★ “Do We Deserve — or Even Want– More Jobs?”

Many millennials not only don’t want jobs, they simply don’t deserve them. They can’t take even a tiny amount of criticism and they need constant adulation for amazing efforts like, ummmm, showing up for work.

A frequent refrain I hear from these folks is, “I’ve been working here for almost six months and you haven’t recognized the work I’ve put in!”  Of course my reaction to this is “Oh, I’m sorry, please tell me what you’ve accomplished.”

That is usually a short conversation which includes that the person came in and worked for the hours in which they were paid to work. In other words, they want the participation trophy. They want credit for coming to work for the hours they’ve been paid. That’s not how it works in my mind, but I decided to relent.

I had a trophy made for participation. It reads “for excellence in showing up.”

We have a tradition at the office of putting it on people’s desks when they are on vacation so that they when they come back it’s waiting for them as a reward for “excellence in showing up.”

The fact is, thanks to massive technological and organizational advances the “just show up” job is a seriously endangered species. Companies are getting so efficient that they’ve learned that they can make better and more profitable products and services with smaller teams.