Is it me, or are we experiencing a newfound entitlement from employees?
I constantly hear stories of our clients complaining about the quality of the workforce available in the US. I keep hearing many times that the new generations don’t want to make sacrifices at work. They simply don’t care as much about their job, the company they work for the way we used to when we were their age. I hear about interviews where the candidates say: “I want more time off”, “I want to enjoy life”, “I don’t want more money, I want more flexibility”, and “I want something easy”.
Maybe this generation is right. Maybe we work too hard. And maybe if I was 24 today, I would join in their crusade…
But you see I got where I am by hard work, I have a business to run, and I love to be useful and help others, I have grit, and passion, and if you’re not going to work hard and play hard as I do then I don’t want you on my team. Go work for a start-up with a 3 day work week and tell me how that works out for you. I hear stories like: “I hired 2 people in the last 6 months and they quit after a month and a half, simply by standing up and leaving without giving any notice”, this sense of entitlement makes me cringe!
Another typical complaint I hear is; “I have an assistant, but I have to repeat things 5 times to get something done. I just ended up doing it myself and I am burned out already”.
Some of today’s employees don’t care about what you care about, this is a bit more complicated, and I do think as business leaders we need to bring our people into the fold. If we want them to care, they have to understand why they should care.
Believe me, you are not alone, when it comes to being frustrated with employees, people want to do work that’s meaningful and want to feel appreciated. This is easy to say, and not always easy to do. In our company, we have an in-house psychologist and business coach to help our resources even when our clients at times might not have the time to notice them. We also do weekly classes and have a language specialist on staff. All to support our resources so they can support our clients.
The newer generations aren’t as committed to working as hard as we did to get to the point where we are now.
Maybe they think it’s silly to work this hard, The mindset and work ethics might be shifting in this country. And as business owners, we need to figure out how to adapt. There’s not a single answer, but like my mom always said “water always finds its level”
See you next week…
RG