Today's Work Ethic is a New Work Ethic

I would argue that what boomers see as a lack of work ethic is really a lack of passion and/or focus among millenials towards their jobs. Their are those that may be passionate about a job for a year, but then get tired and move on. This isn't bad, just how we are. Others who are not passionate, will just work to get the job done, but don't feel any loyalty towards the company, which boomers expect. Dynamics of work relationships are changing and millenials don't feel the need to play into office politics or suck up to bosses. It's not for lack of respect, but for lack of interest in maintaining the corporate status quo, and instead using the methods we learned of how to work efficiently- online, texting, on the phone, networking. We have our own ways of effectively communicating and getting the job done, and it works.

That said, not understanding how to play well with others is hurting us and not allowing us to learn alternative viewpoints. Just because we've learned one thing and it works well for us doesn't mean we can't learn from those who have made it work for decades before us. I'm not advocating imitation of boomer methods, but to build upon their ideas, combine them with ours, and come up with something better. Collaboration is the new black, and that means with everyone.

Rebecca:

I totally agree. Collaboration is key. In a lot of ways this plays into our "team oriented" attitude. For instance, myself and the co-creator of this site often have different viewpoints on how to reach our audience. We're not black/ white about it and most often combine our ideas. The product is always something better than our initial expectations.

I often make a plea to managers in my writing to listen to and observe your Millennial workers with an open mind because our ways of doing things do differ, but if combined with their own rationale, maybe there's potential to create something better than both viewpoints.

That might infuse some of that passion you speak of that some of us lack.

Thanks for your insight!

I don't think there's a real issue with our generation not being willing to learn from those before us. As it stands right now, we really don't have a choice. Until the current managers leave or start to come around to our expectations, we live by their rules.

That being said, I agree with Ryan. Collaboration is the key – and not an unreasonable one at that. We are all adults, right? And regardless of generation, we were taught to learn how to get along. The tough lesson for the boomers is that up until now they have made up such a large percentage fo the population that they never really had to learn to bend to someone else's way of thinking.

Lately, I've heard a lot of people talk about the arrogance of our generation for thinking the world will change to suit us, but a) it will – that's the nature of things, and b) we're no different than the baby-boomers before us. They had the same expectations.

I want to reference a recent post on this site, Some "special" solutions, from March 11, where the guys point out that the boomers raised us this way, and, now that they have to manage us, are wishing they hadn't. I can't help but think that the choice to raise us this way was based on some level of dissatisfaction they had with their situations that they felt forced to endure. Now, even though they've taught us to go after what we want, they want us to sit quietly and take what's dealt to us like they did? How much sense does that make?

That's my rant for the day.

Nice rant!

What we do wrong mostly is we always arrive to streotyping a generation and we have been too quick to do so for the new gen Y.
I truly agree when you say here that "managers might want to take a fresh look at things and hear what their entry-levels have to say. " the communication has to be two-way. The new workforce also has to learn to be tolerant towards the two older generations that they have to share their office space with. The ideology need not clash but the work ethics may be different. We all have to understand that it's not always that "my idea is the best idea" communication and an open dialog is essential for a healthy workplace.
I often hope to get this thinking across through my blog @ http://careerbright.blogspot.com

Shweta,

You're right! Communication does have to be two-way. It's the only way we will ever co-exist in an inter-generational environment.

I also believe that the balance of power is against us (the Millennials), therefore in many ways it's up to managers/supervisors to make the first move. We have no choice, we have to be tolerant, the older generations are our superiors. Generally speaking, they can treat us however they want.

Thanks for your comments! Keep reading!