Do 20 year olds have attitude problems?

I think you have some bad apples. I'm 22 and certainly don't act like that but I know what you are talking about. My co-worker is 22 and he spends all day dishing out attitude to our boss and texting his girl. He also shows up 30 minutes last and leaves early.

yes, this is very typical for the age group.

This is why none of them should be hired and all their jobs should be offshored appropriately. Then see what the little eichmanns do.

I think you just hired the wrong people. I am currently 20 and when the older people here ask me to do something I gladly do it, knowing that I'm a little guy and am only here to help them out. You should call them into your office, if you have any power over them, and really make it clear to them that they're at your office to work. OR ELSE. That would really affect me if someone told me that.

These new workers are a lot different.

They were raised in an "everybody's a winner" type environment where even the last place finisher requires some sort of trophy. Thus, they expect to be rewarded pretty much for everything, even just showing up. Nvermind actually doing a good job...

This generation is also more teamwork-oriented, and may work better in a small group than as individuals.

They are much more connected, and see will be more likely to be texting, calling, or using facebook/myspace constantly to stay in touch with their peers (they don't wait until they get home at dinner to share news about their day).

There are lots of excellent articles online about how to interact and motivate this new generation. Frankly, it's a lot of work. Too much coddling, handholding, and positive refinforcement needed....but that is what they are used to. I personally would rather hire someone older, or even near retirement.

Ditto!

i work in a "white shoe" law firm. they hire paralegals to work for 2 years, so to get there feet wet before they take off for law school.

i've notice over the years they are getting more and more self-centered and conceited with a "too cool for school" attitude.

I was explaining my job and how it interacts with the jobs of three new para's. one came in late, listened to me for about few minutes then started concentrating on her nails and chewing her cuticles and saying, "Okay", as if it was time to wrap things up.

little rich snots, some of them.

I think you just hired some bad apples. That being said, the bad apples seem to be more prevalent in my generation (20 somethings). All of us aren't like that by any means, but of all the people I know, the percentage of people my own age with attitude problems far exceeds the percentage of older people with attitude problems. I'm not sure why. We, as a generation, have more to be happy about than any other generation in any other country in the history of the world, so you'd think that we'd all be happy and friendly, but instead, we're bigger dicks/bitches than any other generation in history (we also write the worst run on sentences of any generation in history apparently).

But anyway, there are plenty of good 20-somethings out there. You might just need to try to catch the bad attitudes in the interview process.

The cocoon of self-centredness has left young people feeling that they deserve everything right away. Interns expect positions where they'll be given plenty of responsibility from the beginning. It's tough to manage expectations of employees who have never encountered the quaint concept of "paying your dues".

This generation doesn't respond well to criticism. In many cases, it has never been part of their upbringing. They feel they can't do wrong. So, when the boss rips into them about a half-effort on the job, they’re devastated. In the past, most people have complimented them on their efforts — no matter how shoddy or lazy those efforts might actually be.

Many schools have programs to increase children's self-esteem, most of which actually build self-importance and narcissism. Kids need to feel good about themselves. Some educators don't want to disturb that feeling by actually correcting mistakes in class. Inflated grades and independent spelling are two by-products of the self-esteem movement. When these bump against the reality of quality control at college or on the job, this generation is genuinely surprised — and who can blame them?

Skills help prepare students for the workplace. But what prepares them emotionally? The cult of self-esteem sets this generation up for a fall. Job descriptions and salary expectations often can't match the inspired expectations that have been cultivated.

It's never their fault. This starts early when these kids discover how often their shortcomings in school are blamed on their teachers. It's always external forces at work. And so, the victim mentality is nurtured.

Here's where the It's-All-About-Me-I-Can-Do-Anything syndrome encounters a dichotomy. For all the self-confidence, there is also a cynicism that most things are beyond their control. So, why bother. Why bother to work hard at finding a job; it just comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Why bother to work hard for a promotion; it’s who you know, not what you know.

Hit and miss, I hire students where I work. In the past year, we hired four, two outstanding, one so-so, one bad. That's probably like any generation. I'm also over 40 and would say our generation had more than its share of slackers, goof-offs, and morons.

I'm actually fairly impressed with the younger generation. I'll never get tatoos or rap music, so be it. But overall they seem to be solid. Some do have a sense of entitlement, but I can tell you I know plenty of people my age and back in the day who had that same attitude.

Each generation has a "these kids these days" attitude, that their generation was some how superior. Not really, there are goofballs in each generation, though I'd say the pre-TV generation (depression era through 50's) probably worked it harder than my generation and the ones following. They had to: technology wasn't refined.

All have issues with arriving on time, but one is at least 15 minutes late every day. This morning, she walked by me on her way to her desk and I politely said, "You're late." I said it more in a playful way, like, You're laaaaaaaaaaaaate."

She kept walking and said, "So what?"

And she's the one with the best attitude!

Over 40 wrote:

We have 2 summer interns in our office and all are in the 20-22 year old range. All 3 of them have attitude problems. No respect. Rolling their eyes when asked to do something. They will continue texting even while someone is tryig to explain something to them.

Have you over 40 year olds noticed this with the 20 somethings, or did we just pick up a couple of bad apples?

Where is their supervisor when this happens? Summer interns can be disciplined, or fired if necessary. No one in your office should be allowing behavior like that to slide.

I'm a 20-something by the way.

Wow, you need to get that under control. Who is the boss, her or you!?

Next time, send her home. "Come back when you can arrive to work on time, or don't come back at all".

If you don't let them know that what they are doing is wrong and put some type of punishment with it they will keep acting the way they are. You need to take some of the blame here.

"These kids today...." This is universal. It's not anything new to this group of 20 year olds. Don't you remeber when you were a 20 something? You had it ALLL figured out, you knew it all any in their 30's was an old fart and anybody younger was just a kid.

Like others have said, make the job expectations very clear and then quickly follow up on discipline if those expectations are not met. If you don't they'll run all over you.

You need to correct these problems yourself (or as part of a group effort with your co-workers). Put these kids in line or fire them. I'm 24, and I definitely think there are some issues with kids in their 20s. Be a part of the solution...start helping to correct the damage their parents have done.

what department are they in and what are their positions?

we've had good luck with some interns. we've also had some bad apples - "i am leaving early today, i worked over the weekend" - uhh, how did you get in without using a badge - because you certainly didn't come in through any of the doors. - See ya.

Im 24 and find that at my office i can multi task and concentrate on multiple things at once a lot easier and efficiently than the older +40 types. The people I work with sometimes get agitated that I will be holding on the phone, typing on the computer AND having a conversation with them, getting intsructions, etc...they think its disrespectful. I think of it as getting more shit done than them. It's not an attitude its aptitude.

We hired a 22yr old that's absolutely fantastic. But we take hiring very seriously. We screened 100 resumes, interviewed 15, and hired the person we thought was the right fit for our team. Others had more impressive GPA'a, work experience, and some really far out there life experiences. He's been with us a year and we work him to death but still take him to lunch, let him go early for holidays, bring him to important meetings, and occasionally, we hit a midday baseball game.

I think in past generations (mine included, age 50), we were happy to have a job and put in time without expecting recognition. This generation likes recognition. Well, what's so hard and bad about treating someone with dignity? For our team, it's turned into adding someone we hope is with us for a long time.