When You Can Not Stop Thinking About Comments On the Internet

I recently came across a post on LinkedIn that was derivative of a lot of the commentary I see constantly about millennials in the workplace. This post appeared to be ( I hope) a hyperbole of preferences a prospective employee may have as they look for new employment opportunities and did not outright name millennials. To be entirely honest with the utilization of humor I thought the post highlighted how frustrating elements of recruiting and hiring can be. But as I scrolled through the comments on the post I saw there was a lot of negativity with people feeding on the oversimplifications and making odd correlations. The comments suddenly turned from shared comradery over challenges that occur in the recruiting field into an anti-job seeker commentary.  I have spent the last few days thinking of how the post provides a great outline of common generalizations I do see in the larger media. Some of these things are silly, some of these things I am passionate about, and some of them are actual grievances that I know many of my candidates are concerned about. 

*The following opinions are not reflective of my entire generation. My opinions also do not reflect the views of my employer. They are my own.*

DIRECT LINES FROM THE POST

1.“I don't get out of bed for less than $100/hour.”

Wow. That is about six times the average median wage in America. Is the person you are referencing a Doctor or Lawyer? Mayhaps a CEO? Are you thinking about a wealth advisor or portfolio manager maybe? I have heard about people wanting a living wage. That seems fair.

(https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/05/what-a-living-wage-would-be-in-every-us-state.html)

2.“I really don't want to work for someone who wants me to take a drug test.”

I can appreciate an employer wanting to make sound hiring decisions, mitigate their liabilities, and foster safe work environments ESPECIALLY if their employees will be , say, driving an eighteen wheeler. There are studies that debate the overall effectiveness of the policy in deterring drugs or enhancing efficiency in a more traditional office.  Drug testing laws vary state to state so sometimes drug testing is sometimes looked at as arbitrary or unrelated to the functions of the role. I do not have THE answer.  Aside from, if you do not want to work for a company that does drug testing do not work at a company that requires drug testing.

An article about drug testing in the workplace: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/10/companies-drug-test-a-lot-less-than-they-used-to-because-it-doesnt-really-work/?utm_term=.dace2c16cf20

3.“Its 2018. A background check? You must be joking.”

Do your hiring practices reflect that you use convictions to screen qualified candidates out ? There have been longitudinal studies that show post-release employment was "significantly and statistically correlated with recidivism, regardless of the offender's classification". (https://www.sascv.org/ijcjs/pdfs/nallyetalijcjs2014vol9issue1.pdf )

We do not just ask people with convictions about their history just when it comes to employment but also in cases of housing, public benefits, college admissions, volunteer service. If someone has paid their debt to society in a way that appeases the court system and is actively seeking gainful employment and working to become a productive member of society...at what point would they meet your background qualifications for employment? The EEOC requires employers to: 1. Consider only convictions directly related to job responsibilities and 2. Conduct an individualized assessments of the circumstances of any conviction and whether an applicant is likely to commit the same crime again. This EEOC Guidance makes discrimination based on conviction records a violation of Federal employment law. (https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm)

PS. "It costs about $5,000 to place and retain an ex-offender in a job. It costs, depending on the state, more than $31,000 on average to keep someone in prison for a year. New York State, for example, spends as much as $60,076 per inmate. The cost/benefit is immense and should not be lost on legislators interested in reducing budgets.” 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/06/11/immediate_access_to_employment_reduces_recidivism_126939.html

4.“I'm only interested in jobs where I can ride my bike to work.”

Psychology Today called commuting " The Stress that Doesn't Pay" (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/urban-survival/201501/commuting-the-stress-doesnt-pay).

**** Run on sentence alert****

If your employee is at work on time and in the process of getting to the workplace received benefits of physical exercise AND helped reduce carbon emissions AND helped spare a little wear and tear on their vehicles AND this exercise has been shown to make people in the workplace more productive and reduce sick days ( more on that later) I am struggling to find an angle where being discouraging is beneficial. 

Meanwhile: https://www.fastcompany.com/3069271/this-app-lets-your-company-pay-you-to-bike-to-work

5.“Physical activity is important to me.”

Physical activity should be important to everyone . Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a report on physical activity in the workplace that stated

 “ Increasing employee’s physical activity can create a healthier workforce, increase employee’s productivity, and decrease employees’ risk of developing costly and debilitating chronic diseases. Employees who are physically active have lower healthcare costs, require less sick leave, and are more productive at work.” 

Sounds like a respectable priority.

Check it out here:

https://www.workhealthresearchnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CDC-WHRN-Physical-Activity_Employer-Guide-FINAL.pdf

6.“I need to work from home 2-3 days a week, ideally 5.”

There are pros. There are cons. This will not be the right solution for every employee for every company. Sounds like some open dialogue might help out.

7.“If I have to be in the office, there better be a Herman Miller chair at my desk.”

I would like to go on record and say that I would not turn away a Herman Miller desk chair. The Eames Executive Chair looks like it would be reminiscent of sitting on a cloud. But also, I am into the idea of just having a decent chair. My current one seems to be doing fine.

Chair goals : https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/office-chairs/eames-executive-chairs/

8./9.“And the desk needs to adjust for standing. Sitting is the new smoking.”

I grouped these together. I think overall health and moderation should be targets for everyone. I recently came across an article that talked about how standing in excess is bad. Same article talked about how sitting in excess is bad. There probably is a balance to be found somewhere in there.

We can not win: https://www.dmarge.com/2018/02/sitting-standing-science.html

10."Can I get into the office at 10? I can't stand traffic.”

See the above points on commuting and biking . If your employee can make a case about how this will have a positive impact on their work… if it helps serve your customers or clients better…if there is an opportunity to make this mutually beneficial GREAT! Why not explore? Or at least have an explanation of why it would not work to share. 

11."Oh, I vape, so I'll need to take vape breaks as I see fit.”

Fair criticism of anyone who has actually said this to a prospective employer. No rebuttals at this time.

12.“I also need to be able to leave whenever I want.”

I need clarification are you talking about mandatory overtime? Are employers holding people against their will? Is there an emergency that demands me needing to leave work early?

13.“Wait, you want me to take a test to show my skills?”

Do I have actual work to quantify my skills like a portfolio? Have I spent the last several years working as a “ data entry clerk” and you want to test me for my data entry skills? Is a test the most accurate way to gauge if I will be a culture fit? 

14.“ I'm only interested in companies that provide unlimited pto.”

Completely up to a company to figure out what works best for them and their business model. I do think that in order for this to work at any level, you have to have made really smart hiring decisions as far as looking for people who take pride in their work, want to work hard, and who share the values of your company. I do not own a company. I do not have my MBA. I do not work at a company that offers unlimited PTO and never have. I do work for an employer that has been accommodating of my personal and academic goals when it came to travel or needing time off. How do I feel about that? Incredibly grateful. I do believe that taking time off is important.

Suggested reading: The Secret to Increased Productivity: Taking Time Off

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237446

15.“I don't like to feel confined.”

Is this a metaphor? Creatively confined? That does not scream innovation and problem solving to me. This is kind of broad so I am just going to apply Black’s Legal Dictionary explanation of the word confinement.

“Confinement may be by either a moral or a physical restraint, by threats of violence with a present force, or by physical restraint of the person. U. S. v. Thompson, 1 Sumn. 171, Fed. Cas. No. 16,492; Ex parte Snodgrass, 43 Tex. Cr. R. 359, 65 S. W. 1001.”

Because no, I too, do not like that.

 If you are talking about not wanting to get stuck in a job with no room for growth or limited income potential or rigid PTO policies then talk to everyone you can during the interview process about the things that are important for you and get ANSWERS.

16.“I won't work for anyone if I can't have a Mac. PCs are garbage.”

That would be opinion or a preference. I personally own an iMac, Macbook, iPad, and iPhone. I have worked for a tech giant and a more traditional office...both used PCs. I have managed survival going on 1825 days in a row now.

17.“Everyone is paying 100% insurance these days... you aren't? “

As healthcare becomes more affordable more and more employers are passing off the cost of premiums to their employees. This has been an ongoing trend over the last several years.

“Since 2001, the number of employers on Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list who provide full health coverage to employees has dropped from 34 percent to just 9 percent in 2016.“

(https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/9-companies-that-cover-100-percent-of-employee-health-insurance-premiums.html)

Here is another article that talks about the facets of the trend: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/business/health-insurance-analysis-kaiser.html

18.“My last job had an espresso machine, unlimited monster drinks, a free cafeteria, unlimited cereal and a banana stand. Snack machines are a little boojee for my taste. I definitely need the option to stop working while i'm at work, and go play ping pong, foozball, xbox, or just sit in a quiet, safe room by myself and look at my phone.”

Boujee, bougie, or "boojee" is an abbreviation of the French term "bourgeois" . You may have heard the songs or seen it in slang vernacular . In my head I associate it Karl Marx's “Communist Manifesto” and the illustration of class struggles. These days the kids seem to using it as a term that carries the connotation of high class, aspiring to wealth, etc. Sounds like a pretty special snack machine. I do love a good espresso, and the “banana stands” you speak of have piqued my interest.

BOTTOMLINE:

Quite literally nobody asked me for my opinions but that has not stopped people on the Internet so I figured I would put my opinions out there.

GENERAL THINGS I LOOK FOR IN EMPLOYERS:

• Fair pay for fair work. Financial security is pretty alluring.
• Healthcare options that are reasonably priced. I do not consider access to healthcare in the year 2018 in the United States of America a luxury subscription.
• Learning opportunities. Having the opportunity to learn from others to expand my scope of knowledge is important to me. An extension of learning is failing. If I am in an environment that empowers me to utilize my knowledge to innovate and I fail- I want to work for a place where that failing is then leveraged as a learning tool to do better next time. ** I enjoy having a cross-section of “generations” at work that possess different frames of references and life experiences. We all have opportunities to learn and to teach in the workplace . **
• Necessary resources to do my job. I want safety to be prioritized. I want access to the basic resources I need to do my job. 
• Positive work relationships with my management team and colleagues.
• Leadership that keeps it “human”. Treating your employees like you would like to be treated. Treating your employees like they are adults. Being open to dialogue and feeling comfortable facilitating conversations about ideas, feedback, and dilemmas.
• The ability to rest/recharge and maintain my well being. I want to work really hard at work worth doing. I also want to be there for my family in times of need. I want to travel. I want to explore “outside of work” passions that make me better “inside of work”. I am responsible for my talent and my growth in a way that is seperate from the responsibility of my employer. Time off helps me maintain accountability to all of my goals not just my professional ones.
• Mission-oriented and supportive of my community. I want to believe in what I am doing each day. And I want giving back to my community to be something that is fostered and appreciated by my organization.
• Banana stands. :)

I acknowledge that I am fortunate that I truly enjoy my work. I appreciate my employer. I have great working relationships with my colleagues and management. I also help people find jobs that hopefully they love in my role as a Recruiter. I hear people tell me stories of where their current/past employers have fallen short of their NEEDS and WANTS and they find themselves exploring new opportunities.

Finding talent is not as simple as advertising about your corporate wellness program. RETAINING people is not as simple as paying them fistfuls of cash. Employers cannot instill work ethic or discipline, those are intangibles that no amount of PTO will inspire. Employees can not expect their employers to go above and beyond to accommodate them while they offer subpar results and lackluster attitudes. Employers should look for ways to take care of the employees that make their business function. Why would you not want to make the employee/employer relationship the most mutually beneficial relationship possible? No corporate policy or perk is ever going to be a one size fits all solution for our evolving workplaces. So as we all work to constantly keep up with moving targets I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes...

“ Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” - Theodore Roosevelt