Most research about Millenials in the workplace today is conducted, interpreted, and reported by Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. Why should it surprise anyone, then, that Millenials usually do not come off well in press reports? Sometimes it seems that the business press sees Millenials as a kind of new species to be studied scientifically, under glass. You could not blame Millenials for feeling at least mildly put out by those reports, assuming they pay any attention to them at all. Which, perhaps, they don’t.

A case in point is a recent SHRM article entitled “Millenials Suffer Ethical Lapses at Work.” Read it, and then read the report the article is based on, called Generational Differences in Workplace Ethics published by the Ethics Resource Center of the National Business Ethics Survey (NBES). The former focuses exclusively on the ethical failings of Millenials in the workplace. The latter not only points out the ethical strengths of Millenials that balance their shortcomings, but it also characterizes the ethical strengths and shortcomings of Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, and Traditionalists as well. You get a far more balanced picture of what each group brings to the ethical table. Here are some of the elements of that picture:

Millenials

The key to understanding Millenials is to appreciate their unprecedented openness, transparency and flexibility, and the fact that the only workplace they've known is the one that makes no distinction between the office and the home or between work hours and non-work hours. Because of their attributes they are more likely to engage in, or tolerate, behavior that older colleagues find unacceptable. They feel more pressure to break the rules than their older counterparts. They are more likely to use company-owned software for their own purposes or even to make personal purchases with company credit cards (to be paid back at a later date). At the same time, they shine more light on misconduct by others that they observe, even though they often feel retaliated against because of it; they are more likely than their older colleagues to consult with their organizations’ ethics and compliance offices; and they are more likely to tap into programs like helplines, mechanisms for seeking advice, and training—especially if those systems involve social interaction.

Gen Xers

Generation X cohorts carry a mix of Millenial and Baby Boomer characteristics. They are a little more like Millenials than Boomers when it comes to observing misconduct and reporting it, but feeling retaliated against because of it; yet they are somewhat like Boomers in that they rely on formal systems and  stated corporate standards for help with their ethical questions.

Baby Boomers and Traditionalists

Baby Boomers are more likely to see formal systems and standards of ethics as set in stone, and follow them as their guides. There were no ethics or compliance offices when they were the age that Millenials are today, and so they tend not to trust those institutions for guidance on ethical questions. They tend to respect authority and power more than either Gen Xers or Millenials.

Here are some of the specifics of the NBES research, conducted in 2011(and before that in 2009, 2007, 2005, 2003 and 2000):

1. In all six periods during which they were tracked, more Millennials observed workplace misconduct or rules violations than the other three cohorts. In 2011, the figures were 49% of Millenials, 45% of Gen Xers, 44% of Baby Boomers and 36% of Traditionalists.
    

1. In 2011 fewer Millenials (26%) observed others conducting personal business on company time than Xers (35%), Boomers (35%), and Traditionalists (40%). This is likely a reflection of Millenials’ seeing no distinction between working at the office and working at home, and therefore feeling no need to refrain from conducting personal business on company time.
    

1. All of the cohorts except Tradtionalists showed a rise in their willingness to report misconduct/rules violations they have witnessed since 2000, dramatically since 2005. This suggests that the awareness of this ethical issue has improved across the board in the last decade. The best news is for the Millenials. In 2011, 67% of them reported misconduct they had observed. In 2009 that number was 58% and in 2007 it was 45%. For Gen Xers, it stood at 69% in 2011, and 65%, 62%, and 52% in 2009, 2007 and 2005. For Boomers it was 64% in 2011, and 63%, 66% and 55% going back to 2005.
   
   Traditionalists, however, fell off to 39% in 2011 from 58%, 45% and 50% in the last three measuring periods. Perhaps it reflects the reluctance of older, more security-minded workers to avoid controversy.

The NBES research suggests that there are distinct differences in the way the different generational cohorts perceive the ethical demands of the workplace, and it is important for leaders to recognize those differences in their expectations for each group. However it would be a misreading of the research as well as simply unfair to cast any one of the cohorts as being any more or less ethical than the other three.

Sources: National Business Ethics Survey; SHRM (SHRM members can access “Millenials Suffer Ethical Lapses at Work” by clicking here.)