As a representative of the 20-somethings (24), I can at least explain partially for this view.
From an employers point of view, they want employees who will be lifers, since turn over is costly for them in training. But what's in it for an employee to stay at one company their whole life? So they can get laid off? Have their jobs shipped overseas?
Living through this difficult economic situation has only solidified this viewpoint, as most of us probably have had a tough time getting a job after graduating, or had a baby-boomer family member lose a job. Of course I think its ridiculous to think anyone is 'entitled' to a job after graduation, but growing up your entire life you are constantly told by parents, teachers, elders... that if you want to get anywhere and live comfortably, you need to get a college education. Then once you've earned the education/racked up the loans, *poof* no jobs. Obviously things will eventually turn around... just my 2 cents.
I don't know the ages of the people on here who are blasting the 20-somethings, but I'm 51, and I remember older generations saying similar things about us Baby Boomers when we were in our 20s: that we were lazy, self-centered, focused on the pleasure of the moment, consumed with a sense of entitlement, and so on. There was more than a little truth to that, and part of it just goes with youth and inexperience. Both of our teenage sons had a sense of entitlement, which drove my wife and me crazy at times. After a few years of their working in the Real World, though, that attitude has faded considerably. And I know I was pretty spoiled when I was in my early 20s.
A couple years ago, I wrote my master's thesis on the differences between the generations in the workplace. Baby Boomers entered a workplace in which they expected to have employment for life at a company if they worked hard and did a good job. In the 1980s, that model fell apart, what with downsizings, restructurings, mergers, buy-outs, and so on. It was corporate America that broke the implied social contract that had existed until that point. Generations X and Y saw their parents lose their jobs, and they realized that being loyal to a company wouldn't make the company loyal to you. So they learned to view their careers as a series of jobs at different companies, rather than climbing the ladder at one company. Unfortunately, many Baby Boomers, when they got into leadership positions, still operated under the model they were raised with: you need to pay your dues before you reap the rewards. Gen X/Yers, on the other hand, want to be rewarded for the value they bring to the company
now, because they don't trust that the company will keep them around long enough to earn those promised rewards. Another difference is that Boomers expect employees to be in the office during set core hours, whereas Gen X/Yers feel they should be able to work whenever they want, as long as they get the work done. This leads to differing expectations and misunderstandings between the generations.
The few studies that have been done indicate that the core values of the different generations are the same, although styles and preferences are different. Every generation has slackers, and every generation has star performers. I'm a manager myself, and I've seen a cross-section of individuals. We've never had a problem finding talented, hard-working people in any age group. My older son, who is 25, is a trainer at a tech-support call center. He says they have a hard time finding enough high-quality people to staff the call center -- but the job pays only $10 per hour, which isn't going to attract talented people with college degrees.
I always like to pull out this quote that Plato attributed to Socrates, although its origin is disputed: "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in lace of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
