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Rise of the 'Ho-hummers'
The Cold War is something they may have heard their parents talk about. John F. Kennedy is as remote as George Washington. And one or two had a grandfather who went to Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft.
Now, the "netizens" or the "millennials" or the "Ho-hum" generation has reached our workplaces. Over the last few years, while they were at school or in college, we met a fraction of the 76 million-strong Ho-humers, or those born after 1980.
But using the verb "met" is wrong. When you meet someone, there usually is some exchange of communications, some increased understanding, a spark of contact. But, as a generation, most Ho-humers have successfully isolated themselves. It is more correct to say that we, the older generations, have "observed" those who will replace us.
We see them everyday on the subway. A mass of androgynous youngsters, looking alike with hooded jackets in the cold weather and clothing better suited to the beach than the city when it is warm. They are inseparable from cell phones on which they talk endlessly. Many spend their nontalking minutes listening to music transferred to their iPods. Others, grasping small electronic devices to play games, concentrate on inserting themselves in virtual realities and battlefields.
However, the Ho-humers have street smarts and strong survival skills. Technologically their confidence is awe-inspiring. It is their future that is by no means assured.
In 2006, the baby boomers, delivered to a world obsessed by the stupidity of Benjamin Spock, are moving out of the world of work -- not to retire but to create a nonproductive leisure world for themselves.
They are creating job opportunities in travel, geriatric resorts and beaches, and for accountants, medical specialists and lawyers who help safeguard the bodies and assets of the aged. Ultimately, the Ho-hums will offer the last rites in medical facilities, as bones and organs are replaced, and in nursing homes where the once-ever-happy baby boomers have been abandoned.
The baby boomers of the '60s had small families, resulting in the succeeding generations -- X and Y -- being markedly fewer in the workplace with well-paid jobs. This -- combined with the export of American production technology to any part of the world with lower-than-U.S. salaries -- has left a major gap, which will result in the much larger Ho-hum group having a major shock impact on our economy and government.
Ho-humers should learn the Golden Rule mantra: "Go to college, work hard, save money and join the middle class." But why? The kiddies quickly learn that golden rules are no longer golden and they have no basis -- even if they shout and stomp -- to insist on the work and life balance they want.
Friends who hire Ho-humers report it is no use hiring them to do a job; it has to be an opportunity. From the first hour on the job, even the most inexperienced has to feel engaged in something important. Most Ho-humers believe in the innate quality of their work, its effect on the world and the clear rightness of their thinking.
Constructive criticism is impertinent and mistakes are to be forgiven when they whine, "I said I was sorry!" Thus they are happy and we can ignore their appearance.
If the Ho-humers had the information to think about the past, they would know that the rules changed in the 1990s. Short-term profits won (and win) over long-term stability. Global competition now forces cost-cutting everywhere. Savings have plummeted to zero and the mileage-earning credit card defers payment for everything from phone bills through food to rent.
Despite their random tattoos, shaven skulls, body piercings and attitudes, some Ho-humers think and already manage their careers as a portfolio. Their marriage counselor is an asset manager. As they may want to buy and sell stock at the right time, the new generation builds career equity by changing jobs quickly whenever
the advantage appears in their corner.
And unlike earlier generations, the Ho-humers seek personal experience in both large and small U.S.-based companies and international firms. Loyalty? One job is the launch pad for the next.
Believe it or not, their hopes of wealth through jobs are doomed -- unless they join the federal civil service.
In Washington, federal employee wages average out at just over $80,000 a year, with low-rate loans from the federal credit union and health care for the family as a benefit. When retirement comes around, they will carry with them their pension, indexed for inflation every year, and their health-care benefits.
Yet the new workers cannot see sticking with one job and know they can do better than a guaranteed federal check arriving every two weeks. Let them do it.
Don't be afraid of these new, self-absorbed and strange people. Get to know them, explain that history is important and remember that they are Americans and all that we have.
Dateline D.C. is written by a Washington-based British journalist and political observer.
