A Beverly Hills psychiatrist's office is an unlikely triage center for the mash-up of generations in the workforce. But Dr. Charles Sophy is seeing the casualties firsthand. Last year, when a 24-year-old salesman at a car dealership didn't get his yearly bonus because of poor performance, both of his parents showed up at the company's regional headquarters and sat outside the CEO's office, refusing to leave until they got a meeting. "Security had to come and escort them out," Sophy says.A 22-year-old pharmaceutical employee learned that he was not getting the promotion he had been eyeing. His boss told him he needed to work on his weaknesses first. The Harvard grad had excelled at everything he had ever done, so he was crushed by the news. He told his parents about the performance review, and they were convinced there was some misunderstanding, some way they could fix it, as they'd been able to fix everything before. His mother called the human-resources department the next day. Seventeen times. She left increasingly frustrated messages: "You're purposely ignoring us"; "you fudged the evaluation"; "you have it in for my son." She demanded a mediation session with her, her son, his boss, and HR--and got it. At one point, the 22-year-old reprimanded the HR rep for being "rude to my mom."
The patients on Sophy's couch aren't the twentysomethings dealing with their first taste of failure. Nor are they the "helicopter parents." They're the traumatized bosses, as well as the 47-year-old woman from HR who has been hassled time and again by her youngest workers and their parents.
I can't say I blame them. Soon, employers will be noting in the fine print that any employee over the age of 21 and/or who is making more than minimum wage will be fired if they involve Mummy and Daddy in any workplace issue. Making sure the Millenial Generation "gets heard" is one thing; allowing them to bitch and whine and avoid responsibility is another. I say there's a limit as to what companies should be willing to adapt.
(Via Right on the Left Coast.)
Update: PhotonCourier has tips for managers:
So, if you're interviewing a prospective new employee, you might want to ask a few questions about how the individual has handled criticism or failure in the past. And you might also want to consider some nontraditional sources of employees. Consider, for example, military veterans--especially veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. These people are likely to have had experiences which helped them develop attitudes and meta-skills which will be of great value in your organization, whatever kind of work that organization does...
Can you imagine if an employer asked a prospective worker how they'd handled criticism in the past, and got an astonished reply, "Why, I've never been criticized! That wouldn't have been very helpful for my self-esteem, now would it?"
Posted by kswygert at January 30, 2006 12:06 PM