'Generation Y' demands more

A 2007 study by CareerBuilder.com and Harris Interactive found that 87 percent of hiring managers and human resource professionals believe that employees age 29 and under “(exhibit) a sense of entitlement that older generations don’t.”\nThis includes expecting a higher salary, a more flexible work schedule, more benefits, more vacation time and company-provided technology.\nThe survey, conducted among 2,546 employers in the United States, quantifies some common complaints among employers regarding “born 1980-95,” a term used to describe people in their teens and 20s. But some students and faculty see these expectations as perfectly reasonable.\n“We put a lot into our education,” said senior Matt Wint, an informatics major, “so we expect to get some of it back.”\nThe price of attending a public university has risen an average of 4 percent a year since 1987 after adjusting for inflation, according to CollegeBoard.com.\nEconomic uncertainty also plays a role, says Patrick Donahue, director of the Career Development Center.\n“This generation has seen parents downsized, watched the Internet bubble burst and perhaps had family members lose stock funds in Worldcom or Enron, so wanting to build a sound financial base is to be expected,” Donahue said.\nMany recent college graduates believe they deserve a higher salary because they come into the workforce more prepared than their older counterparts, mostly because of a meteoric rise in the popularity of internship programs. A 2006 study by Vault, Inc. reported that 62 percent of college students planned to take an internship in 2007, compared with just 41 percent the year before. \n“It used to be that internships were of secondary importance to students, right behind finding a job as a beach lifeguard or bartending,” Donahue said. “Now, internships are not only strongly encouraged, but they are often required by academic departments.” \nSome companies appear to be making concessions to their “Generation Y” employees. According to the CareerBuilder.com and Harris Interactive survey, 15 percent of employers “changed or implemented new policies or programs to accommodate Generation Y workers.” Some of these changes included access to state-of-the-art technology, more flexible work schedules, and, to a lesser degree, increased salaries and bonuses.\nPut in historical context, young job seekers have reason to expect higher starting salaries than those who entered the workforce decades before them. The average household income has risen steadily in the United States as the economy has grown. It hovered around $15,000 in the first two decades of the 20th century, and reached $33,338 in 1967. It is currently at $43,318, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. \n“Each generation expects higher salaries and better benefits than the generation before them had, so that’s not unusual,” Donahue said.