An interesting discussion, but I wonder is it just stereotyping (after all most people who grew up in the sixties weren't free-love, drug-taking hippies)
Young workers want it all, now.
Then the interviewer hit the 24-year-old Chicagoan. "So, we call you guys the 'Entitlement Generation,' " the baby-boomer executive said, expressing an oft-heard view of today's young work force. "You think you're entitled to everything."
Being labeled is, perhaps, a rite of passage for every crop of twentysomethings. In their day, baby boomers were rabble-rousing hippies, and Gen Xers were apathetic slackers.
Now, deserved or not, this latest generation is being pegged, too -- as one with shockingly high expectations for salary, job flexibility and duties but little willingness to take on grunt work or remain loyal to a company.
A recent Associated Press article notes that today’s Generation Y is nothing more than a group of people asking ‘why?’ Why can’t I have a bigger salary? Why can’t I have more time off? Why can’t I express myself the way I want?
But as the article points out, and I agree, this emerging workforce has learned from us baby boomers that ‘this thing called work’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Work-life-balance is something our generation struggled to achieve. Generation Y has watched and learned. While the interview process for Generation Yers can seem excruciating to us seasoned employers, this group can be applauded for what they are – shrewd negotiators with basic priorities in check.
My generation is being called the “Entitlement” generation. It’s pretty accurate too sadly enough- after all I keep on asking whose going to be paying for my medical school! Aren’t I entitled to a free education?!!! ;P
See also Michael Specht, Daily Star, Management-issues,
Here's my take on the same subject. http://wetfeetpr.blogspot.com/2005/07/generation-entitlement.html.
I think one of the reasons we feel so 'entitled' is b/c college is harder than ever to get into and the same time it is at an all time expensive high. Then when we get out (30g's in debt) we have to work for free for a year or two interning before we are offered a small salary. Sure, we feel entitled to a bit more than that. We've been told our whole lives that going to school will get us a good paying job. I realize that it will in the long run, but initially it is a shock...
Posted by: Blake | 12 October 2005 at 01:20 AM
That's exactly what it is (RE: The Bailey Blog): I've seen workaholics bury their entire lives in jobs and come out wanting. If life is a car, bear with me here, then my job is the fuel that gets me where I'm going. It's the difference between living to work, and working to live. And in my last days, I will be thankful to have pursued the latter. I certainly won't miss a more prestigious nameplate, and I won't regret the investment I made in everything else: wife, kids, family and friends.
Posted by: Cameron | 13 October 2005 at 12:20 AM