Young employees too immature at work

Are your Gen Y and Millennial employees really lacking in professionalism, or could they just be misunderstood?

According to new research from the Centre of Professional Excellence at the York College of Pennsylvania, young employees straight out of university aren’t winning themselves many fans in the office.

After surveying 400 human resources professionals about their experiences in hiring graduates, more than one third said the level of professionalism had decreased over the past five years.

Close to 45% also said young employees’ work ethic has decreased, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The survey found young staff came off as “arrogant” during the recruitment process, and 52% of respondents said they thought they had an “air of entitlement”.

Professionalism in the survey was measured on appearance, regular attendance, punctuality, honesty, attentiveness and seeing a work task through.

Researchers said younger hires could be taking workplace cues from peers and friends, rather than more-experienced workers.

“Acceptable behavior among peers is not necessarily acceptable among coworkers and superiors,” Deborah Ricker, of the Center for Professional Excellence,’ told WSJ.

The research also found many young hires are inappropriately using technology in the office to text colleagues instead of sending emails or talking face-to-face.

More than half of respondents said they believe younger employees workers also spend too much time at work on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.