Starting a career has increasingly felt like a right of passage for Gen Z and Millennial workers struggling to adapt to the working week and stand out to their new bosses.

But it looks like those bosses aren’t doing much in return to help their young staffers adjust to corporate life, and it could be having major effects on their company’s output.

Research by the London School of Economics and Protiviti found that friction in the workplace was causing a worrying productivity chasm between bosses and their employees, and it was by far the worst for Gen Z and Millennial workers.

The survey of nearly 1,500 U.K. and U.S. office workers found that a quarter of employees self-reported low productivity in the workplace. More than a third of Gen Z employees reported low productivity, while 30% of Millennials described themselves as unproductive.

  • EmergMemeHologram@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    It’s this actually something that can meaningfully be said of Gen Z / millennials, or it’s just “young people”.

    I ask because millennials are not just starting their careers, millennials are in their 30s and 40s. I’ve been in my career more than a decade and I’m a millennial.

    I’m also less productive now than before because I have too much to meaningfully accomplish it all, so I say no to a bunch of work but still end up working on random things and executive asks for instead of deep focused work that could really push the company forward. But if you don’t do what an exec wants you get fucked.

    • Jivebunny@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Oh my god haha. So relatable. And then they complain about progress on your core tasks for which they hired you. Eh, whenever that happens I point out to them that it’s not in my job description and that I did them a favor. Shuts them up most of the times about the part where I was hired for.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Boomers who bought their house for 20k working part time as kids complaining about the most debt ridden generations in existence.

      Its almost like the spending power wages today are so much lower now than they were and therefore so is productivity.

      But hey TVs are cheap even though essential goods like houses, food, and school are higher than ever, so fuck them kids right?

    • urist@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Wow, 5 paragraphs, with an introduction paragraph and a conclusion paragraph. Looks like something I’d write in high school, except for the topic.

      Did you remember to take your blood pressure meds this morning? Cherish them, kids these days can’t afford healthcare, lmao.

        • orbit@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Yeah but are you going to back your statements above up with data or are these just your feelings?

            • orbit@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              No, you made a series of claims above without evidence. Let’s start with your claim that instant gratification has spilled into the workplace and is a cause for the problems as you see them.

    • Voran@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Oh shut the fuck up already. Go and do something age appropriate, like die of an aortic aneurysm.

    • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      To address this issue, younger workers need to understand that success is not handed to them on a silver platter.

      Ha, you mean the way boomers working a minimum wage job that could buy them a house and support 2.4 kids weren’t handed that on a silver platter?

    • ZzyzxRoad@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Instead, it is their sense of self-entitlement that is causing the problem

      Comments like this have always sounded so much more entitled to me than a worker expecting a paycheck. Boomers and C suites bitching about their employees’ desire to adequately support themselves on their wages doesn’t strike you as being just a little entitled?

    • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Lol what? So many things have changed have changed since the last two generations entered the labor force. None of which is their fault. First, older generations cashed in their kids futures for a second house and boat in Florida. Second, labor today is vastly different than it was 40 years ago. 80% of work today in the west is services not production. Add in the lose in union protections, and you have a whole generation working at Walmart and McDonald’s type jobs. Third, the purposefully crippling of education. Those in power knew education needed to be wage gated or made so expensive that no one could dig out from under it in order to force educated individuals to work for lower wages. I can go on and on, your take is uninformed. Gen Z and Millennials will change this because we suffered through it and it’s all a lie.

    • OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Isn’t the entitlement on the part of the companies? You are not entitled to hard working staff. You make an offer: “give me 40 hours a week doing this thing and I’ll give you x salary” and people can accept or reject. If people reject that’s up to them. Unlucky, Mr Company.

      And if you pay a low salary with very few benefits, you are not entitled to a loyal, hard working employee. In fact you get the employee who accepted your offer and it’s on you to make sure they meet their contractual obligations. If they do, you are not entitled to 100% or their effort or any overtime, sacrifices or anything else not written in the contract.

      The fact that millenials and gen z aren’t as willing to stand and take this is a problem for the companies, not us. If you want better employees, treat them better. The days when you get undying loyalty for providing the bare minimum are gone.

      And this is before we even look at, say, average salaries vs property prices for boomers vs millenials. Why aren’t we working as hard? Well what difference does it really make anyway?

    • withabeard@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      I’ll bite …

      crushing the productivity of these workers

      What “crushing” of productivity are you delusionally on about?

      https://assets.weforum.org/editor/HFNnYrqruqvI_-Skg2C7ZYjdcXp-6EsuSBkSyHpSbm0.png https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/productivity-workforce-america-united-states-wages-stagnate/

      I can find any number of sources showing that productivity has been on the rise for decades, and has continued to rise as Millenials and younger entered the job market. There is no “crushing the productivity”.

      The rise of the internet and social media has led to a culture of instant gratification … This sense of entitlement

      Millenials and younger have gone through their entire school life being told “you need to do well this year at school, to get into the top set next year, to get into a good university to get a good job”. We/they have been told this by every generation above them, for their entire lives. The have followed this, listened to their elders, worked hard through school, sat meaningless exams, gotten good meaningless grades, they have gone to university. They have worked hard their entire lives …

      Just to be told, “culture of instant gratification” “you’re entitled” “you’ve not done the grunt work”. It’s selfish of the previous generations to not recognise this.

      Your entire comment rings as “needs evidence” to me. To the point I’m not sure if it’s satire or not. You’ve failed to put in any grunt work, evidence anything or source it as anything more than conjecture.

      They expect to be rewarded simply for showing up, rather than for producing quality work.

      This is the opposite of how I see the world, as it stands. Look at the people calling for maintaining or increasing working hours. Look at the people calling to work in office. It’s the previous generations expecting people to turn up, in office and sit there for hours so they can be paid. They are expecting people to be rewarded simply for showing up.

      Look at the people calling for unlimited holiday and reduced workhours, where failure to deliver is a disciplinary issue. Look at the people calling to work from home, and have the quality of their work assessed, not their dress sense or punctuality. Look at the people driving quick delivery, rapid review and peer appraisal of work. These are the people who are focussed on delivering quality, and not getting paid simply for showing up.

      • nrezcm@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Yeah it doesn’t read at all like a normal interaction on here would. Checked their profile and sure enough half their posts are AI generated images. Trolls will troll.

        • AnonTwo@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          should’ve just admitted to chatgpt. That paragraph makes you look old and disconnected. You made a lot of assumptions about people you don’t know, and clearly don’t know the current age you’re in. It’s not entitlement or some need for instant gratification. People are actually getting less than they got when you started working.

            • AnonTwo@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              It would look less embarrassing if you didn’t actually write it, that’s how bad it is.

                • norbert@kbin.social
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  It’s overly wordy and bloviating to say little. Brevity and conciseness show intelligence. Typing paragraphs with absolutely no new ideas or analysis makes you look conceited and aloof.

                  It’s pretty bad when you type an essay and it reads like AI wrote it.

  • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    OMG. A headline that doesn’t lay the blame on millennials and Gen Z?!

    I guess it was only a matter time. Millennials are hitting their 40s now. Now we can start blaming whatever-comes-after-Z for everything!

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      I know right? I just don’t care about these articles anymore, not that I ever really did. We’re all experienced and effective in our own ways.

    • BakerBagel@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      The youngest Zoomers are still 12 or so. Gonna be a long time before we can start blaming Alphas for the death throes of the Boomers

  • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    All I need them to understand is to pay me a fair wage and don’t fucking talk to me on my days off and just let me do my job.

    • EndHD@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      don’t forget hiring more people when the workload increases instead of just dropping it on an already overburdened team and then get shocked when they just quit

      • blipcast@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Better yet, hire more before the workload increases so you aren’t training newbies during crunch time.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Yes, but also some fucking healthcare so I can get medication for ADD is necessary. I felt like a horrible human being for twenty five years for having a terrible work ethic. And then I went on meds and suddenly I’m productive and motivated. Made me realize I’m not a shitstain on the drawers of humanity, just someone who needs help regulating brain chemistry and is capable of great things when I get that help.

      That gives me great empathy when people are crying about laziness. I suppose some folks are lazy, but I wonder how many of them wouldn’t be if they could get help.

      I’m actually off meds right now for various reasons (job change and related insurance fuckery) and I can’t wait to be able to resume them because I’m a tenth of the person I can and want to be.

      • kttnpunk@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Okay, as another person with adhd- THIS. but also maybe I shouldn’t have to regulate my brain chemistry. What if we could just fucking be allowed to exist unproductively, what if we didn’t have to take pharmaceutical grade meth to function normally? Why is that pressure there? Considered reasonable? Why is this acceptable? Gods it’s unfair, and it makes me want to watch the world burn tbqh

        • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          I also have adhd and while I get where you are coming from and your experience may be different from mine but if I’m not on my meds I can’t even keep up with my hobbies or have fun doing them. I love macro photography and I’m pretty good at it but if I’m not on my meds I just can’t do it.

          • aStonedSanta@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            Yeah. This was my realization about a year ago. Which prompted me to finally get tested. Apparently I am a pretty severe case too. I think she was very curious about a lot of aspects of my life and how they functioned. The answer was not good. Haven’t even attempted to date in 7 years a cause I can’t even function

          • kttnpunk@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            edit-2
            8 months ago

            Yeah no dig at that, obviously these things should be available and destigmatized and while it’s great these meds work for you- I was put on high-dose concerta against my consent as a teenager and suffered terrible side effects so I just wanted to explain my bias and offer these additional thoughts on this; it’s not for everyone and it especially shouldn’t be so quickly pushed as a solution when schoolchildren are disengaged or underperfoming. Moreover, consent is fucking important. I stayed up until 5am almost every night of 10th grade that shit was not normal or healthy.

            • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              On 100% your experience and feelings on it are valid and real. I personally think if kids are underpreforming in school then they should just make school better and more engaging.

  • Lenny@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    My pay is barely enough to get by on, so I’m only going to do the bare minimum to get by at work.

  • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    ITT:

    1. “I’m smarter than my boss that’s why I don’t care” “no you’re not, and yes you do.” “Yeah, actually, I am, and no, actually I don’t.” “‘Actually’ they don’t care, which is why you’re complaining about it. The only people that don’t care in this scenario are your boss and me.” “Nuh uh.” “Ya huh.”

    2. “This has happened before, it is always like this.” “No it’s not, we’re uniquely smart and capable and they’re particularly not and not.” “Ok, you’re brilliant but no one cares. That must be what’s happening.” “It is!” “It isn’t.”

    3. “The olds are so old and work culture is bad, we need better work culture.” “What does that look like?” “Doing things I care about when I want to and being paid a lucrative salary for it.” “That won’t work.” “Yes it will.” “Ok, but it won’t. Good luck.”

    Sanded it down for you all. These threads were getting a little knotty and overgrown.

    • ElleChaise@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Do you make barrels for a living? Do you forge iron with a big hammer? Do you rivet? I would wager not, and this is due to the people who employ people changing with a changing world. Add humans into the equation, and you can see how employers also need to assess that aspect of their operation; changing with the people who themselves change with the world around them.

        • PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Capitalism requires people have jobs for commerse to work. The whole system falls apart if people dont have jobs. For the sake of its own preservation, it seems like jobs should be a right.

            • BakerBagel@midwest.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              “No society is more than three meals away from a revolution”

              A society that cant take care if it’s own people will collapse into bloody revolution

            • ray@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              Having productive workers isn’t a right. If your company needs productive workers to remain profitable, then pay your employees more so they’ll be motivated to work harder. Simple. Don’t expect workers to lower their standard of living just for your benefit. That is entitlement of the worst kind.

        • maynarkh@feddit.nl
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          It’s not a privilege. It’s a contract with two parties. If either one of those doesn’t like it, they can go elsewhere.

            • maynarkh@feddit.nl
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              I meant in the colloquial meaning of contract meaning “an agreement between parties to exchange money, goods and services”, not the legal meaning of an employment contract.

              That said, it’s unbelievably shitty that most jobs in the US don’t have written documentation about the actual contract that parties engage in and are only word-of-mouth or non-binding bullshit. The US should join the rest of the world in having actual enforceable rights around employment and should quit overregulating unions.

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          A company is not a right, it is a privilege.

          If they do not contribute positively towards society, then we should be obliged to burn them to the ground.

        • OhmsLawn@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          I don’t know if you’re trolling or just don’t get the argument.

          If a company needs employees, they have to make the positions that they offer attractive, otherwise their workers will find different jobs. If an employer cannot or will not adjust to a changing labor market, they fail.

          Call it Dutch Disease if you want, but that doesn’t change the equation.

          Employees aren’t a right either.

    • orbit@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Nope, this article focuses on just one side however it is and should be a two way mutually beneficial deal, like any successful relationship. Good managers understand their employees and work within business needs to make their people happy.

        • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          I think you’re both right. Employees are free to choose jobs they like, and employers are free to hire people they like, for the most part. In theory.

          Of course, the economy isn’t in great shape, and hasn’t been for almost the entire adult lives of millennials, so it’s not like people really have much of a choice in practice. You work at Soulless Company A, or you work at Soulless Company B…or you starve. Individual job-seekers don’t control the job market.

          Similarly, companies don’t have that much of a choice, either. They can’t just exclusively hire senior citizens. They don’t control the hiring pool. It is expensive to hire and train new employees, and infeasible to replace a large percentage of your workforce on a short time scale.

          Anyway, if you have a corporate culture that is hostile to the majority of employees under 40, you’ve got a big culture problem. You can’t just dig in your heels and expect two entire generations to come around to your geriatric worldview.

            • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              He’s just saying these companies need to adapt their culture to fit the culture of younger generations or the companies will die with the boomers in a few years.

              Culture changes over time, those that refuse to change get left behind, this has always been the way of the world

              Personally I’m ok with a lot of companies failing and being replaced with healthier alternatives. In my mind we need to get back to the economy of thousands of smaller businesses rather than 15 mega corps owning everything on the planet.

            • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              Yes, I would encourage everyone to take as little shit from their job as possible. Frequent job-hopping has been the norm for millennials, because it’s typically the easiest way to increase your salary.

              I think it’s more useful to think in terms of trends than in terms of individuals. This isn’t about one person or one company. One person can leave one company, no problem. Millions of people cannot leave thousands of companies. There’s nowhere else for that many people to go.

              It seems more realistic for a small number of companies to adapt to a large number of individuals than vice-versa. If you have one unproductive employee, then they’re a bad employee. If you have hundreds or thousands of unproductive employees, then you are a bad employer.

                • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  I am assuming at-will employment. But I don’t think unions change the dynamic in principle. They just shift the power balance away from employers. That’s great, but it doesn’t resolve the fundamental issue that there is NOT an abundance of choice.

        • Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Then they can enjoy a high turnover rate as the best of best seek employment elsewhere. I’ll never understand this thinking. How do you expect to get anything other than shit employees if you treat them anyway you want? You aren’t the only employeer on earth

        • orbit@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Disagree - there is a degree into which the needs of a managers direct report should be taken into account. Ignoring these needs in full comes with the risk of turnover and productivity loss. It’s a balancing act between business and employee needs. Again you’re taking it the the extreme by saying an employer should kowtow to the employee when the reality is that it should be a good balance in an ideal scenario and not entirely in either direction. A balance leads to the best outcomes for both parties.

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          8 months ago

          That fact that you would use a word like kowtow to describe a company being willing to meet its employees halfway says a hell of a lot. This is why “nobody wants to work anymore.”

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      In a word? No. Companies need to adapt to changing conditions which includes hiring. An individual person needs to adapt, but the companies need to adapt to cultural shifts. That’s similar to the classic, “if I owe the bank $50k I can’t repay, I have a problem. If I owe the bank $50M, the bank has a problem.”

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      No, it is up to the employee to so as much as they oblige in their contract.

      Because it is not like those employers are going to do more than what is in there either.

    • chilicheeselies@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      The employee’s job is to deliver value to the business. The business’s job is to enable the employee to deliver that value. Mentorship, fair wages, career growth oppurtunities, etc. Many businesses fail on their end of the bargain. Its no wonder the employees are repaying the effort in kind.

    • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Only if the employer is a short-sighted cadre of idiots.

      I mean we could all be adhering, still, to the corporate norms of the 1880s but that would be ridiculous.

    • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      No because the employers goals are diametrically opposed to the workers in a system that requires infinite growth on a limited resources. The workers create the value. Not the employer.

      • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Right? Inflation raises are not raises. It’s saying you’re no better than last year.

        • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          Shit, mine don’t even keep up with inflation and they never have. I’m effectively being paid less and less year over year, and companies wonder why job hopping is so prevalent. It’s unreal!

    • meyotch@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      What? Ridiculous. You want fair pay and non-arbitrary, non-shifting performance metrics? Cold day in h*ck when that happens!

  • Aabbcc@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    The survey of nearly 1,500 U.K. and U.S. office workers found that a quarter of employees self-reported low productivity in the workplace. More than a third of Gen Z employees reported low productivity, while 30% of Millennials described themselves as unproductive.

    Couldn’t this just mean gen x/boomers feel more productive? Doesn’t sound like it really speaks to the output of the employees

    • meathorse@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Definitely.

      I suspect many genx/boomers don’t feel productive either - BS jobs don’t discriminate - but they have probably seen enough layoffs to know when they need to appear busy - when a reporter asks is one of those times…

    • SwampYankee@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Millennials/Gen Z:

      • Uses computer to finish day’s tasks in 4 hours, browses internet for remaining 4.
      • “Wow, I feel like a useless piece of shit.”

      Boomers/Gen X:

      • Spends 2 hours reading every single email in full as if they are addressed specifically to them, getting angry that people are telling them useless information. Spends an hour printing & collating papers for the day’s tasks. Spends 5 hours doing the tasks because paper is less efficient. Stays 1 hour extra for scanning/data entry when the whole thing could have been done on the computer in the first place.
      • “Gee golly, I sure am swamped.”
  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    right of passage

    “They’re like, ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10:30 a.m,’” Foster said of her younger colleagues in an interview with The Guardian.

    Every single generation has thought this about the younger generation. Every single one.

    In this case, I think the whole issue is exacerbated by the fact that giving sincere effort at work is so clearly a mug’s game. It used to be that being disciplined about showing up and doing your job was difficult, but at least there was a reason to do it and develop the skill over time. Now? Unless you have some sort of unusual job where the management gives a shit about you, why would you?

    • EmergMemeHologram@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      I spent a over a year trying to get a promotion while an ex boss who’s team I left was secretly sandbagging me.

      I got an offer elsewhere and suddenly leadership asked “what number would keep you”. That was exciting until they followed up that raises and promos were frozen so I’d have to wait indefinitely.

      I left.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        I did exactly the same thing early in my career.

        • Yo I’m underpaid, can I have more money?
        • No
        • Yo I found another job, I’m leaving, here’s my notice
        • Oh shit, what if we gave you more money?
        • Definitely not, good luck tho
        • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          That happened to me many moons ago.

          “Hey so I’ve been here a few years and I’ve learned a lot more and I’m much more productive in my role. I’ve also learned the business enough that I’ve applied the skills I brought with me to the point that that’s now less than 10% of my workload, having become so efficient with it that you haven’t had to fill the other opening you had for my role because I’m handling it all. What do you think my prospects would be for a raise or promotion?”

          “Sorry, no budget for a raise this year beyond your 1.3% annual raise (in a year with 4% inflation). And sorry but we can’t promote you either. You don’t have the skills for the position above yours, and besides, if we promote you out of your role we’ll be too under staffed in it.”

          “So hire someone, let me train them for my role while you train me for the role I could promote to?”

          “Nah that’s too expensive and we wouldn’t likely get the performance from them that we get out of you. Great job by the way. But no, no promotion, no raise.”

          “Do you think that might change next year? Or like…where do you see my role here in the future?”

          “We’re really happy with the roles you’re in and feel you’re well suited to it. And we feel that your pay is in line with the work you’re doing, so just keep up the good work.”

          …so they basically told me that they’d keep overworking me and that I could expect to never get a significant raise or promotion ever again.

          Two months later I got a job offer doing less work, work that was much more in line with my skills and preferred work…and a 38% raise. When I gave my notice, immediately they wanted to make a counter offer. I said I’d hear them out but based on our last conversation I doubted they were going to be willing to retain me…but sure I’ll listen.

          Their offer:

          No raise.

          I could work a shift of mandatory 9 hour days to make more money (OT was always unlimited and freely available so this was literally just taking away my choice to work OT and forcing me into it).

          No promotion.

          But they would also start training me to assist another guy in the office with his work. Basically I could work longer hours and have more responsibilities for the same pay.

          …and they were surprised when I refused.

          They even had the gall to tell me how they felt betrayed that I only gave them 2 weeks notice, rather than agreeing to stay on until they could find my replacement and I could train them. When I pointed out that they literally told me they weren’t hiring my replacement as long as I stayed their only response was that they would have if they knew I was going to leave.

    • halyk.the.red@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      I was late to work last Friday, intentionally, because my cat fell asleep in my lap while I was eating breakfast. That moment meant more to me than making sure I was there in time, no matter what it may have impacted. Working to live, not living to work, is the rallying cry upper management needs to come to terms with.

    • Sabata11792@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Hard work gets rewarded with addition work. Im half assing for my own sanity. If I was paid enough to be comfortable things could be different.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      Every single generation has thought this about the younger generation. Every single one.

      I think you’re right. My guess is that as companies get greedier and work offers fewer and fewer benefits, people are less and less willing to work as hard as their parents did. Employers that don’t understand this are either genuinely ignorant or just pretending to be ignorant.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Strategic ignorance. You can exert more pressure on someone if you genuinely believe the crazy self-serving things you’re telling them with a straight face.

      • PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        I sincerely doubt the idea that people are working less. I worked at a college with a lot of boomers. Great people, but I was radically more efficient than any one of them. The woman who had my job before (college print shop), would complain about the work load. I only really stoked until lunch and caught up on every single thing I needed to do. Watched YouTube and coded the rest of the day. Helps that I had a boss that didn’t care as long as I was caught up.

        Alas, the whole campus shut down last August.

    • Ech@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      8 months ago

      The oldest millennials are in their mid-40s. You’re pointing at the same thing.

      • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        A: your millennial age fact is irrelevant as they were not in the work force at birth.
        B: yes, that is what I posted. This is nothing new and in no way unique to millennials.
        C: what was your point?

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    The survey of nearly 1,500 U.K. and U.S. office workers found that a quarter of employees self-reported low productivity in the workplace. More than a third of Gen Z employees reported low productivity, while 30% of millennials described themselves as unproductive.

    “In a given week I maybe do fifteen minutes of real, actual work” - Peter Gibbons, 1999

    All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.

    • SuperSpaceFan@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      I’m Gen X, and I recall similar complaints about us from the Silent and Boomer generation employees as we were coming up. So, it just seems like more of the same, with the added benefit of more awareness of what’s happening.

      • frazorth@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        Coming up? I’m Millennial, and 43.

        It’s just news shitting on a group and not realising who they are.

        • olympicyes@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          If you’re born in January 1981 then you’re basically Gen X and therefore, a boomer. I bet you remember the first Gulf War.

      • ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        This has always been the case. Socrates talking about children “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

        I don’t know about gen z, but it’s probably a similar story. Millennials are better behaved, better educated, more intelligent had less teen pregnancy and less violent crime than any recorded generation before them. The kids these days aren’t getting worse, the seem to be getting better.

        Millennials are also more productive, especially productive relative to inflation adjusted cost. Productivity has been rising and real wages have been stagnant. Millennials make up the most productive part of the workforce right know. The prior generation are retiring and the younger are still junior/eduction.

        • Deceptichum@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          I’m a millennial and I straight up consider Gen z the same as us.

          I hope this doesn’t offend anyone if we’re like considered boomer af, but I just see the same social views and the same issues. The generational divide feels dead post Internet.

          • JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            I tried explaining this to my gen x dad, about my gen x brother and I’d views, and dad got stuck on “but you guys are 10 years apart!” 😂

            • olympicyes@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              My sister and I are both Gen X, her late 60s and me late 70s. When she got her first digital camera, she took the memory card to CVS, got her prints made, and deleted the digital files to take new photos. It’s funny that people think these generation labels are actually meaningful blocs instead of a useful statistical tool for policy makers.

  • maness300@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    8 months ago

    I think these last few years of geriatric rule is just going to be a lesson of what not to do for when we take control.

      • skulblaka@startrek.website
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 months ago

        But with the lessons learned from a lifetime of hardship, perhaps we stand a chance of not continuing the cycle. We lived the struggle, the grind, the hustle. It’s just up to us to not inflict it in turn.

        • Hacksaw@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          What I mean is that by the time it’s our turn to lead the best decision will be that we’re too old and we should let zoomers run the show lol

          • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            If they promise with their actions to stay woke, tolerant to all but the intolerant and respecting towards the planet i don’t care who rules the world.

          • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            It will never be “our” turn to lead. Power isn’t based on age, it’s based on wealth.

            The next generation of billionaires is no different from the last.

          • toxic_cloud@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            I think (most) millenials and gen z are in pretty good agreement with what policies we want for the future, though. So I’m not that worried.

        • LifeOfChance@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          8 months ago

          A good sign that this is what’s gonna happen is if you look around our generation is the first generation that is trying to work with the next ones to do better which has never been the case before. There is a reason millennials and gen Z are always in the headlines together.

          • tacosplease@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            8 months ago

            Millennial here. An old one at that. I’m proud of my generation and even more so of gen z. We got your back.

            • AFaithfulNihilist@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              8 months ago

              The cool ones died or retired. What we have left are the cowards, hall monitors and people so boring that even though they can afford to retire they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves so they keep working, keep being in charge, keep shitting up everything.

              • beardown@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                8 months ago

                The cool ones died or retired

                That’s not true - a lot of them were also killed or incarcerated by the government through programs similar to Cointelpro. Especially those boomers who were people of color and were active in the Civil Rights Movement

                https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO