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Everywhere, and all around us, young workers are "changing" things. They aren't willing to work their fingers to the bone for one company. They will take flexibility over salary. They will search for that happy place.
I watched a news special where a definitely not young worker attempted to describe the phenomenon that is the young worker. She used cute industry buzz words, and of course described "them" in non-glowing terms to her presumably not-young-worker audience. I was offended. Mostly because I watch the evening news, and have since I was a child, and after taking a brief hiatus to overcome my television addiction, this is what I am greeted with. But I was also offended because the alleged expert missed something else: that this "new" crop of workers is simply responding to "old" rules.
There was a time when capitalism was king, and the weak were exploited for the powerful. Even more than now. There was a time where a man lost a limb working for his employer and got nothing. But then, the depression hit, and things changed. And the government paid for damaged workers, people who lost whole portions of themselves thanks to the capital machine that eats things up and spits them out. So the idea of social responsibility for the corporate entity was born. And that is where the great institutions like workers compensation and unemployment come from. But, they work and then they don't. No amount of money can make you whole if you are hurt in the corporation's pursuit of wealth. No matter how you are hurt. And if it is cheaper to hurt you, guess what? You will be hurt. That is how the system works. Cost benefit analysis is king in pure capitalism.
Furthermore, I am always amazed when people pretend to be surprised by the greed that exists in the world, and the choices that companies make. Pharmaceutical companies not withstanding. Corporations are metaphorically living breathing entities that exist to make money. Your health, your life, your family be damned. If a drug will make 50 billion, and only cost 50 million in lawsuits because of lost lives, the drug will be made. A life, contrary to popular opinion, is not invaluable.
Young workers realize this. They see that the social programs don't really protect them from the fact that they are expendable. So they get in and get out, and they make the system work for them. They feel no loyalty, because really, a company feels no loyalty to you. There is nothing really new about this; in fact, things have gotten better on the whole corporate responsibility front. However, young workers are putting themselves, their brand, and their personal "business", ahead of the company that seeks to swallow them whole, use them, and get maximum value while doing it. So I applaud you, fellow young worker. Because your eyes are open, you have no illusions about the at-will nature of employment, and you are out to protect yourself, your family, and your life.
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Comments
06.05.08
I agree 100% with your observations, Beth. I am reminded of the scene in the movie "Fight Club" where Edward Norton is explaining his job as a car defect inspector. I don't have the quote, but basically he says that if the cost of doing a recall is more than the cost of paying out money to the families of those killed because of the defect, they don't do one.
Within the first few months of my employment post-college at a small company which I thought cared about its' people, the economic downturn forced us into layoffs - many of which were people who had given 10 or 20 years of their lives to the company. Instead of laying off me, the lower-salaried new employee, they went with the more expensive people. I was disgusted, but glad that I learned early on that companies have zero loyalty to anything but the almighty dollar. I'll be damned if I will ever show them anything but the same in return.
06.05.08
This is a great perspective. It's not so much that we want to "have-it-all" or that we are being whiney babies. It's that we realize that it is healthy and safe to put ourselves ahead of an entity that couldnt careless about us. We see first hand through our parents and grandparents that the company that you give your life to will let you go in a heart beat to save more money. Loyalty goes both ways.
06.06.08
Very astute observations. It's funny how Gen Y knows this and yet it still bothers them to a certain extent. We know that this is the way companies work and yet it still gets to us that companies view employees like expendable assets. That's why a good manager can be so invaluable, they can take corporate bloodlust and parse it into some semblance of humanity.
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