everyone my age knew. There's certainly a distinct difference in only two years (in my societal context anyway), but whether it's enough to draw an abstract generational line in the dirt of '95, that's another thing.
Click to expand...

I agree, I have noticed the same differences you have which is why I mentioned it in this thread.

Parental influence between Generation Z would be mainly raised and influenced by Gen Xers and not boomers like the millennials. They also have more technological advantages possibly than millennials.

1995-2015 possible birth years for Generation Z? It's too soon to tell. Just speculating :)
 
CindyLou said:
I agree, I have noticed the same differences you have which is why I mentioned it in this thread.

Parental influence between Generation Z would be mainly raised and influenced by Gen Xers and not boomers like the millennials. They also have more technological advantages possibly than millennials.

1995-2015 possible birth years for Generation Z? It's too soon to tell. Just speculating :)
Click to expand...

Yes it is a messy affair! I know a whole heap of pre '95's raised by X'ers, and a whole heap raised by Boomers. Still, despite this variance, even then, there's a difference of some kind between pre and post '95's. Technology would have to play a large role.

1995-2015? A good speculation for the time being I reckon!
 
Last weekend, I played Jenga with a 9-year-old and sister who was still in high school (Generation Z, I guess). It made me laugh when I realized that the youngest doesn't remember One Direction! They were snapchatting each moment of the entire game of Jenga to their friends - it was really amusing.

I feel most like a millennial around my parents. At my age, they were able to afford a home, and nice plates ... without any help from their parents. I read in my mother's accounting magazine that over 60% of milennials receive help from their parents for living expenses, which makes it seem normal. I also read about a "quarter life crisis" as opposed to one in mid-life, and I can relate to that one. What else ... there was a bit I read about milennials marrying later than previous generations, and maybe an increased awareness of social issues and mental health.

It just seems like we're experiencing a new normal, and that everything going to be okay in the long-run - it's just that we're not exactly sure what's going to happen next, as in how to respond to the immediate future.
 
Night Owl said:
Yay I can console my narcissistic, uncooperative, poor problem solving, and impoverished millennial self with the fact that I can use Facebook and turn on a computer :)
Click to expand...
Haha, my 67 year old mother with Alzheimer's can also do that.
 
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