Can We Stop Debating Whether Or Not Millennials Are Lazy At Work?

‘It seems to me that [millennials are] a bunch of big girl’s blouses,’ journalist Nina Myskow said this morning on Good Morning Britain, ‘The slightest bit of trouble, the slightest bit of confrontation and first of all, shock, horror, and they either go one of two ways. They either go into a hissy fit and then a flounce or they go all snowflake-y. Grow up!’

These comments came during a debate about whether millennials are bad workers, where Nina shared her opinion that the majority of people between the ages of 23 and 38 (the actual age range of millennials) have been ‘wrapped in cotton wool’ by ‘helicopter parenting’ and ‘don’t understand the concept of hard work and self-sacrifice’.

Nina, who at age 73 is part of the baby boomer generation, debated this long-discussed topic with Zeze Millz, a millennial who works in marketing while maintaining a successful YouTube channel. As you would expect, when met with someone that quite clearly cannot be considered a ‘bad worker’ Nina quickly declared Zeze the ‘top of her generation’ and not the type of millennial she was talking about.

It’s almost like when met with actual millennials most people with opinions like Nina’s realise you can't paint an entire generation of people that spans near two decades as ‘lazy’.

The tired conversation reared its head again thanks to a new police report that warned the Home Office millennials are ‘not prepared for the realities of policing’ after Boris Johnson promised to drive 20,000 new police officers into the force. According to the report, which used anecdotal evidence from serving officers, new recruits cannot adapt to tough work environments and are difficult to train as a result.

Apparently, trainees in the police force don’t like confrontation, and are shocked by shift patterns that include nights and weekends. Something the report says must also apply to other industries as ‘unrealistic expectations’ of you know, wanting a healthy workplace, could be quote, ‘a millennial thing’ .

The narrative that millennials are lazy is worrying. Not only does it unfairly generalise an entire generation but in this case it’s also not based on any real logic. To dive further into the report, you see that many police officers reported trainees have difficulty adapting not because they’re lazy, but because of ‘inadequate training’.

‘We’re just getting people to come in and do something without actually giving them the skills behind it and expecting them just to hit the ground running,’ one senior police officer reported, ‘Some people do it, some people can do it and thrive on it, but other people sink and then eventually go off, because they can’t deal with the stress with all the demand.’

Essentially, insufficient training in areas like first aid and dealing with members of the public that are mentally ill means most new recruits are ‘ill-prepared’ for police duty – with one source also telling The Times that some newbies come into the force without even being taught how to use police radios.

The lack of understanding about what recruits really need to enact their duties responsibly is evident even in the quotes from officers who do believe millenails are just lazy. ‘[Many recruits have] no idea what they're coming into; they've lived in a society where they are wrapped up in cotton wool an awful lot,’ one senior figure said, ‘their mental health or their ability to cope with certain situations is just not evident from day one.’

To our eye, the conclusion of that quote makes no sense. Just because someone has mental ill health does not mean they’ve been ‘wrapped up in cotton wool’, it means we have a growing mental health crisis coming to fruition with younger generations, where high-stress industries like policing are likely to be filled with triggers for mental health conditions. To us, that would mean providing more support for recruits, rather than chastising them as ‘bad workers’.

It also says a lot than rather than changing your processes in the wake of complaints, millennials are cast as ‘lazy’. From what this report says, recruits want more support in their training, a safe space for handling conflict at work and working hours that will give them a better work/life balance. Is that so bad? To want to go to work without fearing confrontation and have a life outside of work?

As Zeze told Nina, many millennials have seen their parents work intense, long hours for rewards that generations following will never see. Most of us can’t afford to buy a house, can’t afford to start a family, we can’t even trust that our jobs will stay our jobs for the foreseeable future – so why do industries expect recruits to work themselves to the bone, with unwavering loyalty, for such little reward?

We shouldn’t be asking if millennials are bad workers. Because, not only is it boring now, but it puts blame on a generation that are living more fragile lives than ever, and thus prevents industries from adapting to the demands of those people who are desperate for a better life.

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