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There was an article featured on the front page of entrepreneur.com today debunking the myths behind employees from Generation Y — people born between 1978 and 1990 — and their attitudes in the work place. The three common myths the article touched on were #1 that Gen Y employees are disloyal: that the days of working in the same office for 30 or 40 years are long gone and instead we will bounce from company-to-company on a whim. The article refuted this fact (and I agree) saying that, despite this common misconception, Generation Y employees really do want to have a long-term relationship with a company; but they also want to trust that the company wants to have a long-term relationship with them. Gen Yers need companies to prove to them that they’re wanted there and that their staying with a company is worth it. As Entrepreneur explained,

In today’s environment, nobody trusts the system to take care of them long term. From the collapse of Social Security to the fall of major companies during the dot-com era and, more recently, the Enron scandal, millennials are acutely aware that nothing is a “sure thing.” These events have created a generation skeptical of loyalty.

The second myth: #2 Gen Yers don’t want to pay their dues. Bruce Tulgan, co-author of Managing Generation Y, however says that this myth is utter nonsense. But that it goes hand-in-hand with the realities associated with the first myth,

It’s nonsense to think they don’t want to do lots of work. In fact, I think that Gen Yers will absolutely do grunt work–they just want to know, ‘OK, I did all this grunt work; what do I get?’

Employees from Generation Y will do any work asked of them as long as they understand the point of the work and its benefit to the greater good (both their’s and the company’s).

And the third and final myth is one that I personally have heard a ton: Myth #3: They need constant praise. This isn’t entirely inaccurate - we have grown up in a time and culture of constant praise and support. After all, I think it’s because of my generation that now every player in Rec Basketball and every girl on the pee-wee cheer squad now gets a trophy just for showing up. But does that translate into the workplace? I’m not sure. And, if an employer is failing victim to praising their employees every five minutes, they’re just as much to blame. If you let an employee get away with not meeting expectations and praise them anyway, they’ll continue to do it — no matter how old they are.

While I don’t entirely believe that any of these myths are anything more than that - myths, stereotypes have to come from somewhere. It may be a good idea to keep each of these myths in mind when interviewing for a job, or during your first week on a new job, and go out of your way to debunk them as soon as possible. As Tulgan explained,

This is going to be the most high-maintenance workforce in history–but I think they’re also going to be the most high-performing workforce in history.

Source: “Gen Y Myths Debunked: Getting the Most from Gen Y Employees” [entrepreneur.com]
[image via boomers.typepad.com]

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