The complaining is getting to me
I feel like this is something people my age are all feeling, the younger work folks are just so full of complaints, they are always offended, nothing ever makes them happy, they feel unloved and under appreciated...Oyyyy vey! We have had a steady stream of younger workers (25-45) complaining over and over about how hard everything is, how much they are offended about everything, how they deserve to be promoted etc. One of my colleagues and I just had meeting with a 30 something who feels that the stipend the company is giving toward work from home essentials is not enough and he deserves more, he can't possibly get the kind of ergonomic chair he NEEDS with the amount the company is giving him. He rattled off all these companies giving employees more, keep in mind we are a non profit and COVID is killing us financially. This employee went to the VP of HR complaining which prompted the call with myself and my HR colleague. My colleague called me after and was just so angry that this "kid" in his words is so demanding, so pushy and tried to guilt our company into giving him something more. Ughhh
It's like these younger people want everything on a silver platter. This is a recession, be thankful you have a job!
It is a truly hard time right now. It is amazing the things I find myself complaining about. I will tell my co-workers how grateful I am to have a job, and how grateful I am that my family is healthy, and I FEEL that I really do, but then I will lose it because my kids' school expects them to stream their teachers' lessons for five hours, and - between having two kids doing that and two parents working from home - I cannot afford the internet bandwidth to support this!
How petty. How silly. So many are going through SO MUCH WORSE. But at the same time - as a Gen-X/Millenial-cusper - it feels like everything and everyone has been trying to stand in my way. 9-11 happened my senior year of high school meaning many of my friends went off to war instead of enjoying college with me. The recession hit when I graduated college leaving me with little ability to find a job that matched my education and experience for several years. Five years ago my company hired a CFO known for over-spending (and so they had their first layoffs in over a quarter-century), and so I missed out on a promised promotion after being told how underpaid I was (by my AVP!). Now I was told that I was finally getting that long-awaited raise and promotion from five years ago. And nope. COVID nixed that, along with my retirement matching benefits and even a cost-of-living raise.
Yet again, I know how well I have it, how LUCKY I am (and that's sometimes what it feels like - pure LUCK that I'm not sick or fired, and nothing to do with my hard work or carefulness), but it is hard not to see that so many companies are forcing people back to the office without following CDC guidelines, telling people to do more work with less co-workers, and not doing anything to help employees who actually feel a threat to their lives while trying to keep their job.
It is difficult that our fear comes out as pettiness, but it is there. GenZ as well has watched Millennials pull themselves out of the dregs of recessions and monopolies and feel no company loyalty either.
I will say that I am motivated - for my team and co-workers if nothing else. I know they are struggling no less than I am. But to have so much continually taken away from you - to see in the news how little companies think of their employees - I can understand why some of us are going off on the little things.
I hope you can understand too. It is not easy for you either.
Someone in our company of over 500 employees asked 'what is the incentive to meet MBO (individual goals) if there was not going to be a bonus this year?" This was an anonymous question from someone that was shared and answered on a company-wide meeting. My gut reaction was so basic. First, you don't aim for goals just to get a bonus - I mean, sure it's a good thing to get the bonus, but really? My second response was, we just laid off employees due to the current situation and you're asking about not being motivated to meet your goals? What has happened to show up, do your best and carry on? I imagine it was one of the same employees that expect to be promoted after 6 months of showing up to work; not that they have mastered anything as that takes at least a year to get comfortable with what our company does on a daily basis. I just smile and keep on working, muttering to myself in my head.