I'm totally a whippersnapper

[fredericks]

I was in the office the other day and I realized that I've been working for my current place of employ for almost four years (technically 39 months, as per the seniority list; really a little more than three years, but still). I found that pretty astounding. But then I looked at the women in the cubicles to my left, and remembered they've been with my company in total for almost 60 years. Just today one was reminiscing about working in St. Vincents Hospital (in the West Village) in the late 1970's, and both of them were laughing about working as nurses during the Blackout of 1977. It boggles my mind.

I'm not one to make a five- or ten-year plan, and I've never seriously thought about staying put long enough to be at the top of any seniority totem pole. Is it a generational thing? My parents have worked their jobs for 25 and 30 years respectively. It was considered the norm to find a career job and stay put, I think. But none of my peers/friends can tell me they see themselves staying with this company, not even necessarily doing what s/he's currently doing now. And companies pick up on that, I think. I recall hearing during our recent contract negotiations from managers who stated that young workers have no loyalty, and so the employer did not want to invest in a retirement fund for new workers. Really? Because, if anything, we're the generation that loves to act out of spite: tell us we're lazy and/or unable to stay put and we're more than willing to get up and walk.

But that might just be my headache talking. Now I'm going to go skateboard up some old guy's sidewalk and stomp on his lawn.

Comments

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Definitely. There are times when you're not made to feel valuable. I mean, I guess some workplaces want to keep that air of desperation going in order to weed out aggressive talent, but outside of a trader/investment environment, it's quite counterproductive to make your workers feel devalued and that they're not appreciated. Love for what a job entails will only take one so far.