Despite being frequently stereotyped as spoiled and possessing a sense of entitlement, the majority of Millennials believe it takes hard work to get ahead, according to University of California, Berkeley survey results published in The Baby Boom Americans Born 1946 to 1964.
As a whole, two-thirds of Americans believe hard work, rather than luck, gets you ahead in life and business. But, even more Millennials than Boomers believe in hard work, rather than luck, 70 percent versus 63 percent. Similarly, 71 percent of Gen X believes in hard work to get ahead.
This information certainly does not correlate with the recognized attributes of Generation Y, known as the Trophy Generation for growing up on sports teams where everyone got a trophy, win or lose. Instead, this statistic implies Generation Y maybe learned a thing or two from their hard-working Boomer parents. They are ready to dig in and roll up their sleeves as necessary.
Bottom line, more Gen Y’ers than you may think are ready and more than willing to work hard to get where they want to be. There ultimately is not that big of a difference in fundamental work ethic and value of work between Generation Y and Boomer (or between Millennials and X’ers for that matter). Gen Y just tends to be more selective in what capacities they expend hard work.
The real difference is the end result. The Gen Y view of the American dream is not necessarily the typical Boomer aspirations of a big house with a white picket fence and climbing the corporate ladder. Rather, Generation Y’s definition of success is more of working hard while maintaining a favorable work-life balance (i.e. work hard AND play hard).
Note: A big thank you to Kathy Mills of Factix Research for passing along statistical information.
Comments
I believe it too! Generation Y makes me proud.
My apologies Sharalyn, as the Prez of your Boomer Fan Club I cannot help but throw in my two cents here. 1.) Good news Gen Y recognizes and is willing to work hard. My question is for how long if they do not see immediate results? Is that addressed in your study? 2.) Gen Y has a different end result which is great after watching their parents flame out - work/life balance. Sorry, something has to give in the equation because 9 to 5 is not going to cut it in a Global Economy since the competition is more intense than ever before.
This is a very good statistic to note :) I myself was raised in an environment where the ability to make your own way is something that was really praised. I like the idea of not relying on only connections or other factors to get you through.
@Jim, I have to say the study didn't explore how long Gen Y was willing to work w/o seeing results. I know what you're getting at and I have to say I agree. As a whole, (obviously there will be exceptions) Millennials aren't going to stick it out, working hard, if they don't see progress. I don't know that they have to see immediate results (product of Internet or not), they just have to see some progress and a clear understanding of the big picture. Read a great study in the book Gen Y Now about that, I'll probably address in a future column. And couldn't agree with you more on point #2. Thanks for all your feedback, Jim!
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