How often have you heard someone say, “What’s wrong with young people today?” I hear a lot of comments like; “They’re lazy”. “They have no respect for authority or rules”. “They don’t have any manners”. “They have no loyalty to their employers”. These complaints are usually voiced by more mature workers who tend to be very loyal, hard working and more than willing to adhere to rules, even if they don’t always agree with them.
You know, the more I hear these kinds of complaints, the more concerned I become because sooner rather than later, younger workers are going to have to fill the shoes of older workers who will be retiring. Although it’s not true of every young worker, the vast majority of younger workers have better technical skills than their older counterparts and much more agility when it comes to change. And, in today’s fiercely competitive environment, a small business owner cannot afford to forego technical competence and agility any more than they can afford to forego loyalty and hard work. So, what’s the solution?
Before small business owners will be ready to implement a solution, I think they need to understand why there are such profound differences between younger and older workers. Actually, I went into a great deal of detail about this issue in a previous post titled, “Using Generational Differences to Your Advantage”. However, in this article, I want to focus on the implications of these differences and what a small business owner can do about them.
Lack of understanding about generational differences in the workplace can leave a small business clueless as to how to resolve the potential conflicts, performance issues and turnover it can cause. On the other hand, if small business owners examine the unique experiences that different generations have shared, they might gain important insights into how to avoid problems.
Mature workers shared many of the same cultural experiences when they were growing up. This gave them a very similar exposure to the world. You can see just how uniform their cultural programming was by looking at their high school yearbooks. They looked very similar to the way their parents looked. They dressed like little adults who were ready for a day’s work at the office; minus the experience.
In the early days of television, millions of people sat in their living rooms and watched the same programs at the same time every evening. A large percentage of American households watched the Beatles perform for the first time on the Ed Sullivan show. Mature workers shared the shocking video tape of John F Kennedy being shot. And, a great many mature workers watched as June and Ward Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver) lived together in complete harmony, resolving every within an hour. This similar cultural programming went on for approximately 20 years from 1925 to 1945. No wonder mature workers share so many common beliefs about life and work!
In contrast, today’s youth have been exposed to endless TV shows and movies where the central characters form romantic relationships (heterosexual as well as gay) almost instantly, watch those relationships fall apart within minutes, and then, almost instantaneously, meet and fall in love with someone else. All too often this is what young people see and experience in their real lives as well. This type of cultural programming tends to reinforce the belief that the very nature of relationships is temporary.
Relative to manners, other than in their homes, I think it’s fair to say that many of today’s youth have had very little exposure to good manners. In fact, they’ve been exposed to bad manners in much of what they’ve seen and heard on television, in the movies and among their peers.
If you have ever wondered why today’s youth lack an appropriate sense of propriety or boundaries, all you have to do is think about what they have seen and heard on television and in the movies. Watching television ads promoting products to improve sexuality like condoms, erectile dysfunction and female arousal would have been unthinkable when mature workers were young. The amount of profanity in TV, movies, radio and music has been increasing. Today, many movie characters drop the “F” bomb as casually as if they were saying “darn”.
Over the years, the length of time people have shared the same uniform cultural programming is getting shorter and shorter. Not only is the cultural programming for younger generations not the same as it was for older generations, it can differ widely for young people based on their race, nationality, family, religion, geographical location, access to resources and technology, etc. Today’s “youth” may still share a specific age demographic, but there are very few generalizations one can make because they share very few of the same experiences.
Younger workers don’t look at life or value the same things as more mature workers because they never shared the same experiences during as their formative years. As an example, anyone born after 1985 can’t remember a time when there weren’t cell phones or the internet. For many younger workers, ice has always been made and dispensed by refrigerators. American cars have always been low quality. The major airlines have always been bankrupt. Outrageous behavior has always been captured on video. Television programs about affluent teens and reality shows have always been popular. Diversity in the workplace has always existed (genders, races, nationalities and sexual orientation). Prominent public figures have always been found to have questionable ethics and morals.
What all of this means is that mature workers shared many of the same experiences growing up that programmed them to buy into values such as being polite, working hard, respecting institutions and authority. Younger workers did not share those experiences. In fact, many of the experiences they shared have programmed them not to be polite, work hard and respect institutions and authority.
Now that we’ve explored the issue of “what’s wrong with young people today”, we are ready to look at a solution. Younger workers are fully capable of working hard and being loyal if they believe in what they are doing, enjoy it and have ample opportunity to be involved in the decisions that affect them.
Younger workers will not do a job just because someone tells them to. They need to feel a sense of ownership for the outcome. The best way to accomplish this is to ask for their ideas and opinions. Ask them to help solve the business problems you face. And then really listen to what they have to say. As often as you can, give them a chance to implement their ideas.
Younger workers will respect institutions and authorities if they feel they are worthy of it. To earn their respect, you must be as open and honest in your communications as you can. You must also do what you say you are going to do.
Younger workers don’t understand why it is necessary to go to long, boring meetings and comply with arbitrary rules about how many hours they need to work. They also have trouble seeing the value in doing things just because that’s the way they’ve always been done.
Younger workers expect more career satisfaction and enjoyment from their work than mature workers. You must do your utmost to make sure your work environment is the kind of place where they will want to work. In “Why Work Sucks and How To Fix It”, a book by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson a new workplace model is introduced called Results-Only Work Environment. According to the authors, “In a ROWE, you control when, where, and how long you work. As long as you meet your objectives, the way you spend your time is entirely up to you.”
While this concept may sound like anarchy to a mature business owner, when it was piloted at Best Buy, it resulted in significant increases in productivity, employee satisfaction and lower turnover. If a small business owner is interested in creating the kind of workplace where younger workers want to work, I would recommend that they consider creating a ROWE.
To leverage the strengths of both mature and younger workers, a small business owner must be prepared to deliver what each of them needs from an employer. A wise small business owner will structure enough flexibility into their people systems to accommodate the different needs and desires of their workforce.
However, more mature small business owners may have some trouble designing such flexibility. Why? Because they didn’t grow up with it! Unlike mature workers who were taught to do as they were told and not to question authority, today’s youth are much more comfortable challenging the status quo. They may be more difficult for small business owners to deal with, but they see things differently than mature workers do. And that is a good thing.
If you would like to contact me, you can do so by visiting my LinkedIn page or emailing me at mike.clough@bestbizpractices.org.
Posted by: Mike Clough
