Fall 2015 Issue of Horizons

LAW FIRMS

In addition to their views of what constitutes acceptable behavior in the workplace, Millennials also tend to differ in how they communicate instances of misconduct in the workplace. The survey responses indicated that, while each generation has some degree of inclination to use their own company’s resources to report instances of wrongdoing, Millennials are generally the least likely of the four groups to report them. While company resources are utilized to an extent, Millennials also show a tendency to report instances of misconduct to contacts that are outside the company more than any other group, as shown in the table.

The report classified respondents into four major generational groups:

∙ Millennials (born between 1981-2000)

∙ Generation Xers (born between 1965-1980)

∙ Boomers (born between 1946-1964)

∙ Traditionalists (born between 1925-1945)

The ERC’s results pointed out that there were distinct differences among generations in terms of the workplace behavior that was deemed acceptable. This can be particularly important to understand when dealing with certain “gray areas” that may be encountered in a firm’s day-to-day operations.

CONSIDERATION FOR REPORTING MISCONDUCT

Source: 2013 Generational Differences in Workplace Ethics – A Supplement Report of the 2011 National Business Ethics Survey www.ethics.org

Another key finding of the survey is that Millennials tend be more responsive than any of the other generational groups to strong firm cultures and robust ethics programming.

As indicated in the table on page 27, Millennials may have a looser interpretation of company policies or certain elements of professional etiquette than their predecessors.

page 28 | horizons Fall 2015