The Chu Forums

from the this or that thread.

i think the problem with our generation (and perhaps the previous one, depending on how you define generations) is that we don't know how to commit and be complacent. we always think that we deserve better even if it means sacrificing comfort/convenience for others.

not saying this is what dunc is doing by asking if he should change jobs, nor am i even saying that dunc is considering changing jobs lol.

what i'm saying is that it seems like our generation (or whatever) change jobs like crazy, thinking that there's something better out there for them (i.e. more pay for less work), but are never happy anyway. so they keep jumping. the same goes for relationships too (as is evident in divorce rate).

i'm not saying that we have to stay at one job for the rest of our lives, but i look at my parents and my parents' parents and see how they just stuck with one job their whole lives. they learned to love what they do and they do it well. there was no need to keep jumping around.

i want to reiterate that this is in no way a shot on duncan or anyone else for that matter. i'm just speaking to the trend that i see in our generation. heck, i've considered changing jobs more than once in the past even.

what do you guys think?

I don't think I'd say that the previous generation necessarily stuck with their jobs because they liked them. I think they stuck with their jobs because they felt trapped. If they quit, then what? They have a family support and a twenty year mortgage to pay and some of them didn't even graduate from highschool.

I do agree that we're livng in a throwaway society, though, and we treat are relationships like our phones.

that's true, but from what i gather they didn't view their jobs like we do now.
they were thankful that they were working/contributing/getting a paycheque. nowadays we can't wait to retire so we can stop working. look at the retired folk now, they can't stop working. they need to, or they'd be bored. you think that'd be the case when we grow up? i have a feeling no.

My mom LOVES her retirement.
She PAID extra for the ability to retire a couple of months early. (Don't ask me how that worked... perhaps it was related to her maternity leave way back when).
She counted down the days a full year out.

that's cuz u hear stories of all these celebrities rolling around in their cash, partying like no tomorrow, so ppl want to make enuff and party like them. Way back the only dreams ppl had were having a house with the white picket fence and rolling in their buick.

adding to what shaun said about supporting a family, it's totally different now. People are having kids at 35+ or even in their 40's. I think because of this, they're afforded the chance to be risky and venture out to diff jobs while they're younger. I think people in their 40's plus stay with their job for a while. Probably some statistic out there says that people under 30 switch jobs more than people in their 30-40's and even less for over 40's, but i'm speculating. They don't have to worry about affecting anyone but them. But for me, i can see how someone sticks with a job because they're afraid to screw up a stable thing that puts food on the table.

Also, another factor could be that our generation is better educated than the previous generation. We feel like we have more tools to provide more options than the older generation who might've only had a highschool diploma.

And, a local (lower mainland) factor could be that the living costs are so high, we're forced to look for a higher paying job so we can chase the "canadian dream" of owning a home. Heck, even renting is expensive here if you think about it. The disparity between vancouver wages and living costs can be a pretty big weight on someone's shoulders. Especially someone who has little mouths to feed.

but i also do agree it's a cultural mentality shift. The older generation likes to keep busy and do things. Although i think they're just oblivious to all the things they can do to keep busy that doesn't involve working. Our generation is lazy and works for the goal of retiring early so we can be lazy and not work.

You're forgetting the flip side of this coin. Companies devalue the worth of their employees more and more. Corporations are just as guilty of letting their employees go for the sake of the mighty dollar. Also it's a huge motivator to look for a new job if the company you work for does not properly recognize or compensate you for your loyalty and ever growing experience.

It's a different matter if you suck at your job, but if you're good, but you get paid the same amount of money as the new guy off the street.. that is really demotivating. You're expendanble.

It's really apparent that this is happening when you get passed up for a job due to "lack of experience" and then they go off to hire some guy who has even less experience because he will take less pay.

hm, that's a good point. i think everyone in general then is looking at things much differently than when our parents were around. maybe back in those days good help was hard to find? or good help was so easily found that you just get the best of the best and so the second best had to work all the more hard.

all i know is that i look at my youth today, and there's no way i'd give them jobs. they suck at working hard.

Yeah and also, the saying that "education is just a piece of paper" is very true these days... some of these people with university degrees are totally dumb.

and that piece of paper isn't guaranteed to get you anything. look at winnie, for example haha.





















































































what a waste of 30k.

some people get degrees because they just like learning lol... i'm not one of them... i hate hw/tests/assignments...

i think as generations pass, instant gratification is becoming more and more apparent as well. Everyone expects to be at the top right away and they don't understand how to "put in their time" to work their way up.

i don't think that's from the natural passage of time, i think it's from tv and internet. if you want something, you get it instantly on the internetz. and tv commercials attributed to the whole of society's ADD.

based on my experiences so far, i agree with Gordon's take. employee loyalty means nothing in the eyes of employers from my experience. most corporate entities only care about the bottom line and are typically willing to walk over their own employees to do so. as we have progressed further towards a global economy, corporate power increases as businesses consolidate into larger and larger conglomerates. things like global outsourcing, push employee salaries even lower.

and a large rift is forming between employer/employee than when small business were more prevalent in the 60s. For example, a CEO of a global conglomerate could care less about signing off on a laying off 1000 employees in some factory in some other country/state/province and relocating the work to factory in china for a quarter the cost. He never sees any of those employees or interacts with them at all.

So employees are recognizing this too, that years of service can mean squat in the end, so it's become a world where everyone looks out for themselves. So when potentially better offers are out there why would an employee stick around for the benefit of the employer. Why would an employer bother keeping the employee when it's not beneficial to them. and the cycle continues.

it's a sad state in my opinion, and i wish the world were different. but that's how it just seems to be nowadays. not that all of us have to live by that standard either. but i can totally understand one's desire to just go with the flow.