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Ian Shapira recently blogged on the Washington Post asking “Are Millenials Lazy?” Ian recapped the story of young medical residents who no longer work the 120-hour work weeks that the older doctor’s worked when they were training and that older generations are accusing Millenials of “devoting less of their energy to work.”
My response to that is this: why must our generation devote our lives to extreme working hours to be considered productive & hard-working citizens contributing to society? Why is our valuing of work and life balance translated into “lazy” by older generations?
Japan has the highest percentage (79%) of its population working more than 40 hours per week. You know which country is second? That’s right, the United States with over 67% its population working more than 40 hours per week. That’s not normal. That means that most of the world is working a lot less than the United States.
Just because Millenials don’t want to work over 40 hours per week doesn’t mean they don’t value a good work ethic. Maybe Millenials just value a work culture more in-tune with our European friends. I wouldn’t go around calling Europeans lazy by any means. What I would say about Europeans is that they know how to balance work & play–it’s OK to come home in the middle of the day for lunch and a nap, it may even be even good for you! I’m not going to argue that Millenials are the new Europeans, but I will say that maybe the Millenial generation is what Americans have been waiting for. Maybe Millenials see something practical and effective in the European work culture and are finally going to help get the American workplace back on a balanced track. Millenials aren’t lazy. They’re actively questioning the status quo work culture and asking, “Why?”
“Workaholism is sick and it’s wrenching to watch the pedestal we build for it,” wrote Rebecca Thorman in her recent post. Workaholism just isn’t cool anymore. Millenials can be just as productive as older generations in less time. So please, don’t call us lazy just because we don’t log as many hours as you!
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Comments
03.29.10
Smart and efficient is definitely better than burning the candle from both ends. Great post Carlee! Thank you!
03.29.10
I would think the older generation didnt have the same concepts of technology and Productivity that we have now, They had to actually put hours into getting certain tasks done that we now can do in a few minutes. The move to those new technologies created a time gap that those generations felt they had to fill. in our case, we didnt have the same number of hours coded into our lives, so we have no need to fill such a gap as we do things more effeciently and effectively. we value productivity and we utilize technologies that make things simpler. I guess its hard for the non millenials to understand and grasp the idea that you dont have to measure effort by time.
Thats just what i think on the topic.
Great post Carlee, it certainly got my thoughts running.
03.29.10
I think it is all about the compensation model.
Old school: is paid (emotionally if not in reality) by the hour. Employers look at people who don't work 40ty hours a week as cheating the system regardless of true productivity or value returned to the company.
New school: is paid by the value they return on the task or deliverable. If you are more productive with your time and can return the same or greater value in less time than a co-worker, good for you. In the end an employer wants “so much value” returned for what they pay you.
03.29.10
At the end of the day, the measure of success is about the results we deliver, not the hours that it takes to deliver them. Many Millennials have a proven track record of getting outstanding results in a shorter amount of time and that is great.
However, there are times when the work is much more complicated than it seemed at the start and the problem needs to get solved before you go home. When the crew of Apollo 13 transmitted the now famous message, "Houston we have a problem!", nobody thought about going home early, and nobody accused the staff in Mission Control of being workaholics. And on a personal note, when one of my sites fell victim to hackers, @Norcross was willing to go the extra mile to get me back in business. Sometimes we all have to work late.
03.30.10
@Chris: Awesome that you joined Brazen to comment!
@Nidal: Glad it got your thoughts going (I think that's the purpose!) -- It's funny you brought up technology improving efficiency and cutting down the time required to complete tasks. Over on my blog at http://carleemallard.com a boomer actually commented on that point and from her perspective basically said that just because you get something done in less time doesn't mean that you should leave that extra time empty (that you should still find more work to fill the extra time).
@Paul: I think we're heading in the "new school" direction, but do you really think we're there yet? I don't think we are because so many employers still focus heavily on hours worked and pay little attention to actual productivity. But then again there are some great companies out there who already GET IT and they're leading the way.
@Dr John Drozdal: Absolutely a great point. If the Mission Control crew had left the Apollo crew hanging out there in space (even if it were "after-hours") everyone would have wondered where there priorities are and thought they were crazy. Personally, I crave those moments when I'm a part of a really important project that needs my help after-hours or even around the clock sometimes to make sure that everything goes smoothly. The problem for me is that nothing about my job is ever urgent & I'm feel fairly under-utilized, but if I get phone calls from customers just as I'm walking out the door--I answer the call, I don't just let it go to voicemail. I like to end each day knowing I did as much as I could. Thanks for your comment. You definitely brought an important point!
03.30.10
@Carlee: Thanks for your reply. Your point about being underutilized made me think of something that is missing from the discussion and that is the role of the manager. One of the key roles of a manager is to help the direct report develop and be fully engaged. That means doing the best to keep that person fully utilized by having them work on the right stuff.
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