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Do Gen Yers/Millennials Lack Empathy?

My personal experience with the college students I know and/or mentor is not the same as the study’s findings, but my pool is much smaller, so I have no scientific basis upon which to refute the findings. As a workplace inter-generational relations expert, I mostly deal with Gen Yers already out of school. I think many of them get an undeserved negative reputation. I have found them to be eager to learn, open, hardworking, ambitious and fun in general.

My speculation concerning the lack of empathy shown would be a sort of numbness from the trauma of 9/11 at an impressionable age and being served a constant menu of violence in media of all sorts. I would say these factors influence the younger Gen Xers, say under age 35, as well. Also, the pressure in school and to get into schools and to deal with constant messaging from many sources has left many of them with little time to reflect outside of themselves. Yet, Gen Yers are big into community service and concern for social problems, which indicates empathy.

The study findings lead me to ask these questions:

What does this lack of empathy finding mean for their relations with colleagues in the workplace?
Will they be willing to pitch in and compensate for colleagues who need flexible time off (for a fair exchange)?
Will they continue to collaborate if they don’t get as much recognition as they want and somebody else does get the recognition?
Will they have the necessary empathy for clients and customers to provide the outstanding service that is demanded in these competitive times to succeed in business?

These are crucial business questions, and we need to instill the importance of empathy.

Empathy is a very important quality to have for life and business. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Send an e-mail to pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com or comment on my blog.

And here is a link to a very interesting article on the subject

Phyllis

BONUS on empathy and relationships

Charles M. Blow, New York Times Op-ed columnist, wrote about whether we know our neighbors or even care in “Friends, Neighbors and Facebook” (June 12, 2010). A Pew Research Center report issued in early June found that only 42% of U.S, adults know all or most of their neighbors by name.

[Disclosure: I live in a New York coop apartment building, and know all the neighbors on our floor and many others in the building by name. My husband, not a dog owner, knows the name of every dog in the building but few of the pet owners’ names. Interpret that as you choose!]

Segmented, the greatest percentage of respondents who know all or most of their neighbors are: females, non-Hispanic whites, age 50 or over, college graduates, annual household income over $75,000. However, most of the demographic differences are not huge.

Blow himself admits to only knowing one person on his block (a Times colleague). At the same time he has a very large number of “friends“ and “followers” on social networking sites which he actively participates on.

Two thoughts Blow offers speculating on why so few know their neighbors: 1) “social networks are rewiring our relationships and affecting the attachments to our actual ones;” and 2) “users of social networking services are 26 % less likely to use their neighbors as a source of companionship,” according to a Pew report released in November 2009.

Your thoughts? I want to hear them - please share.

* The generational chronology for easy reference: Generations are defined by the similar formative influences – social, cultural, political, economic – that existed as the individuals of particular birth cohorts were growing up. Given that premise, the age breakdowns for each of the four generations currently in the workplace are approximately:

Traditionalists: born 1925-1942

Baby Boomers born 1943-1962

Generation X born 1963-1978

Generation Y/Millennials born 1979-1998

06/2010

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