So AGAIN, looking at the struggles that faced contractors both in the oil and gas and construction industries over the last two years, I want to pose a question.
What is UP with the workforce?
We were faced with odd workforce issues. In some cases, we had less money, so we tried to do more with fewer people. Check. In another instance we had job openings that we could not fill, so we had to do more with fewer people. Check. Lastly, many of us were faced with “generational work ethic” shock. Huh?
OK. I get the first one. Resources are low. Everyone takes on more responsibility.
The second one I have problems with. I have clients that had perfectly good job openings. These were well-paying jobs, with good benefits and upward career tracks. The ads went into the traditional paper classifieds’ as well as internet search engines. No one answered. We were back to having to do more with what we had.
The unemployment rate is over 9%. Why is no one answering these ads? What am I missing?
Might it have anything to do with ninety-nine (99) weeks of unemployment benefits? Maybe? Maybe not? I am open to ANY other explanation. Please. School me.
Lastly, we had to learn to work with the difference in “generational work ethic.” Prior to the recession, we in the oil and gas or construction trades just sent the young ones with a bad attitude on down the road. “Listen, if they can’t do what they are told when we tell them then we don’t need them!”
Then the recession hits. We were stuck with (insert dramatic music here) The Millennial’s – the Generation Y’ers.
Don’t get me wrong, as a Mom I have been acutely aware of these generational differences for quite some time as we have children spanning both Generation X and Generation Y. Trying to get their Dad (an old-school Baby Boomer) to understand they are “motivated” differently than him or me – was a never ending battle.
He would come home and tell me about someone he had sent packing on the jobsite and we would discuss what generation the “kid” fell into and he would just mumble something like “I don’t have to put up with that BS on MY jobsite.”
Fast forward to the fall of 2009. He came home one evening looking frustrated and a bit defeated. In answer to my inquiring as to what was wrong he said “OK, all I have on my crew now are these damn kids. Nothing I am doing is working. What was that generational crap you were talking about?”
I am betting many of us have found ourselves in exactly the same boat. Maybe it would be behooving of us all to educate ourselves on what motivates our future and in some cases current Millennial workforce.
Has your company had to face these generational issues? If so, how do you handle it now; as a opposed to how you used to handle it?
Really good observations about the generation entering/moving up the workforce. I get frustrated with Millennials, because it seems that they feel entitled to instant gratification and rewards. My husband teaches freshman/sophomores at the university, and he comes home every day complaining about students who think they deserve an A just for showing up to class. Translate that into the workforce – Millennials think that they should get a positive work evaluation simply for showing up to the job. THey use their cell phones during their shift, they expect HR memos to be posted on the company’s Facebook page, and they don’t have a lot of reservations about calling in sick on a Friday just to get a 3-day weekend.
I don’t mean to come off as a curmudgeon – I’m not that much older than the Millennials. But the difference between Gen X and Gen Y couldn’t be more clear in my mind – and if I were a Boomer, I’d probably be even more frustrated with the perceived lack of work ethic.
Just my 2 cents, for what they’re worth.