Reviving Work Ethic, Interview with Eric Chester

I caught up with Eric Chester on his new book, Reviving the Work Ethic.

Beth: Eric, in your view, what’s wrong with work ethic in America?

Eric: The decline of work ethic is not uniquely an American problem. It’s affecting all Western nations and a growing number of those in the East.  However, if we examine the American workplace today with a comparable example from the 1930s, 1960’s, or even the 1990’s, it’s easy to see America has lost sight of the virtues that comprise work ethic—the very things that helped build our country.

The pursuit of happiness and the American Dream drove progress and innovation, but they came with unintended side effects. For instance, healthy ambition has morphed into avarice. Urbanization and the emphasis on large-scale businesses means fewer and fewer kids are learning about work in the natural course of family life.

No wonder so many employers are use terms like entitled, disengaged, unmotivated, and disloyal when describing their current workforce and potential labor pool.

Technological advances that make life faster, more fun, more entertaining, and easier to navigate are also consuming our time and energy while eliminating avenues for learning vital concepts about work. And pop psychologists have pushed parents to focus on building self-esteem in their children, creating at least two generations of me-centric workers. No wonder so many employers are use terms like entitled, disengaged, unmotivated, and disloyal when describing their current workforce and potential labor pool.

Beth: So you say employers are struggling with this issue, what have you noticed?

Eric:  Even the eternally optimistic warm and fuzzy managers wince a bit when the term work ethic enters the dialogue. I interact with thousands of leaders, managers, business owners and execs each year and I’ve yet to find any who believe that the work ethic represented in the current labor pool stands up to that of the labor pool twenty, ten—or even five years ago. These same employers, however, will openly lament the prevailing entitlement mentality of the emerging workforce that many decry is contagious, now rampant among X’ers and even baby boomers.

Beth:  So this isn’t just the youngest workers? Which generation is having the most trouble?

Eric: America’s emerging workforce—those in the ­sixteen-to-twenty-four age bracket—bring some amazing skill sets and personality traits into the labor pool. The challenge is that Millennials don’t always want to work, and when they do, their terms don’t always line up with those of their employers.

All too often, the young worker shows up ten minutes late wearing flip-flops, pajama bottoms, and a T-shirt that says “My inner child is a nasty bastard.” Then she fidgets through her shift until things slow down enough so she can text her friends or update her Facebook page from her smartphone.

These bright and ambitious recruits see work as something to avoid or as a necessary evil to endure prior to winning the lottery…

These bright and ambitious recruits see work as something to avoid or as a necessary evil to endure prior to winning the lottery, landing a spot on a reality television show, or getting a cushy, high-paying job with a corner office and an expense account.

Before you write this off as unfair stereotyping, consider what millennial workers had to say about themselves and their peers.

In February 2010, the Pew Research Center released an extensive report titled “Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next” that proves this generation doesn’t identify with work ethic. The Pew research found that 61 percent of Millennials say their generation has a “unique and distinctive identity.” That’s about the same percentage you’ll find for other generations, but what’s different are the things Gen Y sees as its distinctive qualities.

                  In an open-ended follow-up question—“What makes your generation unique?”—work ethic was mentioned as a distinctive characteristic by at least 10 percent in the three older generations—Gen X (ages thirty to forty-five), Baby Boomers (ages forty-six to sixty-four), and the Silent Generation (ages sixty-five and up). That put it among the top five responses for those generations, and it was number one for Baby Boomers. It didn’t make the list for Millennials. Millennials said that what made them unique was technology use, music/pop culture, liberal/­tolerant beliefs, greater intelligence, and clothes.

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Tomorrow – Eric Chester on the Entitlement Problem in America

Eric Chester is an award winning keynote speaker and the author of Reviving Work Ethic: A Leader’s Guide to Ending Entitlement and Restoring Pride in the Emerging Workforce (Greenleaf 2012).  He is also the Founder and CEO of The Bring Your A Game to Work program. He can be reached at 303-239-9999 or through www.RevivingWorkEthic.com