The Corporate Curmudgeon: Every generationis similar to others

"In case you're worried about what's going to become of the younger generation, it's going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation." - Roger Allen

You remember a couple of years back when you were seeing all those articles about "the looming labor shortage." Ah, what a charming little 15-minute conversation that was. And what about all those articles about having four generations in the workplace ... or, oh my, five! How would they ever get along? Well, the economy took care of both those worries, eh? No shortage, and no more generations. Now we have just two generations - Gen E and Gen Un. That's right, Employed and Un. And isn't "Un" just so sad, right? Being unemployed doesn't just eat up your savings, but your day and your self-esteem.

Here's the e-mail that got me thinking about generations in the workplace ...

"My name is Kyle Powers, and I am an eighth-grade student at Vestal Middle School in Vestal, N.Y. We are doing speeches in English class. I chose to study the work ethic of the current generation, often called 'Millennials' or 'Generation Y.' I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions on the topic. I love your column and would be extremely grateful if you could help."

You might be thinking, "Yeah, right, the kid 'loves' Dauten's column. Fat chance. He's just getting someone to do his research."

Maybe you're right. But, if so, doesn't that give you faith in America's young people? After all, the ability to get someone else to do your work is the backbone of the American enterprise. What is Kyle but a future Captain of Industry? Someday soon he'll have a domestic staff of unpaid interns and a foreign staff in New Delhi. So I'm guessing this is the first of a series of columns I'll write about him throughout the next couple of generations.

What I told Kyle is this: It's a mistake to talk about THE work ethic of a generation - there are several, and they don't change much. There are the overachievers and the workaholics; there are the slackers and layabouts; and in between, there's the majority - the ALAPs, the As Little As Possibles. What might change over time is the percentage in each subgroup, but I doubt it. What changes is the way people work and slack.

Most of the work invented in the past 20 years is not physical - it's literally "no-sweat." The percentage of workers who appear to be doing nothing is increasing, even among overachievers. Some young workaholic doing online research looks just like a kid reading the list floating around the Web "How to Tell If You're Gen X." (Samples: "The words 'Where's the beef?' bring back fond childhood memories." "You remember the days when 'safe sex' meant 'my parents are away for the weekend.' ")

But here's what I really wanted Kyle to understand: We old guys have kids, many of them young grads. Once, we envied youth, knowing they couldn't wait to shove us aside; these days, we're commiserating with or about them. Sure, some are spoiled and ungrateful, but this economy sorts ruthlessly. What's left are those two generations, Gen E and Gen Un, and within Gen E we're all the same - pretending to be delighted, getting along no matter what, eagerly awaiting the time when we can worry about a labor shortage and how the generations can get along.

Dale Dauten is co-founder of AgreementHouse.com, a company that resolves business disputes. Contact him at daledauten.com

via azstarnet.com

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