4 ms·

Younger workers are less likely to take moral positions on company activities. I worked at a mortgage lead generation site in the 2000's and bought everything m

Younger workers are less likely to take moral positions on company activities. I worked at a mortgage lead generation site in the 2000's and bought everything management sold. I can't see myself doing anything like that at this stage in my life.

marcinzm 8y ago
At the same time older employees have more to lose by protesting and getting fired. They may have health issues, kids to support, mortgage to pay, etc. They also tend to be more conservative so they'd protest less against certain things. I'd argue that protesting is tied to how easy it's to find a new job which tends to be easier with experience.
rxhernandez 8y ago
I mean I avoid the weapons industry like the plague as I dont want there to be a strong chance my work will be used to kill anyone. I also dont think I've ever ate up anything management has told me that would begin to go against what I morally believed. Maybe some parents raise their kids to be a lot more skeptical of the world? Moreover, it seems unintuitive that someone with a mortgage and kids to feed could be more discerning about where their paycheck comes from.
SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
> Younger workers are less likely to take moral positions on company activities. Is that actually the case? When I think of protests, I don't think of the elderly.
- yardie 8y ago
  My experience so far, the younger crowd are more likely to take a moral position. But, whoa, are they woefully unprepared for any kind of organized protest.
- luckylion 8y ago
  This. Older people have families and long-term obligations. They usually can't afford to lose their job over politics or ethics.
- mdtancsa 8y ago
  Not sure. It might be younger people are more likely to take stronger positions so that they go out and protest? If you use voter participation as a proxy for moral engagement, kids as a whole dont seem to care as much as older people. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2017/voting-and-registration/figure04.png https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kit...
- bluGill 8y ago
  It goes both ways. Young people have always - throughout recorded history (most likely before) been more progressive, but the progressive is not always good. Young people can be suckered into support evil things because they haven't been around enough to think through what the unintended consequence might be. Middle aged people get more conservative in part because they learned from their mistakes in their younger years: there often is a good reason for the things done in the past and change can be for the worse as often as for the better - they know how to handle the problems of today and don't want to learn how to handle the new problems. The elderly have a decline in ability (which they often don't want to admit). They need to be conservative because without their habits they cannot handle life. They also need to trust others to help them do things they no longer can. They thus tend to be too trusting because they have no choice but trust someone without knowing if that someone is trustworthy. Note that I did not put ages above. People go through things at different stages. People can be taught wisdom to some extent. There are thousands of different things to apply the above too: once you get past about 5 years old you are probably simultaneously in each stage for different things you deal with.
- jswizzy 8y ago
  You should look at who backed the Vietnam. The Silent Generation and Greatest Generation where isolationists. Boomers only started protesting after the draft and the Tet offensive.
chungleong 8y ago
Younger workers are less likely to recognize pointy haired bosses for what they are, I say. Young people are happy just being treated like adults. "Invitation to a strategy meeting? Wow, I'm a grown-up now!"
SkyPuncher 8y ago
As I get older, I see the opposite happening. At least with individual contributor roles. Young workers bring naivety with them. They think they can "make a difference" and have little to risk by pushing back. The older workers seem to settle into happily getting their tasks done so they can go home and do something they enjoy - hobbies, family, etc.
purplezooey 8y ago
But who got the Glengarry leads?

marcinzm 8y ago

At the same time older employees have more to lose by protesting and getting fired. They may have health issues, kids to support, mortgage to pay, etc. They also tend to be more conservative so they'd protest less against certain things. I'd argue that protesting is tied to how easy it's to find a new job which tends to be easier with experience.

rxhernandez 8y ago

I mean I avoid the weapons industry like the plague as I dont want there to be a strong chance my work will be used to kill anyone. I also dont think I've ever ate up anything management has told me that would begin to go against what I morally believed. Maybe some parents raise their kids to be a lot more skeptical of the world? Moreover, it seems unintuitive that someone with a mortgage and kids to feed could be more discerning about where their paycheck comes from.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago

> Younger workers are less likely to take moral positions on company activities. Is that actually the case? When I think of protests, I don't think of the elderly.

yardie 8y ago
My experience so far, the younger crowd are more likely to take a moral position. But, whoa, are they woefully unprepared for any kind of organized protest.
luckylion 8y ago
This. Older people have families and long-term obligations. They usually can't afford to lose their job over politics or ethics.
mdtancsa 8y ago
Not sure. It might be younger people are more likely to take stronger positions so that they go out and protest? If you use voter participation as a proxy for moral engagement, kids as a whole dont seem to care as much as older people. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2017/voting-and-registration/figure04.png https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kit...
bluGill 8y ago
It goes both ways. Young people have always - throughout recorded history (most likely before) been more progressive, but the progressive is not always good. Young people can be suckered into support evil things because they haven't been around enough to think through what the unintended consequence might be. Middle aged people get more conservative in part because they learned from their mistakes in their younger years: there often is a good reason for the things done in the past and change can be for the worse as often as for the better - they know how to handle the problems of today and don't want to learn how to handle the new problems. The elderly have a decline in ability (which they often don't want to admit). They need to be conservative because without their habits they cannot handle life. They also need to trust others to help them do things they no longer can. They thus tend to be too trusting because they have no choice but trust someone without knowing if that someone is trustworthy. Note that I did not put ages above. People go through things at different stages. People can be taught wisdom to some extent. There are thousands of different things to apply the above too: once you get past about 5 years old you are probably simultaneously in each stage for different things you deal with.
jswizzy 8y ago
You should look at who backed the Vietnam. The Silent Generation and Greatest Generation where isolationists. Boomers only started protesting after the draft and the Tet offensive.

chungleong 8y ago

Younger workers are less likely to recognize pointy haired bosses for what they are, I say. Young people are happy just being treated like adults. "Invitation to a strategy meeting? Wow, I'm a grown-up now!"

SkyPuncher 8y ago

As I get older, I see the opposite happening. At least with individual contributor roles. Young workers bring naivety with them. They think they can "make a difference" and have little to risk by pushing back. The older workers seem to settle into happily getting their tasks done so they can go home and do something they enjoy - hobbies, family, etc.

purplezooey 8y ago

But who got the Glengarry leads?