Millennials: Not Lazy, Just Misunderstood

Of all the criticisms leveled at Gen Y in the workplace, the one that stings the most is 'lazy'. Overconfident. Ambitious. Entitled. They can live with those criticisms. But Gen Y knows in its overachieving heart it is anything but "lazy".

True, they readily acknowledge they do not want to work 2000 billable hours a year, and this reality has created resentment on both sides of the generational divide. Adrian Dayton, a young attorney I met on Twitter, posted an interesting dialog today in his blog, Marketing Strategy & The Law. It reports a panel discussion among Millennial attorneys and their bosses. This dialog illustrates very well just how wide the gap in understanding can be:

“Generation Y is entitled, lazy, selfish, tech savvy, and incompetent,” is how Scott Greenfield, one of the finest criminal defense attorneys in NY, started off the panel.

“I spent years as an associate, I hit all my metrics- but I didn’t want to become partner. It's no secret that focusing on making as much money as possible ruined many of these older partners’ personal lives.” said Anthony Zana, he is now Corporate Counsel for Intergraph Corporation- where he left behind the billable hour.“I’ve seen too many successful partners on their 3rd and 4th marriage- and I did not want that to be me."

“I think the problem is that they don’t know how to work, our firm has hired 15 attorneys in the last few years from Generation Y, and not one of them is still working for us.” said Moderator, Dan Hull.

“Well, I have had a totally different experience at my firm. As far as I can tell when I give greater flexibility to my Gen-Y attorneys, they are willing to repay it ten-fold, and make the sacrifices that are needed,” said panel member William P. Morelli, General Counsel at Ingram Industries Inc. in Nashville.

“Flexibility? I built this firm, I’m not going to let Gen Y dictate the terms of their employment.” Scott Greenfield fired back. “Generation Y uses this term life-balance as an excuse for their incompetence.”

Moderator Dan Hull agreed, “We have a very clear written policy at our firm, work - life balance is the attorney’s problem, not the firm’s.”

At this point I raised my hand, “If an attorney works 2,000-2,400 billable hours a year, there is not much room left for balance.”

“But the attorney that works over 2,000 hours a years, is going to learn to be a pretty damn good attorney,” replied Dan.

Boomer and X'er bosses view unwillingness to sacrifice as 'laziness'. Yet Gen Y is not willing to concede that just because they seek balance, they are any less committed. According to Adrian, they are just as motivated, but their goal is different. "We are not motivated by money. At least not as much as our parents were. The currency we are most interested in is lifestyle. Some of us are brilliant and hard working, but you have to dangle the right carrot in front of us."

So what is that 'right carrot'? Money? Time Off?

No, it's Voice. And Context.

This week, I've had the pleasure of talking with three hardworking Millennials. Each has agreed to accompany me to The CMO Summit in New York on May 19 and we've been preparing what to say. The panel will discuss "10 Things Millennials Wish They Could Tell Their CMO". Like Adrian Dayton, my panelists (marketers with 4-7 years experience) insist they want their companies to get the best of what they have to offer. They also insist that harnessing their ideas has less to do with hours on the job than it does with adequate opportunities to be heard and contribute.

The Feb Harvard Business Review case, where Gen Y employee, Josh, is compelled circumvent his Gen X boss, Sarah, and speak directly to the CEO to advance his ideas resonates deeply with Millennials. Most have felt that way at some point in their career. Here's how they express it:

"I hate to be shut down without a hearing."

"Why do I have to go to one person before going to the next?"

"It's the difference between 'voice' and 'say'. I don't expect to make decisions, but I do expect to be able to influence the decision with my ideas."

"Pecking orders seem archaic to me. I have an innate respect for senior management, their success and knowledge, but don't understand why I am expected to be afraid to talk to them."

Millennials have lots of ideas, and many are related to being more efficient. Compelling them to trade lifestyle hours for what are seen as unecessarily long work hours is the surest way to frustrate a motivated Gen Y worker. In their view, if something is not working, why not fix it? What's more, why not fix it immediately? Sometimes this is interpretted as 'attitude', but for Millennials, it is common sense. They are more than willing to work hard when necessary. They just want assurance that it is really necessary, and are deeply offended when told to be a 'good soldier' or 'pay their dues'.

Work smarter, not harder is their answer to the charge of 'laziness'. But, if there has to be inefficient busywork, the least they expect is to have a reasonable explanation why. For Millennials, context is almost as important as having a voice. Knowing the reason, helps them keep faith that their work has meaning and purpose. Without context, they are likely to simply check out.

"I can't stand emails that say, 'Can you take care of this? thx.' Take a minute to explain what you need, why you need it, what I can do to make it great."

As I listen to Millennials talk about what motivates and demotivates them, I can't help but wonder if we all wouldn't be better off thinking like Millennials.

The Office Gets Generational Work Relationships Right

At the risk of undermining my cultural credentials, I hereby admit that I was just introduced to NBC's The Office by my 15-year old son. It's witty, well-written and I love the fact that it, mercifully, has no laugh track to inform you of what's funny. Above all, I am impressed by how accurately it captures the unique perspectives of all three generations: Millennials, Gen X and Boomers.

Gen X: Pam Beasley and Jim Halpert are Gen X'ers -- and the only sane people in the office. Jim and Pam alone are able to see the humor of each situation. Both are hard working but not that ambitious. They willing to sacrifice career advantage for personal happiness (continue to work in the same office). They reject the idea that Dunder Mifflin is their 'career'.

Boomer: Michael Scott, Manager of the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin, is thoroughly Boomer. His personal identity is deeply connected to his co-workers and his career. He is so earnest about cultural issues in the work place that he inevitably behaves inappropriately whenever there is a racial, gender or privacy issue. He embarasses his younger staff members, and they don't respect his abilities, but love him all the same for being a 'nice guy'.

Millennial: Ryan Howard embodies the Millennial point of view. He is disdainful and incredulous of Michael's seeming ineptitude. He starts as a temp, but his MBA and careful cultivation of upper management, catapaults him to the position of Regional Manager at corporate in New York. This move makes Ryan Michael Scott's boss (a Millennial fantasy if ever there was one!). Once in the job, Ryan unleashes a series of well-intended, but disruptive, technology initiatives (web site, PowerPoint training, Blackberry's. He fails to grasp the impact of his heavy-handed ways which causes opinion about Ryan to shift from tolerated to actively disliked.

The Office portrays real generational tensions. Michael thinks Jim is 'lazy'.

Michael: "I can spend all day on a project and he can do the same project in 30 minutes, so that should tell you something!"

Jim does not aspire to be like his boss, Michael.

Jim: "I think of this as my job. If rose any higher this would be my career, and then I'd have to throw myself in front of train."

Ryan's introduction of Michael to his MBA class makes it clear he thinks Michael is a loser.

In telling it like it is, The Office reveals a truth about intergenerational work relationships: the generations don't have to respect each other's abilities or understand each others' values to care for one another as human beings and pull together for the common good. We could all learn a lot from The Office.

Millennials: Their Place in Generational History

According to Wikipedia, Neil Howe is co-author with William Strauss of Millennials Rising (2000), and many other books on Millennials, "is historian, economist, and demographer who writes and speaks frequently on generational change in American history and on long-term fiscal policy." In short he someone I would go out of my way to hear speak. So I was delighted to find this 16 minute YouTube video of a speech he gave in January at Otis College.

Hint: If you want the larger generational perspective, the whole video is worth watching, but start about nine minutes in if you just want to hear what he has to say about Millennials. >/p>

Gen Y to Bosses: You Just Don't Understand

In the Odyssey, Odysseus' talented but immature son, Telemachus, benefits from the advice of a series of mentors, including Athena herself. Great coaching prepares him for the day when Odysseus finally returns to exact revenge on the despicable 'suitors' and reclaim his kingdom.

Three millennia later, modern day Telemachuses, aka, the Millennials, are wondering 'where are our mentors'?

Last September, we conducted online focus groups among professionally-employed Millennials to see the workplace through their eyes. Among other things, they told us they were deeply unhappy with their bosses. They want more -- more responsibility, more say in decisions, more recognition of their abilities, more mentoring. They crave appreciation, but their bosses 'don't get it', and don't give it. (Listen Up! What Millennials wish they could tell their bosses.)

We don't need focus groups among Gen X or Boomer managers to know what they think of Millennials in the workplace. In May 2008, there was a very negative 60 Minutes segment, "The Millennials Are Coming". Now we are further enlightened by the Harvard Business Review's featured case, "How I learned to love millennials (and stop worrying about what they were doing with their iPhones)". Each month, HBR describes a fictional situation and asks management experts to provide advice to the protagonists. February's case features Gen X Sarah, new mother of a 4-month old baby, marketing manager for a major film studio and boss to twenty-something, Josh. Josh is brimming with ideas Sarah finds impractical and consequently doesn't champion. Josh is frustrated. Now it's crunch time, and Josh has neglected his regular work analyzing distribution spreadsheets and creating reports in order to devote time to developing his new ideas. Here's the pivotal moment:

Now, Sarah was staring anxiously at the envelope icon in the bottom-right corner of her screen: Where were the numbers she'd asked Josh to generate? Sarah just couldn't afford to stay at the office tonight; every minute she was late to pick up four-month-old Rosie from day care was costing her (financially and psychically), and she had already logged plenty of overtime this week. Sarah was ready to alert her husband that he'd have to handle the pickup, when the Outlook message popped up: "You have new unopened items." It was close to 5:30 PM when Josh's report arrived, and the last couple of case studies looked pretty sketchy, as if he'd thrown them together quickly. But there wasn't enough time to send them back for revision, Sarah decided. She'd work on them further in the morning. Sarah quickly dropped the numbers into her slide deck and was about to log off when she spotted the bright pink "coaching" sticky note slapped on the side of her monitor. A few months ago she and the other frontline managers had gone through a special HR-facilitated training session about integrating the newer, younger hires into the company. "Invest the time," the managers were told. But what many of them heard was "Sugarcoat." Sarah quickly dashed off an e-mail to Josh. "Great job! You're the best." Who was she kidding? He'd done a half-assed job, and he knew it. Like so many of the young people hired by the studio recently, Sarah thought, Josh was far more concerned with getting praise than with earning praise. How else to explain that "look at me" move in the team meeting a few weeks back?

Later, unbeknownst to Sarah, Josh pitches his ideas to her boss in an impromptu elevator speech. The boss is so impressed, he asks Sarah to tell him more. Sarah has her issues, too, but who do you think the reader is siding with in this epic? That's bad enough, but the response of the three HBR 'experts' is even more revealing of Boomer perceptions of Millennials.

Ron Alsop, author of The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace : Like many Gen Yers, Josh doesn't respect the corporate pecking order. His generation has little tolerance for lines of authority and proper protocol. Some corporate managers even call college-age job applicants "student stalkers" because they fire off e-mails to everyone from the CEO on down to try to get the inside track to a job.

Jim Miller, executive vice president of sales and marketing at General Tool & Supply:I'm afraid Josh isn't doing much here to disprove the theories that some people have about Generation Y: a life experienced through machines, no respect for what's gone before, and a constant need for praise, entertainment, and instant gratification.Josh's behavior is wrong on so many levels. He's been hired to do a job, not this other thing that he'd like to do. He has no respect for his boss; that's apparent in his actions. But he is also putting his team's work in jeopardy by not completing, to the very best of his ability, the tasks he was assigned. That's unacceptable.

Millennials strongly relate to Josh, saying this situation happens 'all the time'. One has gone so far as to post an anonymous reply to the article on Google Docs, saying, "It's not the case study that bothered me but the managers' comments. I was shocked to hear the other side of a common scenario." The response is titled, 'An Open Letter to Boomers':

After reading the business case in the Feb 09 Harvard Business Review, I started to see really how big this whole Gen-Y thing is. I underestimated the degree to which I myself was underestimated and disrespected as a Gen-Y and was actually offended by the way we are viewed. It seems managers claim they are seeking out how to deal with this generation of unruly and tech-savvy professionals but really they just want us to shut up, put the cell phone down and keep doing things their way.

In our defense, I thought it might be useful for the last of you Boomers and even some of the older Gen-Xers (like Sarah in the case study) to understand how we see you. I hope you consider this before dismissing us as "kids these days". This document was written on my iPhone, edited on Google docs, and syndicated anonymously via Twitter. I found that the generation gap is much bigger than even we YouTubers thought and even the fact I have to publish this blog anonymously is a testament to how differently we see the world.

For the other side of the argument, see the Harvard Business Review. For advice on how to mentor Millennial like Athena, the third HBR commenter, Pamela Nicholson, President and COO, Enterprise Rent-A-Car offers sound advice:

"Sarah doesn't have time to get angry. She needs to familiarize herself with Josh's idea and make sure all the supporting data are there. Given the CEO's enthusiasm for Josh's marketing proposal, I think Sarah should actually commend, rather than criticize, her young report for taking initiative. She should invite Josh to accompany her to the meeting. But she should remind him that he needs to keep her informed so she can manage the details of the project and the expectations of the CEO."

I wholeheartedly agree. For more mentoring advice from our Millennials research see an earlier blog post, " You're Doing Great! Keeping Millennials Happy at Work."

Millennial Parents: What Hath We Wrought?

This is funny because there is some truth to it. I have spent many nights editing and encouraging my own teens, but have no memory of any similar support from my own parents. There is objective evidence to support my experience: according to research by Jean Twenge, author of Generation We, as reported in the 11.20.08 Telegraph, today's students do 20% less school homework than their parents said they did in 1975. The interesting part is that they think they work harder!

Prof Twenge and her team compared the 1975 and 2006 results from an annual US survey called Monitoring the Future which polls high school students about their views on life. They found that a third more 17 to 20-year-olds today believe they work harder than their parents did and will be better than them when it comes to being parents, spouses and work colleagues - earning them the nickname the Smug Generation.

The Millennials I know believe the world is more competitive for them than it was for their parents. They also believe that they will be more successful, despite the greater challenges. Perhaps they deserve the 'Smug Generation' label. Then again, perhaps the parents are more to blame than the students?