By Sarah Pierce from Entrepreneur.com
Are young employees really the slackers, whiners and praise-junkies they’re made out to be? Here’s what the experts have to say.
Lazy. Selfish. Demanding. America, meet your new generation of employees. At least, that’s what the media would have you believe. Generation Y, those born between 1978 and 1990, is being hailed as the most narcissistic generation to date, a group of “uber-stroked kids” who, as adults, are demanding from their employers the same supervision and self-esteem building their parents gave them.
Certainly, some of the horror stories about these young employees hold true. After all, stereotypes are born from realties. To make sweeping statements of an entire generation, however, isn’t only unfair to young employees, but it’s also dangerous to employers who blindly believe them. Generation Y, also known as millennials, is the fastest-growing segment of the workforce. Over the next four years, close to 10 million more Gen Yers will enter the workforce. Can you really afford to write this generation off?
We asked two generational experts to address some of the common misconceptions surrounding Generation Y. What we discovered is that some of the “negative” behaviors these young employees exhibit are actually intuitive responses to a changing economy. And if employers want to keep up, they better change, too. Read the full article
