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Do Millenials Have A Work Ethic Problem?

People that work on oil rigs their whole lives tend to have peculiar personalities and have difficulties in their relationships.
 
Cy said:
It;s; also very physically demanding and not something most people want to do for their whole lives. Not to mention the work conditions and long hours you have to put in those said conditions. And the hours can be ridiculous. When you are working you really cant do anything else. Most people I know who do it just work a determined amount of months out of the year then take 2-4 months off. That works for some people but not most.
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All good points. I'm just saying for somebody with only a HS degree, it's not a bad option.
 
on the topic of work ethic, maybe we should all take our cue from the most interesting man in the world!


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I think one must distinguish between "lazy/poor work ethic" and "willingness to do any job." There is a big difference. To a certain degree, each generation has been less enthusiastic to embrace the stereotype of putting on the steel toe boots, packing a bologna sandwich for lunch, punching the time clock, engaging in less than mind stimulating labor, going home and waking up and doing it all again tomorrow.

One of the biggest fairy tale narratives today is the romantic longing, being spun by politicians and their dutiful journalistic minions, for the loss and hopeful resurgence of the "manufacturing" sector. What is conveniently left out of this story line is that the "go to college and make something out of yourself" meme directly arose from the parents that worked these jobs. Their entire goal in life was to labor away so they could send their kids to college so their kids didn't have to work in the steel factory, the coal mine, or on the assembly line, or be plumbers, electricians, etc. College was the blue collar equivalent of "escaping the ghetto."

Of course, not all "manufacturing" jobs are equal and to be sure there are "good" types and "bad" types, but I don't think there is a whole lot of people anymore willing to simply drudge away at just any job, particularly one that is by all measures a "crappy" one, let alone doing for 30 plus years.
 
BabyPeterzz said:
Sounds to me like "job creators" are feeling a little entitled these days. Their ego has been so inflated, with the recent downturn and the focus on unemployment, that they think younger people should be happy with their **** job that doesn't really pay that great and generally sucks. Shut up and like it, and if you don't you're lazy.

Business owners are getting lazy, thinking that starting a business and employing people is good enough. Well guess what? **** work attracts **** employees. Just because you provide employment doesn't get you off the hook. Your business would go nowhere without its employees and providing an enjoyable work situation should be part of a smart business growth strategy.
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Don't be so judgmental. Business owners are the hardest working people in the world. If the rest of us worked as hard as they did we'd have streets paved in gold.

Separate the businesses from the people chanting "job creators". That's where your complaint lies, not at the actual business people.

It's not the job of business to make employees blissful, yet many of the largest companies in this country are consistently the best to work for (Nucor, P&G, Tesoro, GM, etc.). Big business understands your complaints and pays well for a mutual reason.
 
franklin said:
Don't be so judgmental. Business owners are the hardest working people in the world. If the rest of us worked as hard as they did we'd have streets paved in gold.

Separate the businesses from the people chanting "job creators". That's where your complaint lies, not at the actual business people.

It's not the job of business to make employees blissful, yet many of the largest companies in this country are consistently the best to work for (Nucor, P&G, Tesoro, GM, etc.). Big business understands your complaints and pays well for a mutual reason.
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This is a pretty unrealistic appraisal of Business owners.

What "Business Owners" strive to do, when they do actual work, is dream up better ways of reducing the cost of building stuff. . . . . . take roads, for example, which are not paved with gold but with gravel and the worthless unusable undistillable fraction of oil that stinks the worst and has no beneficial uses. If the refineries tried to bury the stuff in the Great Salt Lake Desert, they'd be fined billions by the EPA, but hey it's OK for roads anywhere.
 
Isn't the answer kind of obvious when you look at America? Of course this is the "laziest" generation in quite some time. The scope of the government is continually expanding and it is constantly doing things that reduce the incentive to be productive. Generations will continue to get "lazier" and "lazier" if that keeps happening. The cause is not the individuals themselves, it's the majority of voter's lack of the basic understanding of economics.

-BabyD
 
moevillini said:
on the topic of work ethic, maybe we should all take our cue from the most interesting man in the world!


hq07zyxgxbyy7v2bpu1t.jpg
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This reminds me of people in my department. There are 4 of us; two born in the 70's and two in the 90's (just FYI, I'm one of the geezers). The 20 somethings have a completely different mindset. When quittin' time hits (and frequently a little earlier), they're out the door, regardless of what's going on. We older guys make sure everything that has to be done that day is done, and we frequently stay late. And the younger employees call in sick about 5 times as frequently as we do. They work a little quicker, but make a LOT more mistakes, requiring work to be redone.

It's 4 people. Hardly enough on which to base any sort of conclusion. And I don't consider my younger colleagues lazy, per se, but there is a definite difference in their work habits.
 
b_line said:
I think there is more going on here with this particular situation, being based in South Dakota does not help them keep employees, as they can run off to the oil fields and get a $7 per hour raise pretty easily. So this particular situation is probably a little more complex. Also, what portion of the kids were going to head to college within a few months anyways?

That being said, I do think there is a different work ethic among millennials than that of the older generations. Speaking from a work ethic standpoint, I have never felt that I identify with the majority of people my age, as I am kind of a workaholic. When I took my current job, and began being responsible for hiring and managing a crew of about 15-20 people, I had a very hard time with the young guys. The nature of my company means we hire pretty much all young kids. At first, I thought they were all super lazy and I did not respect them at all. After about a year, I decided I had to change my view on the subject, or I was going to go nuts. I decided they could not all be lazy, they just worked differently.

My employees don't get as muh satisfaction from hard work or even accomplishing something, as they do in being "a part" of something. My job has become selling the company to my employees, and convincing them that their hard work is somehow benefitting them through some way. With some, I have to act like a teacher and give them "valuable life lessons" and with others I have to give them titles and responsibility. It sounds cheesy, and probably applies to other generations as well, but it works.

So when I see other managers saying that millenials are lazy, I see more of a problem with the employer/manager than an entire group of employees.
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Ok one of your best posts in like forever.

Tried to rep.
 
Bronco70 said:
This reminds me of people in my department. There are 4 of us; two born in the 70's and two in the 90's (just FYI, I'm one of the geezers). The 20 somethings have a completely different mindset. When quittin' time hits (and frequently a little earlier), they're out the door, regardless of what's going on. We older guys make sure everything that has to be done that day is done, and we frequently stay late. And the younger employees call in sick about 5 times as frequently as we do. They work a little quicker, but make a LOT more mistakes, requiring work to be redone.

It's 4 people. Hardly enough on which to base any sort of conclusion. And I don't consider my younger colleagues lazy, per se, but there is a definite difference in their work habits.
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This was a lot better way of saying what I was trying to say.
 
ONE LOVE said:
Just for the record I did rep his post once I got back to my computer.


So no reptile dysfunction here (looking at you Log).
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Thanks for the update. I was pretty worried about this.
 
ONE LOVE said:
Just for the record I did rep his post once I got back to my computer.


So no reptile dysfunction here (looking at you Log).
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What you do with your reptiles is your business.

Now if you mean repual dysfuntion, that is another topic altogether.
 
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