The millennial generation, which consists of Americans born between the years 1982 and 2000, has continued to receive a lot of ridicule and animosity from the older generations. Being a millennial myself, and seeing so many of my millennial peers accomplish amazing things, I have tried to understand where the finger pointing and disgruntled comments originate from. As I have read and learned more about my generation and all of the generations before mine, I have developed a greater understanding of the reaction many people have to millennials.
In Jewelyn Gosgrove’s article, "I Finally Figured Out Why People Love To Hate Millennials," she explains that millennials might as well be living in a completely different world than any previous generation. Older generations see the formula for success as very simple and predictable: hard work will earn you financial success and security, and bad luck or bad decision making are the only things hindering you from achieving success and reaching your full potential. This is the way the world worked for them.
Today’s formula for success, if you can even argue that there is one, is one that relies heavily on chance, luck and opportunism. There are many more factors affecting a young person’s success today than ever before. One of these being that the millennial generation is the largest of any other generation before, surpassing the baby boomers in size with a whopping population of 75.4 million. And on top of its size, the millennial generation is the most educated generation to date. This means that today’s young person could be highly qualified and hard working and still be unemployed because there are so many of them competing for the same jobs. Because of this, millennials have adopted a new outlook on success and the workforce. They believe in life, not a work-life balance. They don’t want a lifelong career that will pay the bills; they want a job that gives them purpose and meaning in life. They need to feel like they are doing something with a purpose. This is why many millennials are perceived as entitled because they want to understand why they are doing something instead of simply doing it “because I’m the boss” or “because that’s the way its done."
Another thing that sets millennials apart from other generations is that they have lived most of their lives using technology to enhance productivity and communication. They understand that things can be done faster and more efficiently with technology. For example, a 20-something at the office may get twice the amount of work done before lunch, putting him ahead, and then get scoffed at by older employees for taking a longer lunch break. This makes him seem lazy or entitled when in reality he has exceeded his productivity time for the day.
Because of their technological upbringing, millennials are very innovative and creative and forward thinking. They are all educated. Let’s face it, millennials are super valuable and very smart. If the worst thing about them is that they would rather understand why they’re doing something and how it helps the company than just blindly completing a task, is that really so bad? And keep in mind that in order for a millennial to be in your workplace in the first place, their resume has to be pretty impressive, because everyone they’re competing with has a four-year college degree at minimum. Simply put, millennials have to do a lot to even be considered for a job today, as opposed to 20 years ago, when you could just show up and prove that you would work hard. They just want to do good, efficient work with a purpose, and they want to understand how their work fits into the bigger picture.
Still think they’re lazy? Entitled?
