Gen Y Wants Good Pay and More Vacation, But is That Realistic?

Kids born in the early ’80s are placing more emphasis on time off and compensation than young people did 30 years ago, according to a recent study by UC San Diego psychology professor Jean Twenge. To find her conclusions, Twenge studied data from the annual “Monitoring the Future” survey given to high school seniors. Even after the recession hit in 2008, seniors continued to value time away from work.

Twenge believes this generation may see time off as necessary because of how hard they saw their parents work during their own upbringings. These unreasonable expectations — big pay with lots of time off — leave Gen Yers feeling less than enthused about their work. The Conference Board, a private research group, said earlier this year that job satisfaction for those under 25 was at a record low in 2009.

Barbara Keats, a management professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business, also points to the early years of these Gen Y employees when it comes to this attitude of entitlement: “Remember all those ‘baby-on-board’ signs on cars? It was a very child-centric culture. The zeitgeist was devotion to children, doing everything for them.”

In turn, the Internet is full of tips for employers about how to deal with Millennials in the workplace. The pieces say things like: “Often, older Baby Boom managers are frustrated with Gen Y, feeling they demand that everyone change to accommodate them,” and “Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people,” and “…they tend to see professors and employers as peers, and they act that way. That’s something I think a boss would need to prepare for,” as well as, “In particular, [some managers] resent Millennials for expecting overnight advancement from their entry-level jobs.”

There are lots of assumptions and definitions being thrown about in these pieces, but what do you think will happen eventually? Will the Millennial attitude infuse American business practices and force it to accommodate to their needs, as this passionate, tech-savvy generation floods the marketplace? Or will Baby Boomers and Gen Xers (forced to continue working as retirement age gets older and older) eventually change their ideals?

Photo via ThomasTalksTech