Hey X-gen bosses - How do you deal with Y-ers?

[Monoriu]

That's why our HR changed their name to "Talent Acquisition".

Ahhh, yup.

I'd like to read their Rules of Acquisition 

[Eddie Teach]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  We prefer fresh graduates.  They stick around for the next 30 years.  People with 5 years of experience all leave in droves within the first year, if not the first month.

That should tell you something... ( that the people with experience realize other jobs out there are much better)

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Heh. Being born mid 1979, I was unsure of my category...

I was born in 1980, so I'm even more confused.

My parents are Boomers, though ('46 and '52), so in most respects I'm more Gen X than Gen Y.  My sister is a more interesting specimen, as she's 5 years younger than me but thinks the same of her own generation as most of the opinions expressed here.

[alfred russel]

Martinus, don't you work at a big law firm? And haven't they always been notorious for bringing on a bunch of fresh faced graduates and working them to death until only a few are left? If your firm is like most, you can't compare the new hires to yourself and the other people of your generation in the firm without also considering the majority have departed. And I doubt it is anything new that most of your new hires won't make it because the lifestyle is too demanding. I actually would think higher of them that they give a bunch of blowback before they decide to quit rather than meekly going out the door without complaining.

[jimmy olsen]

Heh. Being born mid 1979, I was unsure of my category...

I was born in 1980, so I'm even more confused.

My parents are Boomers, though ('46 and '52), so in most respects I'm more Gen X than Gen Y.  My sister is a more interesting specimen, as she's 5 years younger than me but thinks the same of her own generation as most of the opinions expressed here.

I was born in '82 and my sister in '85 and our parents are boomers as well.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I also have a hard time relating because my company, by and large, is still run by friggin Boomers.

[Martinus]

Martinus, don't you work at a big law firm? And haven't they always been notorious for bringing on a bunch of fresh faced graduates and working them to death until only a few are left? If your firm is like most, you can't compare the new hires to yourself and the other people of your generation in the firm without also considering the majority have departed. And I doubt it is anything new that most of your new hires won't make it because the lifestyle is too demanding. I actually would think higher of them that they give a bunch of blowback before they decide to quit rather than meekly going out the door without complaining.

I guess you have a point. The thing is, people who would go into big law firms in my generation would accept that kind of lifestyle (or they wouldn't go there). Now people seem to expect these rules to be adapted to them (while still earning the kind of money people do in this line of work).

That being said, I stopped telling my non-lawyer friends how much I earn (it is more acceptable in Poland than e.g. in Anglosaxon countries to ask someone how much they earn, btw) - the money we get is insane compared to the rest of the society. I just a got an annual bonus which is pretty much equal to what an average family of two working people earns in a year. 

[Slargos]

Martinus, don't you work at a big law firm? And haven't they always been notorious for bringing on a bunch of fresh faced graduates and working them to death until only a few are left? If your firm is like most, you can't compare the new hires to yourself and the other people of your generation in the firm without also considering the majority have departed. And I doubt it is anything new that most of your new hires won't make it because the lifestyle is too demanding. I actually would think higher of them that they give a bunch of blowback before they decide to quit rather than meekly going out the door without complaining.

I guess you have a point. The thing is, people who would go into big law firms in my generation would accept that kind of lifestyle (or they wouldn't go there). Now people seem to expect these rules to be adapted to them (while still earning the kind of money people do in this line of work).

Spot on.

When I started, I wasn't so much told that it was going to be massively hard work initially as I simply read between the lines. So I went into the job expecting to work long hours. And the first 6 months I did. It was grueling work.

When I was then placed in a position to handle the 20-something new guys, I knew that the most important advice I could give them was to expect more of the same. "Oh, sure" they would invariably reply, "I can do it. Give me a stack of contracts and make sure to call the printers for more."

But no. No they couldn't.

I told you before you started that you would have to expect several 12-hour days per week, and more weekends than not, and you told me you were up to this you worthless sons of bitches.

[Martinus]

Kids these days. 

[The Larch]

That being said, I stopped telling my non-lawyer friends how much I earn (it is more acceptable in Poland than e.g. in Anglosaxon countries to ask someone how much they earn, btw) - the money we get is insane compared to the rest of the society. I just a got an annual bonus which is pretty much equal to what an average family of two working people earns in a year. 

That's the standard procedure (getting paid insane amounts of money) for that kind of super demanding jobs. One of my best friends works in banking and he follows a similar routine. He works extremely long hours (his company's computers have a built-in alarm that kicks off at 22h advising them to go home) with gruesome performance targets, unpaid overtime as far as the eye can see from the very first day in the lowest positions, and it gets tougher as you go up. He's loosing hair in droves but he's been able to buy at 28 the kind of car (a shiny BMW) somebody going through his mid-life crisis in his 40s or 50s would buy.

He says "Yes, I get paid very well, extremely well, but my employer takes its toll in blood".

[Monoriu]

How do you deal with the problem of people refusing to work super long hours?  As I see it, the solution is to fire them until you find someone who is willing to work these hours. 

[Tamas]

One thing I always mention as by far my biggest surprise entering the working world, is how what I considered to be the default requirement -ie. doing precise work on time and not just aiming to semi-bluff your way into survival- is actually somewhat above the norm, and has helped me to regular salary rises and a slow but steady climb of the ladder.

Make that what you will regarding your theories.

[CountDeMoney]

I also have a hard time relating because my company, by and large, is still run by friggin Boomers.

The ponytails and pot must really be annoying.

[Eddie Teach]

I just a got an annual bonus which is pretty much equal to what an average family of two working people earns in a year. 

ERROR! STATEMENT/SMILIE CONFLICT. EXIT PROGRAM.

[Barrister]

How do you deal with the problem of people refusing to work super long hours?  As I see it, the solution is to fire them until you find someone who is willing to work these hours.

Well that's how the big lawfirms do it.