The New Prospects
Stephanie Jacobs
Eastern New Mexico University
The New Prospects
As we move into the new ages, technology has become a must in the workplace. Employers are now looking for younger generations of employees to create a new, efficient way of learning, thinking, and teaching in the workplace. This has created a problem for the older generations resulting in a generational gap. Through these generational gaps, there are new norms that have taken place known as culture changes. With that in mind, certain individuals, mainly the older generations have become self-centered and insecure because they are concerned that they may lose their jobs because of the new generations coming in and taking place.
The younger generation (millennial generation) which is the main generation discussed in this paper is so advanced in technology that employers are looking for those in the age groups of 16-32 because of the extensive knowledge that millennials have in technology. Millennial’s have such unique and generalized traits that basically become the dream for employers to hire, Lee Rainie recognizes this by stating, “This generational difference will inevitably pose challenges and create opportunities for the firms that hire them because natives have experiences and values that are different from digital immigrants,” (2006, p. 228). Recognizing that this is jeopardizing the jobs of the older generations. When you have a millennial and an employee who has been at their job for 20+ years and they work together, the generational gap is recognized in the use of technology. The older generations tend to have a hard time adjusting to new technological advances because they were raised in a time when they did not have technology available to them. Growing up I have heard the well-known phrase, “Respect your parents, they passed school without google,” in other words the only praise that the older generations got, still get, and are still expecting to receive is their paycheck every week. Bob Nelson, the Guru of Thank You, an expert cited by Zaslow says he has often heard older workers say, “Yes, I get recognition every week. It’s called a paycheck,” (2006, p. 222). I had come to realize that this quote not only applies to school but it also applies to the everyday work life and also the prevalence of the praise generation at work. Additionally this ties into the generational gap in the work place, because the older generations worked for so many years with no technology and now younger generations (millennials) are starting to take over the work place.
In addition to generational gaps, new norms have been created in the work place like Marche had mentioned, “If your daddy was rich, you’re gonna stay rich, and if your daddy was poor, you’re going to stay poor,” (2011, p. 255). New norms can be defined as a set of standards of development and achievement usually derived from the average or median achievement of a large group. This can be seen in the workplace because employers are looking for a more efficient way to run their business, Rainie shows this through mentioning, “Younger workers’ comfort with online tools can be a boon to marketing departments,” (2006, p.230). With that in mind, the millennials are being hired which jeopardizes the job security of the older generations. Through proven research it is shown that the quality of product and goods as well as services are not the same quality as they used to be. For example, cars and trucks are not as dependable as they used to be. Formally done by people, new technology is being brought into the work place such as robots to do the jobs of the older generations. One of the biggest culture changes that has happened all across the board is the advancements in technology and technological devices. In the 21st century we have had many advances in the work place including “smart” meeting rooms like what we have here at Eastern New Mexico University in the JWLA building.
Additionally, the older generations have started to become self-centered and insecure because the generation-xer’s have become a valuable piece of a successful business. Raine mentions that, “Many firms see no option but to embrace the world of digital natives,” (2014, p. 232). This can put tension on the older generations because they do not know how to use these new devices. In turn making the older generations being self-centered thinking they are already going to get laid off resulting in insecurities. In addition to this, I feel that those who are in the lower class also have difficulties, as Marche had mentioned, “More than anything else, class now determines Americans’ fates,” (2011, p.225). This can be proven to be true just by looking at the way Americans’ live now. If we were to look at this through the working class, and the older generations, we can see that many older generations live in poverty even though they have a 9 to 5 job. Having a job is something that is not taken for granted anymore and with the advancement in technology the replacement of the older generations with younger generations, the older generations have become insecure financially because they no longer have job securities or a job. Older generations take pride in their work and when the new generations come in with all this new technology, mistakes can be made but companies focus on their profits as well as efficiency. The faster they can produce a product, the faster they make money.