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Emotional Atyachar at workplace: Surprised? You're too old

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Even after having thoroughly researched the millennial generation (born circa 1990) and applying the learnings in the small workplace I call office, where I employ these millennials, everyday I learn new dimensions about them that I did not know before.

Today, the discovery that I am going to share with you on these millennials is their understanding of commitment.

Oxford English dictionary defines commitment as the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc. Or an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.

My generation took the first meaning of commitment seriously while the millennials consider the second meaning more relevant to them. The operative word for my generation of employees was ‘being dedicated’ and for the millennial employees is ‘restricts freedom’. Neither of us is wrong. It is just a matter of perspective.

Workplaces where the hierarchy pulls ranks, speaks authoritatively, expects compliance while teaching them the trade secrets leave the millennials cold. They prefer to be perceived as independent thinkers who are accountable for the work you give them but they do not like to be bound by any deadlines.

They think they are capable of producing a brilliant piece of work only if they are allowed to work at their pace. A deadline kills the joy of work. It restricts their freedom. While for my generation, a task that did not meet its deadline, killed the significance of the task itself. Neither of us is wrong. It is just a matter of perspective.

For the millennials, it is not about how much they can earn. But how much they are left with to spend. Hence, a job must be well-paying. The employer must understand the past financial liabilities the millennial has incurred on study loans and other expenses.

The employer must commit to such a package that the millennial must be left with enough after defraying those expenses that can take care of the millennial’s pet peeves.

After all, what is life without enjoyment – eating out, watching movies, sleepovers, weekend getaways that are so incomplete without alcohol and smokes.

And if an employer cannot commit to such a deal, well, then s/he is certainly a wannabe employer. For the millennial, it is perfectly all right to accept the wannabe employer’s offer that is nowhere near expectations.

But the time they spend with the wannabe employer is enough to find them a dream job in the interim and when they do get it, they can teach a lesson or two to the wannabe employer on how to be a model employer that understands the millennial’s needs and lifestyle.

In my generation, a workplace was considered a temple of learning even though we fully understood the relationship was skewed in favor of the employer but there was a willingness to trade off that imbalance for learning.

The millennials consider employers ‘options’. And they must ‘keep all the options open’ at all times. Always with one foot out the door, the millennials are willing to trade off learning for lifestyle. Neither is wrong. It is just a matter of perspective.

Contrast these two statements to get a sense of the generational shift -- ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country...’ with ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for yourself...’ One statement comes from JFK’s inaugural address, the other from Reagan’s second inaugural address.

The former brought goosebumps to my generation. The latter resonates with the millennials. Neither is wrong. It is just a matter of perspective.

This sense of commitment, also evident in the millennial generation’s relationships in life, is best portrayed in the popular TV show Emotional Atyachar – a show that my generation never understood. When it comes to commitments in real life, the millennials prefer to push traditional milestones like marriage and child-birth for later.

The period before commitment is for exploration. So live-in relationships are common in metros.

Even here they want to ‘keep their options open’. So they may have an occasional making out with someone other than their ‘committed’ partner who they live in with.

The idea is to explore if there is something better lurking on the horizon which may have gone unnoticed so far. My generation called this opportunism. Millennials call it exploration. Neither is wrong. It is just a matter of perspective.

The question now is to ascertain which is better? Or is it that this is a burning question only for my generation and the millennials think this is not even worth debating? Would you rather be curious and seek resolutions or live blissfully for the moment? It is just a matter of perspective.

(The writer is managing consultant of The Key Consumer Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based qualitative
research company)

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