Breeding a sense of entitlement
“The world doesn’t change, people change.” When Steve Vamos used these words in a previous board meeting they stuck with me. And I keep coming back to them because of the simple truth behind them — that all change we witness today is a result of what people choose to do, not what the ‘world’ around them does.
Perhaps one of the biggest shifts we’ve witnessed is in the workplace. The way we work has morphed over time but this still remains largely down to the shifting needs / wants / demands of the people that occupy the countless offices and other work sites around the world.
It used to be that having a job was a privilege in itself. You were lucky to hold a position at a reputable firm and be paid a regular salary to support the family you were raising in, what once were, much more uncertain times.
Those times, like the incredibly sexist ads of the 50s and 60s, are long gone. And to be fair, many of the changes made have been positive steps forward. But, like everything in life, there can also be consequences to progress. Hell, look at what humans are doing to the planet…
In today’s workplaces (particularly the ones trying to attract top talent), you are far more likely to find free breakfasts, lunches, beer, training, yoga lessons, meditation rooms, lavish company outings, ever growing bonuses including lucrative stock options… and the list goes on.
And what does that do? Well it definitely helps to attract and retain top talent. If you’re an employee who doesn’t need to worry about paying for food throughout the day, who spends their nights with work colleagues sharing a free beer, gets constant training to help boost their growth and finishes the day off with a complimentary yoga class, why would you want to leave?
For the rest of society, the pure savings that a work lifestyle like this amounts to is significant. And in a society where everything seems to cost a lot, that matters… a lot. So if you’re lucky enough to work for a company with these sorts of perks, you’re on to a good thing right?
You would think so. But remember, many of these incentives have been created to feed an ever-hungry hoard of millennials who expect more and more. Who believe they should be the CEO tomorrow, not in 5 or 10 years. Expectations change because the people that hold them change.
While many would hopefully appreciate such lavish perks, it’s not always the case. As the saying goes, ‘Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile’. There’s a lot of truth in that, especially in the workplace.
Now to be fair, not every millennial is a self-centred, ambitious, demanding and entitled individual. I am generalising of course. However the behaviour I’ve described above is more the norm than the exception. More than this, it has also spread to other demographic groups who now share the same beliefs.
I’ve spoken with a number of managers about their experiences with their teams. At one established tech company, it’s usual to put on free breakfast and lunch every day, and beer / wine each night. At another they go on large scale company retreats every quarter to a luxury location to debrief and plan.
The sad thing is that in those cases the managers told me the appreciation factor for all of this great stuff seems to be non-existent. It’s the expectation and the employees feel like they’re in some way owed it. That the company needs them more than they need the company.
In a conversation I had with a team member from another company, they recounted how they were in the communal work kitchen and they witnessed people taking whole bunches of bananas, emptying out boxes of cereal and shoving handfuls of biscuits onto a plate to be stored for a later feast at their desk.
That same company had an alcohol fridge with a lock on it. When I asked why it was locked I was told it was because team members had emptied the entire thing out one Friday night into various bags to take home.
Is this just a symptom of our deepest human drivers of greed and tribalism? To look after one’s own patch and put ourselves ahead of everyone else? Or is it a result of the evolution of behaviour driven by new generations? Or both?
Perhaps our expectations have always been the same, we’ve just never had the right environment in which to properly voice them.
Today, it’s much easier to ask for that pay rise, to request special working conditions or to pick and choose an employer that suits you, not the other way around. Nothing could be more true of that last statement than in the world of tech, where exorbitant salaries, lavish perks and flexible work are just the way you do business.
If you break it down, though (and at the risk of sounding corny) the greatest thing you should expect from a company is that they respect you and that you respect them. Because when you work for a company it’s a two-way street and more like a relationship.
Unless you’re a complete dick, you’re unlikely to go on a first date and lay out a list of expectations you have of the other person. So why should you be able to say to a company that is taking on the financial risk that unless all your terms are met you’re not interested in joining them?
At the same time, if you’re a company that has chosen to hire people, constantly saying to them that they’re lucky to work there isn’t a great way to build trust. I’ve seen that first-hand in a previous employer; it made the people feel like sh*t just so the owners could try and cover up their own inadequacies.
If we get really basic, a company needs your skills but you also need them for the money. For the vast majority of us, that is the foundation of the relationship. Of course, we all want to work somewhere you can learn, grow and be part of a larger team that has a larger purpose. But that’s not a given.
You’re not owed anything other than what’s outlined in the contract you’re willing to accept. Neither is the company. Anything extra that does arise purely comes from the way a relationship is nurtured. And that comes with time. The issue we have today is that many employees want the next thing before they’ve even begun the relationship. Or they want it as soon as they get their feet under the desk.
Without sounding like I am completely out of touch with the modern workforce, I’ve always been taught to get on with the job, focus on doing the best you can and the rewards will come. Now of course, there are a myriad of reasons that this traditional approach won’t always go the way it should (such as office politics) but it forms a great foundation for the way you work. For that matter, a lot of things in life.
Today I fear we live in a society where this basic concept is being lost among a sea of selfies and self-entitlement. We’re facing a crisis of attention; perhaps one of the biggest threats we face today is the notion of ‘short-termism’. We are so focused on the here and now that we fail to see what lies beyond, to think about something bigger than ourselves.
And if that is the case, then perhaps the way we used to work will soon be gone forever. Companies will instead be held hostage by their employees, treading on eggshells and working out how to afford the ever-growing bill for all of the lavish perks they are forced to give. For society’s sake I hope not, because that will say a lot more about us than we know.
But like Steve said, people change.
