When one thinks of the ‘millennial generation’ the immediate things to come to mind are creative, rebellious, out of the box, walk their own path and more.
But perhaps a negative that has come from it is the steady decline in professionalism expected in a workplace.
It is incredibly saddening to see that my generation while being all the good things, is slowly forgetting the value of ethics, professional conduct and sticking to your word.
There is an impulsiveness that has been observed in Millennials and how they are very quick to come to conclusions of what is too much or not.
Here are a few horror or funny (depends on your take) of a few interns who showed exactly what is wrong with the work ethic of the current generation:
1. 2 Day Girl
A girl, who had just passed out of school and would soon be starting college, took up a short-term job at an advertising firm I worked in. While she was really impressive in her work and was obviously talented, just 2 days in she took a leave due to ill health.
We thought nothing of it, but after that, she took a leave the next day and the next day and the day after that.
HR tried to reach out to her multiple times, but she had only given her cell no. and no other contact information. She was unreachable on her cell no. and a family member called us to inform that due to her ill health she will be missing office once again.
This drama went on for 2 weeks before the company finally decided to chuck her out and it was only then that she revealed that she would not be able to continue the job as the work was too much for her.
2. Too Much Work
Another intern at a blogging site, not 2 days old, was cribbing about how the work was too much and that she wasn’t able to cope with it all.
The work actually was not even as much as some other companies have and the intern was not even a month old.
3. How Come You Didn’t Know My Food Preferences?
This incident has less to do with work cribbing and more to do with a lack of professional conduct and ungratefulness.
An intern had won a coupon to a certain restaurant due to good work at an internship, but instead of being grateful for it, the intern wanted the company to refund it because the place was vegetarian while the intern himself was a non-vegetarian.
I mean, how could the company be so oblivious as to know in advance the dietary preferences of an unknown winner. Amirite?
4. Leave Project Mid-Day, NBD
An intern apparently hailing from one of the best business colleges in India, while mid-way through a big client project, just up and left it all.
No contact for a while, and then when contact was made lame excuses were made of how he was not well, parents objecting to working and etc. The reality instead was that he found a better opportunity at another company.
This behaviour was extremely unexpected coming from a student of his caliber and it shows a serious lack of ethics and morals that you would upstand a paid project. So in the most irresponsible manner ever he let down not only the company but also the client. He knew what he was signing up for.
Now, let me be perfectly clear that I am not stereotyping nor being overly critical of my generation. These are all things that have happened in real life and are a good reflection of the kind of thinking that the young generation has when going into the professional environment.
And I don’t deny the fact that it takes a while before you are able to integrate yourself into such an environment.
You don’t get comfortable on the first day, and slowly as each day passes you might be expected to do certain tasks that were not written out in detail when you joined.
Say for example, you were originally for daily work, have to do only 5 articles per day, but one day due to some reason or another, you are told to 6 for the day. That is not reason enough to start a hoopla around how it is too much work.
This all is standard in any organization, company and workplace, be it an Indian one or an MNC.
There is also cribbing of how the intern was not told beforehand of all this ‘extra’ work that they had to do. And frankly companies should not have to write in detail about every single thing.
It’s become trivial to this extent that any editing to the work which is completely in the purview of the job description is taken as a a gross taking advantage of the intern and their talents. And all this is expected of interns anyway to be able to handle any emergency situation.
The current generation also has an excess of expectations along with the mindset that everything will work along with their schedule and timing. And when things don’t go their way they get fear of work, show immaturity in dealing with seniors and show lack of professionalism.
I believe a good thing for all those who take for granted the job that they have been given is to not get too overconfident in their talent. There is confidence which is good, but being overconfident in your abilities and thinking ‘you’ are irreplaceable is just a gross misconception that one must get over.
Image Credits: Google Images
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