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Several folks this morning linked to the itsallwrong post about Gen-Yers, their tendency to job-hop and their disloyalty and while I don’t disagree wholly with the post there is one part that got me going. I wholeheartedly disagree that Gen-Yers are disloyal, I think that job-hopping is also not inherently being disloyal. I purposely chose the title to have two meanings. I think that Gen-Yers are actually very loyal, but they also are only willing to return loyalty to the degree that they receive.
I did some quick searching around on Brazen Careerist and found some similar thoughts about Gen-Y loyalty. I’d be remiss not to acknowledge them as well. Whether it is Teresa Cantwell talking about how loyalty can change when management or company vision, Beth Harris talking about how young workers don’t return loyalty, or Ryan Healy talking about some of the ways that Gen-Yers and companies will show loyalty to each other in the future, the underlying theme is the same. I will show loyalty to a company if a company shows loyalty to me! It has to go both ways and Gen-Y is just a group of people that are willing to stand up for that.
Personally, I am a very loyal person, loyal to a fault. I stayed with my last job up until I was physically starting to get sick because I did not want to put my teammates that I had worked with for multiple years in the position of having to cover my work as well. I don’t think I’m any sort of exception either.
So why does Gen-Y get this rap? One thought that comes to mind is management. I was taught that strong loyalty is something that is earned by management or the company, not something that is automatically deserved. Pay particular note to the strong qualifier there. A small bit of loyalty has to be given for a company going out and taking a chance on hiring someone. Let’s face it, the hiring process requires a bit of a gamble and a company deserves some credit for that.
Once an employee gets past orientation and starts working for real then there has to be some give and take. When I was a manager at a bar / restaurant I learned that one way to win loyalty was to be willing to do the crappy jobs and offload some off of my employees. I would take the worst job of cleaning the bathrooms at the of each night when I was head bouncer or manager instead of making the new guy or girl do it as would be natural. This won thanks from my employees and when I asked them to do something they were much more apt to be glad to because they knew that I would do it. When was the last time you saw a manager take the worst part of a job off of an entry level staffer? Those that you have seen do that are people whose employees appreciate them right?
It sounds a little odd but I honestly took what Conan O’brien had to say on his last show to heart about not becoming cynical. I am not trying to be cynical here, I’m trying to be realistic. If companies out there realize that what we will give loyalty as we get then they will get a much better response out of Gen-Y. I don’t think it is something that we will give in on either, it is part of who we are. Look at points 3 and 4 from Ryan’s post if you want a few ideas on how to win loyalty. And going forward can we finally stop calling Gen-Y disloyal?!
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Comments
01.28.10
I love your take on this. I'm with you all the way. Someone told me a story about how his office was starting to recover from hard times, but they weren't out of the woods yet (who is?). The leadership wanted to know why people weren't excited about work, and the answer should have been clear: after a year of cuts and layoffs, cuts were still looming. If they do pay cuts again, it's going to feel like punishment this time around. Why would anyone be loyal to that? I saw a simulation from a company talking about compensation that included someone who was only making 69% of the minimum salary...69%!! And yet, even though he was a high-performer, the raise cap would only give him 10% more, still keeping him some $12,000 under the minimum salary...again, who will be loyal to that? It doesn't even make sense...
01.28.10
I completely agree with you: Respect must be a two-way street. Too often, I walk into a job that expects me to be insubordinate and immature, and the management treats me as such with no justification. Plus, with the market the way it is now--salaries lower and benefits slashed--respect should be a priority! Who is willing to stick around in a poorly paying position with no respect or loyalty to its emplyees when there's something similar at another company who offers either better pay, benefits or hours?
Companies and hiring managers need to give some real thought into what they're recruiting for. Is it for the company's future or a warm body in a cubicle? If I think I have a career somewhere, I'm much less likely to be ready to leave after a short time.
01.28.10
Thanks for the comments.
@Emily I agree that pay cuts suck, sometimes ( especially with today's economy ) they can be necessary. I have respect for organizations that choose pay cuts over layoffs, but I think that the company has to show a light at the end of the tunnel. Make a promise as to what they'll do when times are better again and stick with it. Later tonight I'll go back and find one of the first posts that I commented on on Brazen that was about why your top employees will likely leave this year and then subsequently how to keep them.
@Chris(tina) (Out of curiosity, should I call you Chris or Christina?) I find it interesting that you naturally interchanged loyalty and respect. Those two values have a lot to do with each other and I will admit that I am more willing to show loyalty for a manager / company when I respect them and when I've been treated with respect.
I'd argue that I don't want to stay around in a position with no respect or loyalty almost regardless of pay.
01.28.10
Intriguing blog post - I think this is a good step towards clarifying communication between Gen Y and the earlier generations. As a young worker, I can definitely say that this concept seems natural to me, and at the same time, I can see how it might not occur to older workers.
Perhaps it's less of a generational issue, however, and more of a work-experience issue. In our cases, we appreciate such treatment because we are in, or have recently held, lower-level jobs. A manager may be years removed from his entry-level positions, and simply not consider what a difference this could make.
10.29.10
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