Generations@Work

This is becoming tedious. I swore I was done with this issue, at least on this blog. The subject: the death of the work ethic. A colleague asked me yesterday if I saw the article in the Sunday Globe about young workers and the work ethic. I said no, and left it at that. I really didn’t want to (or need to) see yet another diatribe on this topic. But then my brother sent me the link late last night, I read it, and here I am once again, commenting on yet another unsupported — not even anecdotally — rant against younger workers. As the great Tommy Heinsohn, former Celtic, now color man on Celtic broadcasts, often says: “This is getting ridiculous.”

Here’s a taste from the column “Today’s work ethic just no longer works”:

The work ethic is dead. Younger generations in the workforce have killed it off. If you’re under 30, “work” has a different meaning than it did – for the younger employee, work is something to do with your hands while chatting on your cellphone… unless it’s something to do with your mouth while text messaging.

“Are you working?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Here I am, give me a high five and a Starbucks. And it’s nobody’s fault but ours, the boomers. We’re the ones who were squealing with delight if the kid drew an egg. We were the ones who said, “Johnny tried, and that’s what counts.” And that’s why these misguided Johnnies show up and give working a try, then wonder where they find the counter where success is handed out. They see “work ethic” as “show up and shut up,” and no wonder they want no part of it.

Wow, what deep thinking. How insightful. And the evidence? Well, it just blows me away. The author, Dale Dauten (writing under the moniker “The Corporate Curmudgeon” — what should we expect?), doesn’t even feel the need to offer any evidence. Just make the accusation, somebody will believe it. If you repeat a lie or a rumor often enough, it becomes the truth. Gee, where have we seen this before?

Then Mr. Dauten arrives at the apparent purpose of his rant — to give us his version of a replacement for the work ethic, what he calls the “Contribution Ethic”. The list of 10 points is superficial, high-falutin’ fluff; it brings nothing to the discussion of generational understanding. I’ll spare you, it’s not worth repeating. The whole column is little more than filler for a contrived, sensational headline.

For those of us who actually STUDY this topic of ‘work, the changing nature of work, and the changing demographics in the workplace,’ this sort of pseudo journalism/pseudo social science reportage is a problem. While serious researchers (I am about to start yet another study of young workers, in this case in the health care industry) use real data, too many “experts” continue to spout off with no sense of responsibility or accountability to anything, let alone the truth.

Because the truth is never as simple as, “the work ethic is dead.” Every generation has it’s slackers so to speak, but that is a term that should be used with great care. For years I have been working as a consultant in industry, and for years I’ve heard tales of how people in factories across the land sleep and read newspapers all day. It’s a wonder GM ever made a car! Somehow, American workers are still the most productive in the world. Yes, Mr. Dauten, look it up.

Since you seem to like lists, here’s a reading list:

• Max Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
• Max Weber, Economy and Society

Then come forward a century to:

• Tom Malone, The Future of Work
• Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind
• Strauss and Howe, Generations

And while you’re at it, you’ll find on this blog a copy of a year-long study I conducted, in which I actually did research on the question of work ethic and younger employees, at least those known as Generation Y or the Millennial Generation.

Many serious people are contributing to a rich discussion and debate about the changing nature of work and the changing work force. Within this debate there are significant differences of opinion. I heartily endorse this ongoing discussion, and feel this blog makes a serious contribution. By contrast, the style and content of Mr. Dauten’s post I find to be both gratuitous and distracting.

(My colleague Conrad Willeman, in the background since the beginning of Generations@Work, made significant contributions to this post. We like to think that, going forward, the discussion of these issues can be more productive.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 11:50 am and is filed under Millennial Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.