St.Louis Business Journal
SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT GETS SOME YOUNG WORKERS INTO TROUBLE

By Anna Navarro

May 2005  

Author's note: Client stories in this column are based on actual situations fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.

There is a mega problem brewing in this country: a generation of young workers many of whom don't understand the rules of the workplace, and who are likely to create problems for themselves and their employers as a result.

Here are the rules as I see them:

1. You get paid for meeting other's needs, whether it's your boss', a customer's, a colleague's or the organization's. In a work setting, your personal needs are secondary.

2. You start at the bottom and work your way up.

3. Work is not a piece of cake. It requires effort, self-discipline and a willingness to deal with difficulties. Despite this, work can still be very satisfying if you are smart enough to position yourself to be responsible for things you enjoy doing.

Henry was a bright young man who was well-spoken, well-dressed, personable and had good references. He was hired just after he graduated from college to be a sales rep in a sales promotion company.

He was assigned to do cold calling on small accounts, and was sometimes asked to do other work, like helping inventory merchandise. He told his boss shortly after starting that he wanted big accounts and that he'd been hired to do sales, not clerical work. His boss explained patiently that everyone started with small accounts unless they brought in big accounts. And that entry-level salespeople were expected to pitch in and help with inventory occasionally. Henry did what he was asked, but he grumbled about it.

A few months into the job, one of Henry's customers needed a delivery of merchandise for a Saturday event. The supplier was late in sending it and the shipping company made an error in routing it, so it was delayed further. It wasn't scheduled to arrive 'til after 4:00 p.m. Friday afternoon and there were still about two hours of work to be done inspecting and repackaging the items before the local delivery company could take it to the customer.

About 1:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon Henry told his boss that the shipment was going to be late and asked if his boss could see to it that it got to the customer because he couldn't stay. His boss asked why he couldn't do it. Henry said he had a date. His boss blew a gasket and ordered him to do it. Ultimately Henry stayed, but he wasn't happy about it and he let everyone know how he felt.

The crowning blow came when Henry miscalculated the cost of a customer order. The customer was furious when the final bill came, and called the company for an explanation. When Henry was confronted about the problem, he blamed his boss. He said if the training had been better and his boss had checked the estimate before it went out there wouldn't have been a problem.

The boss retorted, "I'm here to run the sales department, not to baby-sit you!" Henry was fired. The level of handholding he required and the expectations he had about the workplace made him a very high maintenance employee. He didn't earn his keep.

Who is to blame? No one really. A generation of parents who are now 50 something raised their kids in an era of material abundance and social freedom. Like all good parents, they wanted the best for their kids. They shared their high standard of living and allowed their kids the freedom they themselves valued.

The kids in turn grew up with high expectations and many never have had to work for what they wanted. Without even being conscious of it, they can transfer these assumptions to the workplace. When Mom and Dad transmute into boss, they get into trouble because the rules of the workplace are so different from the ones they experienced growing up.

The end result is a generation in which many (not all) young people may suffer as a result of their sense of entitlement. And their pain and struggle will also impact employers and the parents who meant well by raising them in an environment of affluence and social liberation.

The best solution for these young workers is a crash course on understanding and accepting the rules of the workplace. But first they may have to grieve the loss of entitlement, which some erroneously believed to be their birthright.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that trains independent career strategists and consults with individual clients.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.