THE SHIFT AWAY FROM THE TRADITIONAL WORK ETHIC
I first heard my mom use the term workaholic to explain why my dad couldn’t come watch my football game. He had a tenth-grade education and was the breadwinner for a family of seven, so he was tirelessly trying to make a buck and get ahead. I never saw him take it easy. My father did not have an off switch. By contrast, I wonder if my 20-year-old son even has an on switch.
While I was taught to work by a dad who made sure I’d always pull my weight and learn to survive, I became a dad who wanted his kids to enjoy their childhoods. I took them to places I only dreamed of going when I was a kid and gave them things I wished I had had. Although I never intended to spoil them, they certainly got a lot in exchange for a little.
Not Defined by Work
My hunch (supported by research) tells me that a lot of Baby Boomer/ Generation X parents raised their children like I did. Today, a ton of kidployees like Zac and Whitney (my 19-year-old daughter) can be found in the workplace. They don’t despise the notion of work; they just aren’t as enamored with it as you and I have been taught to be. While we feel a sense of pride after putting in “full day’s work for a full day’s pay,” they simply feel tired.
Unlike you and me, they don’t see any correlation between what they do and who they are. They refuse to be defined by their job title or by the quality of their work. To them, work is simply a thing they have to do to get the stuff they want. If they can put in a minimal effort and still get that stuff, then doing more than the minimum is a waste.
I graduated from a suburban, middle-class high school in the 1970s. About half of my closest friends decided not to go on to college but instead jumped right into the workforce and learned a trade. I’ll never forget hearing my locker partner describe his plans after graduation. “I just want to get on with a good company that has benefits and rise through the ranks, maybe get into management someday,” Ronny said. Thirty years later, he’s still working with the post office. Another classmate took a job as a driver with Pepsi. Today, he’s a route supervisor in the Denver bottling plant of PepsiCo.
Free Agent Mentality
Today’s youth have no such illusions. Many of their parents have been outsourced, rightsized, and downsized by companies they spent their lives trying to build. Consequently, they’ve been cautioned about falling into the same trap. They don’t buy into “work here 40 years and retire with a gold watch,” so you won’t hear many talking about long-term employment. Instead, the free agent mentality is practically encoded in their DNA: they want to get as much as they can in exchange for as little as possible. Well, that’s an effective way to come out on top—at a garage sale. It certainly doesn’t play well on the front lines of your business.
Tap into This Talent
More than anything else, the new work ethic drives managers absolutely bonkers. You think, “They don’t give a damn!” and complain to friends and colleagues about their lack of effort and commitment. You wonder why they aren’t as motivated or drivenas you were at their age. You see their amazing potential, envy their ability to absorb new information so quickly, and know they have the technosavvy to create awesome results—but you might have no idea how to tap into all of this talent. An operations manager for a chain of video stores described it to me this way: “It’s like driving a Ferrari on the Autobahn and being stuck in first gear.”