Sunday, January 29, 2006

Dealing With The Characteristics of Gen X and Millenial Employees

Via Photon Courier (see blogroll at left) comes this story about how employers are dealing with Gen X employees and their--how shall I say this delicately?--interesting attributes. Here's a sample:

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."


It's one thing to have a parent tell me that I have it in for their kid, but for a parent to say that to a human resources director about their adult child? At work? Amazing!

6 comments:

  1. I thought GenX was only up to 1980. I don't want to be lumped in with 22 year olds!

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  2. I can only presume that these precious young people are not opting for a stint in the military.

    The thought of mommy leaving messages for a Master Sergeant about some hurtful words boggles the mind.

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  3. Anonymous8:28 AM

    I don't find this surprising in the least. Welcome to my life at the end of every semester ...

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  4. THESE parents (mummy and DaDa?) are refered to as "helicopter" parents.....always hovering over their precious, never wrong, just perfect offspring. My Mother-in-law is a counselor at a private university and has had parents call her to discuss their child's hurt feelings for earning a bad or failing grade on midterms, because the professor failed to agree with something the "student" said in class or that the professor failed to provide acknowledgement of the "students" brilliance! I kid you not ! She can't wait to retire to get away from all the whinny spoiled brats and their parents she has to deal with....

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  5. I've heard of helicopter parents in college, but I couldn't BELIEVE they'd show up at work!

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  6. Anonymous8:16 PM

    Wulf, I do not want to be lumped in with these guys either! They are not part of our generation.

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