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Baby Boomers Don't Have a Stronger Work Ethic Than Later Generations, Says Study (sciencedaily.com)
A team of U.S. researchers from Wayne State University in Detroit have published research in Springer's Journal of Business and Psychology that dispels the popular belief that baby boomers have a greater work ethic than people born a decade or two later. Science Daily reports: The economic success of the United States and Europe around the turn of the 20th to the 21st century is often ascribed to the so-called Protestant work ethic of members of the baby boomer generation born between 1946 and 1964. They are said to place work central in their lives, to avoid wasting time and to be ethical in their dealings with others. Their work ethic is also associated with greater job satisfaction and performance, conscientiousness, greater commitment to the organization they belong to and little time for social loafing. The media and academia often suggest that baby boomers endorse higher levels of work ethic than the younger so-called Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) and Millennials (born between 1981 and 1999). [Keith Zabel, the lead U.S. researcher, and his team] compiled a dataset of all published studies that have ever used a U.S. sample to measure and report on the Protestant work ethic. Studies included in the meta-analysis had to mention the average age of the people surveyed. In all, 77 studies and 105 different measures of work ethic were examined using an analysis method stretching over three phases, each phase offered more precise measurement of generational cohorts. The analysis found no differences in the work ethic of different generations. These findings support other studies that found no difference in the work ethics of different generations when considering different variables, such as the hours they work or their commitment to family and work. Zabel's team did however note a higher work ethic in studies that contained the response of employees working in industry rather than of students.
That was always the criticism of the Baby Boomers. That they didn't have the same work ethic as their parents.
teenagers to early twenty-something are almost always a poor example of a generation's work ethic.
once people end up in their thirties and have mouths to feed, they tend to work as hard as their parents once did.
Companies printed circuit diagrams on the inside of their hardware. Go open your HVAC, there's probably a circuit diagram on the inside.
Ford used to publish "This is how you fix our cars" and give it away. The knowledge was there.
Anecdotes? Whoa there, buddy, you're argument about a few people is clearly statistically significant! I guess we should discard what scientists say because it doesn't seem right to you.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
That's the Great Generation that rebuilt the world after WWII. Baby boomers came later with their loud music, pot smoking and premarital sex.
I had two who worked out well, and even one of those ended up moving to be closer to Mums and Pops.
Once upon an time in America... three generations of a single family would often live under the same roof. With baby boomers retiring and everyone else struggling to make ends meet, multi-generational homes might become the norm again.
Pretty sure when people talk about hard working generation they say "the greatest generation." The Baby Boomers were those slackers who listened to the Beatles, did drugs, and ran up credit card debt.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
The US gave away its jobs to friendly nations. So the stability for many to find work and earn a living wage is gone in the USA.
What took a good educated 10% of the population is now a US brand as a front company with 1% needed. Even that is a global workforce invited in.
Designed in the USA, made anywhere cheap.
Everything of value that was good is gone. More new low wage jobs selling coffee, wine, beer, security every day and night?
Working for the gov/mil or been a mil contractor who enjoys no bid gov/mil work is not a long term solution given the private sector tax rates.
The US needs to rediscover good private sector jobs for its own citizens. Only the US private sector can create the kind of quality, reward and advancement that grows a nation.
Illegal workers have been allowed to flood the lower end of the jobs market to counter unions and be replaceable if any work place issues arise.
Student loans are based on every entry consideration but real merit and academic ability. Creating vast amounts of average graduates with safe, soft degrees in been "fun" years later is not what any advanced work force needs.
Good people still want to learn, study, work, better themselves, move up in society, do better than past generations when asked as always. But the option to do that has been reduced.
The few top university options based on years of hard work are been lost to very average students with no academic considerations.
Local jobs to even support a local college education are few and far between as older workers have to stay on and illegal workers are allowed to fill in.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Wat? Since when is there a popular belief that 'boomers had a stronger work ethic? Say "boomer" and I'm more likely to think "protest" than "Protestant work ethic". AFAIK the more generally held view is that as long as they weren't traumatized by the Vietnam War, they lucked into an optimal economic situation and that's why they did better.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
This is purely anecdotal, but my experience is that there isn't so much a generational correlation to work ethic as there is an age-based one. Which is to say, a person's work ethic can vary significantly over the course of their adult life.
What I've seen in my own workplace is new entrants (whether at graduate or non-graduate level) entering the organisation but generally (and of course there are outliers) without making a full commitment to it and, particularly in the case of graduate entrants, trying to keep their student lifestyle running for a few more years. Over time, usually by the late 20s, this transitions into a much stronger work ethic; more time spent in the office and more "commitment" to the organisation. Eventually, somewhere usually in the 50s, this lapses into a degree of burnout. Now, all of the above is a huge generalisation and based on personal experiences only, but I've seen a couple of generations go through that cycle now.
Of course, there's a far bigger correlation between work ethic and social class. Behaviours liked to worth ethic, such as the ability to focus on deferred reward have a strong hereditary component, whether based on biology, culture or both. Again, there are exceptions, but this is where I've seen the strongest correlation. In the mid-2000s (at the height of the UK's New Labour touchy-feely period) I worked for an employer which took part in a Government-subsidised scheme to give placements to "disadvantaged" young people. This was actually a pretty cushy detail; the pay for those brought in through the scheme wasn't huge, but it was significantly above the minimum wage (almost £10/hour) and the work was white-collar administrative. Moreover, there was an expectation in place that if you did well, you would be able to turn it into a full-time job (this was in the land of silly-money before the big crash, when the UK economy appeared to be in full boom). Hell, there wasn't even much of a dress code beyond "use your common sense and don't wear anything that would actively harm our reputation".
I was involved with this scheme for three consecutive years, once as a mentor and twice as one of the "lucky" managers "given" one of the apprentices (yes, there was a degree of corporate arm-twisting). Across all three years, with an intake of 8-10 people per year, not a single one stuck with it for more than 2 months. The simple basics of being expected to get into the office at a sane time (we had a flexitime-within-reason system), to come into the office every working day and to follow the instructions of a manager once in the office were too much for the participants.
take everything with a grain of salt. Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science Study Finds: Studies Are Wrong:
Another thing is those employers who appear to try hard to give themselves problems.
Unpaid trial periods are a thing for some places, but they just do not seem to get that they are selecting for people who can afford not to work and can behave like the characters the GP is describing. However each time they get disappointed they go out of their way to discourage the sort of people who will work hard and stick around.
The sort of employees they actually want look at the prospect of no money for a while and decide it's pointless when they are good enough that other employers will actually be paying them something elsewhere.
The "Greatest Generation". A bunch of over-indulgent assholes whose failings brought about the "greatest" depression.
The "Silent Generation". Raised post-depression. Extremely hard workers. Why? Because their aging parents left them no legacy except for care for them, pay for the welfare state, and fight in at least two wars. Nice.
The "Baby Boomer" generation. Another over-indulgent, entitiled, asshole generation. Why? Because their parents (the silent generation) swore that they'd never make their kids go through what they themselves had to go through. So they gave them everything.
The "X" generation. Another hard-working generation. Why? Because their parents (the baby boomers) are too busy indulging their self-entitles asses to actually care about raising their kids. Gen X-ers have had to bear low wages. Outsourced industries. And an income gap that is worse that it has ever been since ancient Egypt.
The "Millenial Generation". Another over-indulgent, self-entitled, bunch of lazy assholes. Why? Because their parents (the X generation) swore that they'd never make their kids go through what they themselves had to go through. Millennials have been doted over, helicoptered, and are living with their parents as adults at levels not seen since the Great Depression.
There's clearly a pattern. The "Greatest Generation" fucked the country. The "Silent Generation" brought it back. The "Baby Boomers" fucked the country. The "X" generation will bring it back. The "Millenial Generation" will fuck up the country. And their children will bring it back. And so on... and so forth...
I think that in most cases, if employees felt safe in their jobs, they'd do better work. That Millennial who seems to be "slacking" because they won't put in 90 hour weeks for years on end just sees what's going on. SV startups live on fresh college kids who haven't experienced what it's like to work in an unstable environment or for a hostile employer. Older Millennials are more cynical, just like older people of other generations.
Restoring the balance of employer/employee loyalty would be a good start if employers want a more productive workforce. Smart people see employers who will replace them at the drop of a hat and don't put in the extra effort as a result. Previous generations had some employers who would employ you for life...IBM had a no-layoff policy for ages and there are legions of people who worked for large employers like this their entire careers. In return, their employees were loyal, worked hard, put in extra hours where needed, etc.
Unfortunately, I can't see this happening any time soon. Back in the 60s/70s, the US was quite different. Absolutely everything was manufactured domestically, there was very little foreign competition, only 3 car companies of note, etc. And, companies needed thousands and thousands of people just to move paperwork around the organization, all of whom had stable jobs. Now, we manufacture very little, offshore well-paid technical jobs, and companies just keep squeezing harder to get those pennies out of their operational processes.
It took several generations to recover from the war. All the way up to early generation X
There was more to be done than just building fallen buildings but get society back.
Because after WWII there was the cold war which Europe was under threat. So after the Cold War then the world was able to more or less restore itself.
But when each generation looks at the next they see people in different stages of life.
Boomers who are retiring are looking at gen X who are taking the mantle and see them making the mistakes they did when they took over from the previous generation.
Gen X are looking at melenals who are in the stage of their life where they are trying to find a mate and are acting rather stupid.
There are lessons that we have to learn by ourselves and the previous generation cannot teach it to us. No matter how hard they try.
The biggest threat I see is the inability for people to parse mass media of info. Stats says violence is down but we feel like it is worse. Because we see all the worlds problems in a one hour segment every day.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
...and very late to turn up to the fucking fight as usual.
Both my children are far more serious than I was at their age.
I dropped out of UC Berkeley in 1982 (was a Physics major) because I was too stupid to understand that while university wasn't what I had thought it was going to be, it was still the best way to discover the stuff that would interest you for the rest of your life. I stumbled through the first year there, barely matriculating due to an idiotic policy at the time (maybe still extant)- first come first served enrollment in courses - courses that were mandatory for my major. WTF is up with that ?, surely if they're mandatory, I am just automatically enrolled in them; why the fuck should I have to queue up for hours to enroll ?
Anyway, my kids are much more alert to this kind of thing than I was, they are somehow more used to negotiating these types of issues, and playing them to their advantage. They party less. They work with more enthusiasm for their jobs, which they have chosen because they are genuinely interested in them, rather than for the money.
I spent my youth in a cloudy, dream state - which wasn't bad, I'll admit - until I woke up at about age 20 and realized that I had better get my ass in gear and get something done with my life. Even then it took a 6 year stint in the US Navy to turn myself around and become anything like my children are at an earlier age.
Perhaps they have benefited from me explaining some more of the fundamentals of life to them better than my parents did me - although I don't think that's the case. None-the-less, they are certainly nowhere near as lazy as I was, and more conscientious about their place in society too.
Perhaps they're a bit special for their generation, but my experiences with their friends tells me they're not. I have high hopes that their generation will clean up a lot of the mess brought on by my parent's and my generation.
That's the Great Generation that rebuilt the world after WWII. Baby boomers came later with their loud music, pot smoking and premarital sex.
Music and sex doesn't have anything to do with generational success, and drugs did not destroy the lives of the majority of us. The big difference between the generations is that while Greatests, whatever their political affiliation, were can-do believers in human progress, we went out into an optimistic working world circa 1965 and then proceeded to ruin it with our anti-technology attitudes. Today the Xers and millennials are struggling to escape from the world we made.
The millennials intrinsically know the game is rigged against them.
Wah!
Oh, and every generation invented sex too. The game is rigged, and has been for a long time. When I first entered the workforce, the "common knowledge" was that there was no point in saving for retirement, inflation and jeebuz chryste we were all gonna die when the bombs are a-flyin overhead. So our go-go generation largely screwed itself over by acting in their own worst interests down the road.
The only thing not in short supply for so many of you is self pity. My generation had it as well, with the young males looking forward to involuntary conscription and the chance to get fucked up or killed in southeast Asia. You have to worry about being out of cell phone range.
Go to school and have a 50\50 shot of coming out of it with a good enough job to pay off the debt, work 2 to 4 jobs and try to move up in the world without an education and try to move up at a good company, or stay at home with Mom and Dad. Those are your choices.
Bullshit on the second, but let's back up a little.. The cost of education is a true problem that young people - actually everyone - have today. After decades of belittling anything but a 4 year college degree, where a bachelor's degree in philosophy or womyn's studies was touted as superior to a machinist, plumber or other blue collar work, and the willingness of people to pay for the worthless fields of study, we've reached the endstage where the economics are not there.
But even there, you don't have to play the game if you are willing to think for yourself. Way back whne in the early 70's against the demands of my high school advosors, and even a sit down with the principle and cautions sent to my parents, I took both academic and vocational (electronics) majors in High School. Served me well throughout life.
Have a male child today, what's his chances of procreating? 50\50. You tell me how you're going to manage that many impoverished, pissed off, and heavily armed men.
That's a social construct, definitely not one made by my generation. Its the overshoot of the feminist movement, where young ladies have been taught that sexual harassment is almost anything they don't like. https://www.bustle.com/article...
Where a wolf whistle is accorded the same level of seriousness as full blown sexual assault.
That posters comment is just one.
Meh, people have been telling me to die in a fire since I was in grade school. Don't act like millennials invented raging.
Pew researches studies on marriage and rates people are having kids are pretty conclusive here if you care to look.
And I agree. Even way back when, I put my limit at 1 offspring. After that it was snip snip.
There's millions of people who are stark raving mad, just like the above poster. They are enjoying what time they have left before an economic crash or collapse. 2nded the bullet in the head comment. 100% what millennials feel about how they've been fucked over.
Oh golly gosh. Your attitude is characteristic of how millenials have been fucked over, but not in the way you think it is.
Raised by parents who might have been well meaning, but have done immense damage to you by not allowing you to grow up. I've seen millennial children in diapers until they started preschool, as their parents tried to slow the growing up process. I've seen millennial children not have a free moment among themselves as they were shuffled off from one lesson, sport or camp, always under the strict supervision of an adult. Never an unsupervised moment. Then it was made worse by the self esteem movement, where children were taught they, the singular chi
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.