“Can I leave early on Friday afternoons to go to Yoga?”

The argument

Proponents of this argument draw a contrast between what millennials say they want from work and what they are prepared to put into it. The stated ambition is to make a difference — to find work that matters rather than work that merely pays. The objection is not to the ambition but to what accompanies it: most, on this account, are unwilling to put in the hours that making a difference would require, which leaves the aspiration detached from any commitment capable of realising it. The anecdote offered as emblematic comes from an investment banking recruiter, who lamented having actually heard a candidate ask whether they could leave early on Friday afternoons to go to yoga. What proponents emphasise is the timing of the question. It was raised by an applicant who had not yet been offered the job, so the accommodation was being sought before any work had been done to earn it — the terms of the exception were on the table before the terms of the employment were. The figures are offered as showing that the anecdote reflects a pattern rather than an outlier. Just 47% of millennials say they would be willing to work uncompensated overtime, against 59% of Baby Boomers. Proponents take uncompensated overtime as the relevant test precisely because nothing is given in return for it: the willingness to do it measures how far someone will go beyond what they are owed, and on that measure millennials fall roughly twelve points behind the generation before them. Because they work fewer hours and are less willing to put the time in at the office, this argument concludes, millennials are lazy.

Context

A recent survey from Deloitte found that Millennials aren’t willing to work longer hours and place a higher importance on “work-life balance” than career progression.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Millennials don’t subscribe to “its always been done that way” so that’s how it should be done. They demand more efficient ways of completing tasks. They embrace technology and shortcuts that increase productivity and make work more efficient. Many millennials achieve more with less time than many baby boomers that work longer hours. Millennials aren't being lazy, they are more productive and great at maximising results with fewer resources. Baby Boomers don’t see the true story. For them, work means putting in the time at the office. For Millennials, it means checking emails on weekends, firing off messages during the morning commute, and answering emails while in the gym. Millennials never truly get a break in this digital age. Millennials don’t ‘go to work’ they just ‘work’. Because technology is so entrenched in their home lives as well as their work lives, they don’t have such a rigorous divide between the two. Just because Millennials aren’t physically in the office doesn’t make them lazy. They are workaholics everywhere and all the time.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] It isn't because millennials are lazy, its because they are more productive and do more work outside the office.