At least that is according to Inc contributing editor Geoffrey James in his article “The 1 Word Millennials Should Stop Using Today.” To keep it simply here are some key takes from this relatively short piece:
Indeed, my 12 year-old son constantly trots out “It’s not fair!” whenever I make a decision he dislikes or disagrees with. To which I reply (as did my parents and their parents): “Hey, life’s not fair.” And that’s doubly true in the business world.
There is a significant difference between a 12 year old saying that something isn’t fair and a 32 year old who has worked for you for 10 years saying the same words. It’s amazing how context can make a world of difference! It only continues from there though.
In the real world, women get paid less than men, women suffer constant sexual harassment, companies discriminate against minorities, and managers extort unpaid overtime from millions of salaried employees.
In the real world, tall men and attractive women make more money on average than their shorter and less attractive counterparts. In the real world, an idea that saves millions of dollars earns its creator a 1% raise. (This happened to a friend of mine.)
It’s not fair, but it’s true.
There are three different examples that he ends with “It’s not fair, but it’s true.” This is where Mr. James is fundamentally thick. Fair and truth have no causal relationship. There is a reason that people fight to change the bad in this world. There is such a thing as fundamental and institutional unfairness that has no basis in anything but history, “boy’s club” and “because I said so.” Too often managers see their job as to screw people on money simply because they think it saves the company money. Or they make sure their buddy gets a big raise because their kids play soccer together. Usually with no direct relationship to performance.
Fair may be too light of a word. But either way this is not a “millenial” thing – this is about you stopping being a fool who is doing nothing but hurting his business by not taking care of his best and brightest. You think people jump jobs today because they have no loyalty? They have no loyalty because you refuse to offer them a career because you need to take care of the “people who put in the time” regardless of their relative performance.
This is one of my core beliefs (and many other “millenials” that I talk to): take care of the people who do outstanding work. Loyalty comes from relationships and trust and communication which one of the most fundamental ways a business can show these is by how they handle compensation.