EMPLOYERS are refusing to hire Generation Y workers because they lack a work ethic and spend too much time talking to friends in work hours. Source
In my early twenties, I adopted a twin philosophy from a very good friend of mine “…it costs nothing to be nice…” and that “…if you can’t say anything nice, best say nothing at all…”
I have lived to discover the wisdom of this advice and in my personal experience I have seen and heard that the negative characteristics that people would attribute to others are most often a reflection of the person speaking. Quite simply; what you say about others says more about who you are, than who they are.
Hence the assertion of this blog is that those that bemoan Gen Y, probably just wish they were more like us. It’s opinionated and at times bias but it is an attempt to develop conversation around opposing thoughts; drawn from three of the many hundreds of comments that the Article Gen Y too lazy and unfocused to hire generated.
Work Life Balance
Pretty sick and tired of “he/she who is the centre of the universe” and “work” being “somewhere you go during the day”.
Just a little jealous? I reiterate my stance on work life balance fairly often. The reality for us is that, unlike earlier generations, work is NOT our life. Work is important to us but we’ve been taught that it is better, for our health, to work to live, rather than live to work.
In addition to work we may also be juggling study, friends, family, sport, other paid and unpaid work commitments. Hence the need for flexibility. There are people in every generation that would benefit from a more balanced approach to work and life.
Respect My Authoritah!
These brats have no respect for experienced people. You treat them well and they crap on you.
Experience alone does not qualify one for respect, being respectful toward others does. Respect, like Love, is something you give not get. May I suggest leadership:-
Our concept of leadership 2.0 involves asking questions, connecting and collaborating.
We seek leaders that inspire, support and encourage our personal growth and development.
We want to feel that we work to contribute to something meaningful.
We will find new and improved ways to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity in business.
Gen Y’s Great Expectations
The main issue with Gen Y’s (but not all) is their expectations are ridiculous. They come into the workplace and after one year they want a promotion and if they don’t get it, they throw a hissy fit…I think there is some resentment in some of our older people as we had to work our way up and earn respect in the workplace and pay would come later. These days they think and expect to be CEOs at 24.
We are entering the workforce the most highly educated generation, yet I can see that to those that did not have to pay for an education our pay expectations may seem disproportionate. Still, education has burdened our generation with billions of dollars worth of student debt. Is it unrealistic of us to seek an income that may see us debt free within the next 15 years?
And aspire to leadership, we shall because our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect, share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.
Gen Y Collaborators
Love us or hate us 10 years from now we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Maybe it’s time to accept that aspects of our work ethic and the workplace freedom that we aspire to are useful, perhaps even necessary, for the growth of a knowledge economy.
Today I took the time to focus on balance in my work & life. This investment of time has made me immensely grateful for my beautiful family and friends, the amazing team I am a part of, for my health and happiness and great community I am a part of. This is indeed a beautiful life. There is happiness and fulfillment in living our values
BALANCE : work / life – future / present
GRATITUDE : We are thankful for our blessings and embrace both rewarding and challenging circumstances with open hearts.
Sailing is an investment of time that I consider a rather noble pursuit but then I am biased because my dad was an avid sailor - John Lee, Skipper of the Leeway – and he was easily one of the hero’s of my life.
leeway: To slip sideways downwind while moving forward.
Yet this adds weight to the fact that I’ve heard several people talking about sailing this year, from simply learning how to sail to planned journeys around the world.
And it is their sense of purposeful adventure and discovery that has inspired my thoughts on the direction of my personal endeavors as well as our company this year.
Time to change tack
I resolved earlier this year to keep a written journal, a common device of those sailing the oceans. Indeed, I much prefer the creative process of writing ones thoughts vs blogging and I struggled immensely over the past week to find the inspiration to add value to our blog conversation so far.
Beside commenting on articles that inspire conversation or challenge my thinking it seems 2009 provided all the time needed to convey our vision, values and service. Upon reflection I realise that I have said all I need to say about Worknow and it is simply time to change tack.
Tacking – Basic sailing maneuver refers to turning the bow of the boat through the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the boat to the other side.
While we maintain our heading, we now power up the sails with the stories of those with whom we collaborate and whose bearing impacts on the work that we do.
Indeed, it is only through the collaboration and support of people, with the vision and creativity to apply Time Trade as a tool to encourage volunteering in their own community, can we hope to reach our way-points.
Ready About
I hope to increasingly use this blog to share the story of those that serve our communities in the most direct sense of the word. I hope, like me, you will find their stories inspiring and thought provoking.
Most importantly I hope to convey the conscious, collective community spirit under which these people and teams operate in order to inspire and encourage us all to volunteer our time and talent on a regular and ongoing basis.
Using the simple tools now at your fingertips just imagine what we can achieve, what change we can effect and the difference we will make when we work now, together for causes that benefit us all.
To build a world class business that helps people and effects change.
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And what you do serves as the proof of what you believe,”
HOW Worknow
On the basis of our shared values; recognising each others talents and working together in a spirit of trust and collaboration.
EXCELLENCE : We aim to be number one in our field and constantly strive to improve.
SERVICE : Helping people is our passion, exceeding expectations our reward.
INTEGRITY : We keep our promises, treat people fairly and value open and honest communication.
COLLABORATION : talented people, working together for the benefit of each other
BALANCE : work / life – future / present
GRATITUDE : We are thankful for our blessings and embrace both rewarding and challenging circumstances with open hearts.
WHAT Worknow
Work Now is a community marketplace to help people find volunteer and paid work opportunities. Join our talent community and create your talent profile to connect with people and work opportunities.
We, Gen Y, have the information, insight and connections to harness ourselves some rather impressive purchasing power.
Already we use tools like Trade me, to help establish market price and demand. Price Spy to inform us on competitive retail pricing and of course, there’s the ever present forms of social media (facebook, twitter, blogs) that we use to seek out recommendation from the people we trust.
Gen Y … are serious, independent information seekers who expect to interact with products and companies online as a matter of course,” … Their decision process begins and ends online, where they seek information, recommendations and validation…Collaboration is another Gen Y trait. As part of their consideration process, they seek recommendations and validation. Favorite tools include social networking, peer marketing, online support networks, text messaging and blogging. Source
There are always new tools or combination’s of existing tools entering the market. Tools like Bid Rivals, cashing in on the established Trade me culture and auction frenzy around low price deals. While here at Worknow we’ve set out to provide people a more cost effective way to connect with service opportunities.
In a world awash with online and mobile tools, it’s no longer a question about HOW to connect, it’s about knowing with WHOM we connect.
We humans are social creatures, so finding and connecting with other people – in part nature and in part need – is a process that is continually refined and enhanced.
Today’s online world has become a social space for seeking out and facilitating human interaction with the growing power of social search seen with the launch of twitter lists.
Literally, millions of lists created to organise diverse topics – Dunedin (location) Distiller (Group) Volunteering (Industry Sector) – as a collection of who, rather than what.
Worknow, connecting talented people with work opportunity
We’ve combined tools to help people find and connect with work opportunities based on their talent profile. A community marketplace using the familiar bid, buy and feedback system to help people find and bid for work on paying projects and offer time on volunteer work opportunities. As a community member you can use social networking tools to:-
Showcase your talents, skills and work experience, your values, interests and more…
Search and be found, based on the information you choose to share
Connect, communicate and collaborate with people of common purpose and vision
Build your online CV and living work history, a testimonial to your talents, skill and experience.
It’s great to see the people sharing their talents
“…Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing…”Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Whether you need help around the home, at work, in business or you’re just looking to expand your repertoire of skills there’s a growing range of time and talent on offer.
Creating opportunities for others to help
Now, everyone likes to be able to help other people because it’s a good thing. Yet apparently we are not so willing to give others the opportunity to help us.
True fact though people; every single one of us has something to learn from others. If you aspire at all to helping other people please consider this.
One of the kindest things you could do for another person may simply be to help them feel needed by allowing them the opportunity to help you.
With time trade one’s own motivation to help others comes second. It’s about putting the needs of others before myself by focusing less on the need to be needed – who can I help?, how can I help? – and more on outcomes that can only be secured by enlisting the time and talents of others – how can another persons talents, skills and time help me and others?
It would be great to see every member contribute at least one Time Request in an effort to provide others the opportunity to help.
Thanks to your feedback
And on that note I have to say again a big thanks to everyone that has offered feedback on the beta site. I’ve added all your thoughts to the user voice forum We are working on implementing you’re suggestions so keep them coming. This week thanks to your feedback:-
The loop hole that allowed people to create multiple responses on a single trade has been closed. Now when you view a trade in the Marketplace that you have offered or accepted time on you will have a link to “view open trade”.
We have added a “My Posts” page to your Workspace to make it easy to view and edit all the trades that you have posted. It’s pretty basic right now but it’s the basis for an evolving history of all your trades.
Changes to Work Flow
Where as before you could begin trading simply by hitting the “offer time” or “accept offer” buttons we think it makes sense to begin by starting a conversation, right? So you now create a message before you hit the button.
By default trades remain visible in the marketplace but you can now hide or display listings instead of deleting and creating new ones. There’s now a link in the right hand column visible on your trades and posts.
–noun
1. something that is intended; purpose; design; intention
2. the act or fact of intending, as to do something
3. the state of a person’s mind that directs actions toward a specific object.
4. meaning or significance.
“We aspire to create a world class business that helps people & effects change” Co Founders May 2009.
Social Entrepreneurship
It may be the Gen Y catchphrase du jour yet it encapsulates our endeavor to combine the best of both “non-profit” and “for profit” business models.
Rather than being opposite ends of a scale we believe there is a middle ground where the realms of “non profit” and “for profit” business combine for the greater good.
And it would seem we are far from the only people thinking like this with terms like philantrocapitalism, natural capitalism, capitalism 3.0, venture philanthropy and philanthropreneur being coined to define the synergy.
To be always learning
Yet it wasn’t inspired TED talks that led us to think this way. We’ve studied, watched and learned. We’ve been inspired and gained insight from those that went before us.
Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing to take risks, to experiment, to make mistakes and learn from them while today’s technology allows us to connect, share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.
Our efforts to effect change, by necessity must begin small. Yet we believe this Time Trade tool, in the hands of creative, collaborative people has the potential to transform communities and enhance the way we work together.
Letter to IRD Re:Tax obligations for volunteer work experience
Dear Sir / Madame,
Thank you for your letter dated 24th September outlining the legislation upon which your advice is based. I now seek clarification on two points please.
1. We intend time trade to be a tool to promote, support and encourage people to volunteer in the community. For example;
Sue Smith volunteers with the SPCA to walk a dog one afternoon. After the work is done the SPCA provides feedback for Sue’s online talent profile with the comment “Sue did a great job, she was on time and works well with animals” . They also credit Sue 1 hour for the 1 hour she volunteered.
If charitable organisations use time trade as a means to provide recognition of volunteer work and offer constructive feedback on volunteer contributions will such an exchange be liable to any type of tax or GST?
2. We want to facilitate volunteer work experiences for young people and believe time trade provides a means to promote, encourage and reward volunteer work experience. However, if a business offers students Volunteer Work Experience for example;
to shadow and learn from a business person
attend meetings and take minutes or
work with employees and contribute to a business project
And then use our time trade system to
place constructive feedback about the volunteer and;
credit the volunteer time in recognition of the time they volunteered
Would such activity be liable for Tax and GST?
Can you please clarify the treatment of these time trades for all tax or gst purposes. I appreciate your help to understand where our tax and legal obligations are on these matters. Thanks for your time.
Attn: K Anderson
Inland Revenue
P O Box 1247
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand.
IRD NUMBER: 96287028
REERENCE: DN / SER / KXA
Dear Sir / Madame,
Thank you for your letter dated 24th September outlining the legislatiojn upon which your advice is based. I now seek clarification on two points please.
1.We intend time trade to be a tool to promote, support and encourage people to volunteer in the community. For example;
Sue Smith volunteers with the SPCA to walk a dog one afternoon. After the work is done the SPCA provides feedback for Sue’s online talent profile with the comment “Sue did a great job, she was on time and works well with animals” . They also credit Sue 1 hour for the 1 hour she volunteered.
If charitable organisations use time trade as a means to provide recognition of volunteer work and offer constructive feedback on volunteer contributions will such an exchange be liable to any type of tax or GST?
2.We want to facilitate volunteer work experiences for young people and believe time trade provides a means to promote, encourage and reward volunteer work experience. However, if a business offers students Volunteer Work Expereince for example;
to shadow and learn from a business person
attend meetings and take minutes or
work with employees and contribute to a business project
And then use our time trade system to 1) place constrcutive feedback about the volunteer and 2) credit the volunteer time in recognition of the time they volunteered
Would such activity be liable for Tax and GST?
Can you please clarify the treatment of these time trades for all tax or gst purposes. I appreciate your help to understand where our tax and legal obligations are on these matters. Thanks for your time.
Kind Regards,
Renee Lee www.worknow.co.nz renee@worknow.co.nz
021 18 300 50
IRD Response Received 18 January 2010
On the basis that:-
volunteer workers are freely undertaking volunteer activity within New Zealand chosen either by themselves or a group of which they are a member and
volunteer activities do not form part of a business activity ordinarily carried on by the volunteer and
a benefit is provided to the community or another person for which there is no intention of private pecuniary profit for the person
NO TAX LIABILITY ARISING
the crediting of time to the volunteer and
the posting of feedback on their volunteer contribution
IS NOT considered to give rise to an INCOME TAX or GST liability to the volunteer undertaking the work.
The time credit is considered to be a form of reimbursement of time and or costs that may have been incurred by the volunteer in undertaking the volunteer work, which is accordingly TAX EXEMPT
Results from the 2009 New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) show that over the year from April 2008 to March 2009:
One-third of people in the survey had undertaken voluntary work for a group or organisation during the previous four weeks, and about two-thirds had done unpaid work for someone living in another household.
People who did voluntary work had slightly higher levels of life satisfaction (89.5%) compared with those who didn’t (84.2%).
Two-thirds of both men and women undertook unpaid work.
Women were more likely than men to have done unpaid work at least once a week, whereas men were more likely to have done unpaid work only once in the preceding four week period.
There was a steady rise in the number of people participating in voluntary work by their level of educational qualification.
People aged between 34 and 75 years were the most engaged in voluntary work.
In our discussions with students we saw a mismatch between where they look for volunteer work i.e newspapers and their preferred forms of media, being online.
