Generation Y in the workplace

LegacyUser

We've had a few new staff in the workplace and they're all born after 1984 ie form 20 - 23 hence generation Y. I just cant believe how bad some of them are and it's not because of lack of intelligence but its down to pure laziness and bad attitude. They literally want to be spoon fed every piece of information.
I half think that they make such a meal out of doing something simple so that I want ask them to do it again. They just don't want to do the menial tasks. A few examples:

I asked one trainee to call a client and ask for a piece of information, she asked if she could do something else because she got embarrassed speaking on the phone.

Another time a trainee asked me for a clients telephone number, I told them to get it off the clients file. She went and got the file and brought it back to me and said "where will I get it on the file"

After showing another trainee more than once how to restore a software file, I then asked the same person to restore a file. He turns and says "I dont know how to do that"

These kids are in for a serious wake up call, with job opportunities becoming more competitive they will find it hard to cope if thir outlook doesnt change.

lau1247

It depends on the work..
I just started a job not long ago..
In term of my work, some info are technical and that you don't want to get it wrong.. as the consequences will be very costly..
So for a short while I may be rechecking it with a colleague until I'm absolutely sure that it's a perfect piece of work..
I'm sure he may find me annoy as hell by now..


In your case as you've described,
They do need a serious wake up call..
That is just pure lazy.
Come performance review time, it won't look good on them..
It shows how much commitment they have toward their work.

Xiney

I'm part of generation Y, but I don't fit that description. They sound like muppets.

Never ceases to amaze me though, that people like them get jobs... and I keep sending my cvs into a black hole of nothingness.

wmpdd3

This is what reviews are for.

Tell them what they are doing wrong, get them to discover the right way of doing it, measure how well they do it right.

If they can't develop, they get rid!

That's what the process is there for.

taram

Try working with 16-18 year olds :O At the moment I'm working with a 22 year old who never had a job before and she's scared of talking to our customers :rolleyes: Am a gen Y girl myself, but find the problem is a lot of my generation went to college straight out of school, and only now are trying to get jobs and they're not sure how the world works

R.D. aka MR.D

I agree with people above, it is certainly not everyone of this age that acts like this. It's your company's fault for hiring the wrong people! It's amazing how many people hire just on degree rather than if they've actually worked before, not in the sector but even in the local shop where they would have had to deal with the day to day annoyances of work!

WindSock

Well, you have to start somewhere...

Mcfast

WindSock wrote: »

Well, you have to start somewhere...

which doesn't excuse people being too afraid to do there jobs like talking to customers.thats ridiculous.what if you are the customer waiting ina store or on a call to speak with someone, do you think its acceptable to be told there afraid but they have to start somewhere?:eek::rolleyes:

Firetrap

I don't suppose any of us was perfect when we started our first jobs either. The most important thing is that these people learn from their mistakes and shortcomings.

I was going to tut tut about Generation Y as well when I thought back to what I was like in my first job. In hindsight, I realise that I was very lucky to have had an understanding boss who tactfully pulled me up on things I was doing wrong and taught me to do basic things like answer the phone properly and deal better with people. I haven't spoken to the man in years but if I met him on the street in the morning, I'd thank him for taking the time to do this. In some ways, that was every bit as useful to my career as my university degree.

Hopefully the kids of Generation Y will learn the life lessons that we did as well. None of us is perfect and we've all got our own weaknesses.

Buffman

How long have these people worked in the job? If it's a week or 2 then they're still finding their feet.

If it's any longer I'd say the company should review it's hiring/interview process. There has never been more talent available for hiring, so no excuses for employing twits.

And yes, I'm generation Y myself:p

shoegirl

Generation Y my a***. I have a guy works with me is a year younger than me, mid 30s, and is by far the worst, classical passive-agressive to**** I've ever worked with. Works a 6 hour day, gets away with it, falsifies his hours on his timesheet (seemingly nobody checks), accuses better co-workers of "bullying" and spend most of his day on the net or doing puzzles, not to mention inventing skills he doesn't have (which mostly involve copying and pasting code out of books and the net). I would be soooo happy to find some sub 25 year old to work with, people who "got lucky" in the mid 90s are some of the worst employees I've ever come accross.

doolox

Comparative labour analysis is best left to the experts.
If he is doing 6 hrs a day how is this affecting you?
Do your own work and look after your own stuff, let the boss sort him out.
Chances are in this current environment a balance has been struck between the benefits to be got by stirring up trouble to get an extra 2 hr out of him and making do with the 6 he is giving already.
Just make sure you're not doing an extra 2 hrs to make up the difference.
People can spend too much time analysing the work of others and not concentrate on their own job.
In time the deficit will be discovered and questions will be asked and he will have to pull up his socks.
By doing your own job well you can be out of the firing line when the trouble starts.
Just make sure to mark up all the work you do as your own in such a way to avoid him getting the credit for work you've done.

il gatto

GENERATION X wrote: »

We've had a few new staff in the workplace and they're all born after 1984 ie form 20 - 23 hence generation Y. I just cant believe how bad some of them are and it's not because of lack of intelligence but its down to pure laziness and bad attitude. They literally want to be spoon fed every piece of information.
I half think that they make such a meal out of doing something simple so that I want ask them to do it again. They just don't want to do the menial tasks. A few examples:

I asked one trainee to call a client and ask for a piece of information, she asked if she could do something else because she got embarrassed speaking on the phone.

Another time a trainee asked me for a clients telephone number, I told them to get it off the clients file. She went and got the file and brought it back to me and said "where will I get it on the file"

After showing another trainee more than once how to restore a software file, I then asked the same person to restore a file. He turns and says "I dont know how to do that"

These kids are in for a serious wake up call, with job opportunities becoming more competitive they will find it hard to cope if thir outlook doesnt change.

I found alot of people straight out of college walked into 30-40k a year jobs with no previous and a degree which only has moderate relavance to what the job entails. They were out of their depth, overpaid compared to their experience and not very productive for their money. Quite galling to be babysitting a newbie while they spend an eternity finding their feet and they get paid more than you. And as soon as they gain some confidence, they start giving orders like a general:mad:

Bren1609

shoegirl wrote: »

Generation Y my a***. I have a guy works with me is a year younger than me, mid 30s, and is by far the worst, classical passive-agressive to**** I've ever worked with. Works a 6 hour day, gets away with it, falsifies his hours on his timesheet (seemingly nobody checks), accuses better co-workers of "bullying" and spend most of his day on the net or doing puzzles, not to mention inventing skills he doesn't have (which mostly involve copying and pasting code out of books and the net). I would be soooo happy to find some sub 25 year old to work with, people who "got lucky" in the mid 90s are some of the worst employees I've ever come accross.

Do you work in the public sector by any chance?