What motivates you to work? (a ramble)
Today, when not busy dealing with library patrons, I've been reading Motivating the "What's in it for me?" Workforce by Cam Marston. The book focuses on the different motivations of four generations of workers: The Matures (aka the "Greatest Generation"), the Boomers, Gen X, and the New Millennials. This book actually includes everyone born in the 1970s in Gen X. I was born in 1976 and often get lumped in with Gen Y (or the New Millennials as they are called here) -- and while I have some characteristics of both, I identify more strongly with the Xers.
I'm actually finding this very interesting reading -- I don't think I ever quite consciously realized that my goals are so different from those of the Boomers. According to this book, Xers work to pay the bills, work to learn new skills that will be of benefit either for working at the current job or help toward getting the next one, and Gen Xers assume there will be a "next job" -- it's inevitable that they'll either get laid off or decide to move to another company. Gen Xers are also loyal to individual people (i.e. their boss) and not the company.
All those things sound very familiar to me. I've said in this journal many a time that I loved the boss I had when I was Electronic Resources Librarian -- a big part of my struggle in deciding to stay home with Corwin was my feeling that I'd be leaving her (and not the university) in the lurch. In the description of the New Millennials, Marston mentions that if they had a great boss who left the company, they would likely attempt to follow that person to their new employer. I think that's certainly true of me, too, to a certain extent -- I have often wondered what would happen when my boss retired; if I'd still have been happy here working for a different person.
I didn't realize that putting one's family first was such a foreign concept for the Boomers as a generation. Perhaps that is because my parents aren't typical Boomers -- my mom stayed home with us as we were growing up, so we never had the experience of being latchkey kids or going to daycare or staying with a nanny. That said, I did watch my dad get burned by his company's lack of loyalty to him. He did his time, often bringing work home with him, for one company for 17 years, only to be rewarded by being laid off during a round of downsizing. Since then he's had a lot of different jobs, the longest of which lasted maybe 5 years or so, all the job changes due to the companies he worked for going bankrupt, downsizing, or changing management. Dad at least sometimes admits to feeling like he's a failure because of this. I, however, don't view him as a failure at all -- he successfully supported his family, got all three of his kids through college without debt, and we all have a good relationship with him. To me, family and friends are more important than work in and of itself. Work is a means to an end -- not the be-all and end-all of my life.
Time is a far more important currency to Gen Xers, me definitely included. Time off to spend with my family and friends is more important than money, as long as I have enough money to support myself comfortably, but not necessarily lavishly. Working full time, I sometimes found myself sitting in my office wishing I were at home taking care of personal business that was nagging at me. It was hard to go to work every day for 8 hours (and be away from home for closer to 10) when I knew working was causing me to forego some of my personal goals. I know we can't all work part time (there's that whole need for financial comfort), but it is certainly my ideal. It leaves time for me to both achieve my personal goals and work at a career I enjoy (and not have to work at it so much that I cease to enjoy it).
To the Boomers, the definition of work ethic equates to the number of hours spent on the job. If you spend long hours at work, then you must be doing a good job and be worthy of promotion, pay raises, etc. The younger generations define work ethic in terms of productivity -- we want to go to work, put in our 8 hours, get the job done, and go home and get back to our personal lives. "To the Boomers and Matures, time was something they had to invest in their careers. They became workaholics because they invested their extra time back into their work. To them, time is/was cheap, and giving it back to an employer through long hours of work was expected. To Gen Xers and New Millennials, time is expensive and needs to be controlled as closely and as tightly as money itself." (Marston 122)
I'm actually finding this very interesting reading -- I don't think I ever quite consciously realized that my goals are so different from those of the Boomers. According to this book, Xers work to pay the bills, work to learn new skills that will be of benefit either for working at the current job or help toward getting the next one, and Gen Xers assume there will be a "next job" -- it's inevitable that they'll either get laid off or decide to move to another company. Gen Xers are also loyal to individual people (i.e. their boss) and not the company.
All those things sound very familiar to me. I've said in this journal many a time that I loved the boss I had when I was Electronic Resources Librarian -- a big part of my struggle in deciding to stay home with Corwin was my feeling that I'd be leaving her (and not the university) in the lurch. In the description of the New Millennials, Marston mentions that if they had a great boss who left the company, they would likely attempt to follow that person to their new employer. I think that's certainly true of me, too, to a certain extent -- I have often wondered what would happen when my boss retired; if I'd still have been happy here working for a different person.
I didn't realize that putting one's family first was such a foreign concept for the Boomers as a generation. Perhaps that is because my parents aren't typical Boomers -- my mom stayed home with us as we were growing up, so we never had the experience of being latchkey kids or going to daycare or staying with a nanny. That said, I did watch my dad get burned by his company's lack of loyalty to him. He did his time, often bringing work home with him, for one company for 17 years, only to be rewarded by being laid off during a round of downsizing. Since then he's had a lot of different jobs, the longest of which lasted maybe 5 years or so, all the job changes due to the companies he worked for going bankrupt, downsizing, or changing management. Dad at least sometimes admits to feeling like he's a failure because of this. I, however, don't view him as a failure at all -- he successfully supported his family, got all three of his kids through college without debt, and we all have a good relationship with him. To me, family and friends are more important than work in and of itself. Work is a means to an end -- not the be-all and end-all of my life.
Time is a far more important currency to Gen Xers, me definitely included. Time off to spend with my family and friends is more important than money, as long as I have enough money to support myself comfortably, but not necessarily lavishly. Working full time, I sometimes found myself sitting in my office wishing I were at home taking care of personal business that was nagging at me. It was hard to go to work every day for 8 hours (and be away from home for closer to 10) when I knew working was causing me to forego some of my personal goals. I know we can't all work part time (there's that whole need for financial comfort), but it is certainly my ideal. It leaves time for me to both achieve my personal goals and work at a career I enjoy (and not have to work at it so much that I cease to enjoy it).
To the Boomers, the definition of work ethic equates to the number of hours spent on the job. If you spend long hours at work, then you must be doing a good job and be worthy of promotion, pay raises, etc. The younger generations define work ethic in terms of productivity -- we want to go to work, put in our 8 hours, get the job done, and go home and get back to our personal lives. "To the Boomers and Matures, time was something they had to invest in their careers. They became workaholics because they invested their extra time back into their work. To them, time is/was cheap, and giving it back to an employer through long hours of work was expected. To Gen Xers and New Millennials, time is expensive and needs to be controlled as closely and as tightly as money itself." (Marston 122)