Dante, John Marc R. 2015-45015 PA 161 – Bonus Paper Atty.

Alder Delloro

“Challenging Perspectives : Millennials, Public Service, and Accountability”

Just as how societies had changed through time, the trends on the behavior and ideas of

generations tend to have evolve and show a pattern. The distinction of various generations such

as what they call Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, etc. stems out from their own

uniqueness. This distinctive characteristics are often diificult for people outside their respective

generations understand. Millennials are often being subjected to a stigma of being adventurous

but is less passionate and loyal about work than their older generation counterparts (Pyorya et al.,

2017). Now we are at an asking point – Is it really fair to label Millennials as is?

I. Millennials

The latest generation to face the workforce are the Millennials – individuals who were

born between 1980 and 2000. Looking at these time frame, Millennials had acquired their name

due to their birth years closer to the new millennium and consequently being raised in a more

digital age (Kaifi et al., 2012). Just like the other generations, there are qualities that one may

find as positive or negative in the context of the Millenials. According to Lars Osberg (2003),

Millennials were raised in a relatively middle- class environment since they have Baby

Boomers as their parents which is more well off than older generations. According to Eddy Ng

and Jasmine Johnson (2015) this societal profile has led many commentators to characterize the

Millennials as spoiled and entitled. Despite these labelling, this social identity of the

Millennials could also infer other characteristics. Expected to maintain this societal profile,

Millenials are known to be achievement focused (Smith & Nichols, 2015). This leads them to

seek out opportunities for growth and learning.

II. Millenials and Public Service

Millennials are often being labelled in the workforce as one that is easily swayed by greener

pastures. This has led to the thinking that Millennials aren’t efficient to have in the “public”

workforce as they often seek opportunities where they could benefit more. This had concluded

that Millennials lack passion when it comes to public service. A study by Peter Viechnicki

(2016) debunks this myth as the data he presented argues otherwise. In his data, there is no

deviation on the trend Millennials and all other generations display on their respective employee

engagement scores

0.95

0.9

0.85

0.8
2002 2006 2010 2014
90% CL Lower bound Young Government Workers 90% CL Upper bound

Figure 1. Employee Engagement Scores for Millennial Government Employees

(Source: Peter Viechinki at https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/pa/Documents/human-capital/201603_Pa_Millennials-in-
govt.pdf)

This study had completely shattered the misconception on the Millennials being not

passionate on their careers as bureaucrats. This gives us a different take on Millennials as they

seek opportunities “unconventionally”, as what these myths must say, especially if they aspire to

be with the government.

III. Millenials, Public Service, and Accountability

Millennials are indeed achievement focused as what various literatures say but one of the mosst

important aspect of this achievement is to be accountable for their actions (Smith & Nichols,

2015). Kowske et al. as cited by Smith & Nichols (2015) argued that education systems has the

capacity to instill a sense of accountability to the Millennial generation for them to focus on not

just achieving goals and consequently be responsible. We can see how the youth is much more

involved in key issues involving aaccountability. In the recent elections, one can see a pattern on

voting preferences of different universities based on surveys conducted by various groups. The

Millennials are more keen and strict when it comes to their standards for future public servants.

Various advocacies on accountability was also been raised to unconventional platforms by the

Millennials such as using “memes” to dennounce candidates with graft and corruption cases. In

this regard, the Millennials should not be taken lightly in the notion of Public Accountability as

they are termed as “woke” in preserving this term.

IV. Synthesis

With all the discussions I had presented, it is undeniable that Millenials has a greater role on the

realm of Public Service and Public Accountability. They are the ones who are “next in line” as

we see fresh faces in this recent elections. It is important to take note that misconceptions should

be traced on misinformation and one should be keen to dispell these things.

Vico Sotto of Pasig City, Arth Bryan Celeste of Alaminos City, Pangasinan, and other young

hopefuls have already made their debuts for politics. I hope many will be added to the list of

Millenials stepping up their games and ready to serve the public. To the Millennials, stay vigilant

and idealistic for you are the hope of the nation in its battle for Public Accountability.
 References:

Kaifi, B. A., Nafei, W. A., Khanfar, N. M., & Kaifi, M. M. (2012). A multi-generational workforce:

managing and understanding millennials. International Journal of Business & Management,

7(24), 88-93.

Ng, E. & Johnson, J. (2015). Millennials: Who are they, how are they different, and why should we

care?. The Multi-generational and Aging Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities. 121-137.

10.4337/9781783476589.

Osberg, L. (2003). Long run trends in income inequality in the United States, UK, Sweden,

Germany and Canada: A birth cohort view. Eastern Economic Journal, 29(1), 121–141.

Pyöriä, P., Ojala, S., Saari, T., & Järvinen, K. (2017). The Millennial Generation. SAGE Open,7(1),

215824401769715. doi:10.1177/2158244017697158

Smith, T., & Nichols, T. (2015). Understanding the Millennial Generation. Journal of Business

Diversity,15(1), 2015th ser. Retrieved May 18, 2019, from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324922926_Understanding_the_Millennial_Generation

Viechnicki, P. (2016). Understanding Millennials: In government Debunking myths about our

youngest public servants(Publication). US: Delloitte University Press. Retrieved May 18, 2019,

from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/pa/Documents/human-

capital/201603_Pa_Millennials-in-govt.pdf.