There are two kinds of people in this world – those who believe there are two kinds of people, and those who don’t. I am among the former, and so, I believe there are two kinds of people when it comes to Millennials – those who love them, and those who don’t. Again, I am among the former.
Not sure what it is about this particular generation that generates such angst, but it does. Conversations about them are like old Vaudeville comedy routines – “and how about those Millennials?” The challenge is in guessing which direction that conversation will lead. One person will complain about the work hours they keep, the next will laud them for their work ethic. How’s one to know what to think?
Well, here’s what I think: On whole, Millennials work harder at everything than we (Boomers) worked at anything.
Think about it. When we were twelve, baseball meant fifteen Little League games at local schoolyards spread over 6-8 weeks, with maybe a practice thrown in on Saturday. The season began when it stopped snowing and ended before it interfered with Memorial Day picnics. Today, baseball means 50-60 games (more if one’s in their teens) that begin in March and run well into the summer. Vacations revolve around where the tournaments are. Team workouts begin in winter and players often work with private instructors to hone their craft. The story is similar for basketball, volleyball, soccer, golf or any manner of athletic endeavor.
And that’s just sports. Today’s young adults also spent more time taking high school courses that many of us Boomers passed up in college. To paraphrase an old U.S. Army slogan, thanks to everything from Advanced Placement courses in calculus, chemistry, physics and writing to traveling debate and robotics teams, Millennials have done more by age twenty than most people do their whole lives.
Yes, they were brought up with participation trophies and they resist set work hours, but as a Millennial recently stated to an audience of job-seeking Boomers, perhaps that’s because those are the things we longed for. That’s another thing to think about – do we not all prefer flexibility in our work lives in order to attend to life’s needs? Part of that is due to the workplace catching up to the reality of dual-income families who require time to take kids to the doctor, stop by a school or deal with life’s everyday challenges. Millennials were not only the drivers behind that evolution, but were witnesses to its implementation. Should we be surprised they see workplace flexibility as a necessity, if not a birthright? Yes, Millennials may not be at their desks from 8 to 5, but they are the ones working on their laptops Saturdays at Starbucks and are never out-of-touch. The schedule may be lax, the effort is not.
Even as the participation trophy generation, Millennials may have a thing or two to teach us. Aren’t we learning that positive workplace environments that offer reinforcement rather than retribution are more effective in furthering organizational objectives? We have recognized the type of work environment we wish for and have simply adapted it to our child-rearing. Far from creating monsters, we have prepared them for a lifetime of effective leadership.
And none of this even takes into account that, by and large, Millennials have been fighting our war on terror. From Iraq and Afghanistan to Libya and Niger, this generation has proven itself in ways those of us who came of age after Vietnam can never claim. Yes, they may be soft when it comes to uncomfortable opinions on college campuses, but on whole these are not soft people.
So, count me among those who love ‘em. Lord knows, I'd love to have been one.
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