The following post is republished from AccountingWEB, a source of accounting news, information, tips, tools, resources and insight–everything you need to help you prosper and enjoy the accounting profession.
Recently I was asked by a reporter to comment on some research studies concluding that Gen Y/Millennials (people approximately 31 and younger now) are much less empathetic to others than the generations coming before them. The studies were done with college students since 1979, and the big change showed up after 2000.
My personal experience with the college students I know and/or mentor is not the same as gs, but my pool is much smaller, so I have no scientific basis upon which to refute the findings. As a workplace inter-generational relations expert, I mostly deal with Gen Yers already out of school. I think many of them get an undeserved negative reputation. I have found them to be eager to learn, open, hardworking, ambitious, and fun, in general.
My speculation concerning the lack of empathy shown would be a sort of numbness from the trauma of 9/11 at an impressionable age and being served a constant menu of violence in media of all sorts. I would say these factors influence the younger Gen Xers, say, under age 35, as well. Also, the pressure in school and to get into schools, and to deal with constant messaging from many sources has left many of them with little time to reflect outside of themselves. Yet, Gen Yers are big into community service and concern for social problems, which indicates empathy.
The study findings lead me to ask these questions:
• What does this lack of empathy finding mean for their relations with colleagues in the workplace?
• Will they be willing to pitch in and compensate for colleagues who need flexible time off (for a fair exchange)?
• Will they continue to collaborate if they don’t get as much recognition as they want and somebody else does get the recognition?
•Will they have the necessary empathy for clients and customers to provide the outstanding service that is demanded in these competitive times to succeed in business?
These are crucial business questions, and we need to instill the importance of empathy. Empathy is a very important quality to have for life and business. And here is a link to a very interesting article on the subject.
BONUS: Bite on empathy and relationships
Charles M. Blow, New York Times op-ed columnist, wrote about whether we know our neighbors or even care in Friends, Neighbors, and Facebook (June 12, 2010). A Pew Research Center report issued in early June found that only 42 percent of U.S. adults know all or most of their neighbors* by name.
Segmented, the greatest percentage of respondents who know all or most of their neighbors are: females, non-Hispanic whites, age 50 or older, college graduates, and annual household income over $75,000. However, most of the demographic differences are not huge.
Blow admits to only knowing one person on his block (a Times colleague). At the same time, he has a very large number of friends and followers on social networking sites, which he actively participates on.
Two thoughts Blow offers speculating on why so few know their neighbors: 1) “Social networks are rewiring our relationships and affecting the attachments to our actual ones;” and 2) “Users of social networking services are 26 percent less likely to use their neighbors as a source of companionship,” according to a Pew report released in November 2009.
Your thoughts? I want to hear them – please share.
*I live in a New York co-op apartment building, and know by name all the neighbors on our floor and many others in the building. My husband, not a dog owner, knows the name of every dog in the building, but only a few of the pet owners’ names. Interpret that as you choose!
We are a small business and had a ton of companies approach us to apply for this credit. We researched it and determined it did not apply to us. We did not take a dime. The IRS should run the numbers on anyone that did.
start with the Law Firms that got $350K+ , then the Drs- they did the same as Liars/Lawyers
What’s ERC?
Employee Retention Credit – it is the “$26,000 per employee” ads that have been everywhere for the last 3 years. It was originally part of the CARES Act along with the PPP but originally you couldn’t do both. It was changed at the end of 2020 to allow that – unscrupulous promoters jumped on it and the IRS paid out indiscriminately without enough upfront screening. IRS is now starting to audit after the fact and bring the hammer down.
Yeah, basic law of journalism, don’t assume.
ERC is Employee Retention Credit, the refundable tax credit for certain eligible businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees and were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a publication for accounting professionals, they know what ERC is as we’ve been covering the fallout extensively. We didn’t expect this article would get so much attention from civvies.
“Employee Retention Credit” is right there in the first sentence.
As a “civvie” business owner I have been scouring the web for an explanation why we have not received our ERC money which we qualified for to my detriment, kept every paid when there was no work and I assumed loans to keep my talent.
We applied last March, in house with known accountants that we have been working with for years, I paid a fair percentage and them knowing me I would not tolerate anything that would compromise my name and integrity.
We are now a year in and the loans have not been paid back, as soon as if and when that ERC check hits it is gone and I have to pay tax on it next year. I appreciate your article at least I have insight but I am angry that as a rule follower and always putting my customers and employees first that I am now in limbo because of others greed.
We prepared several dozen of these and have had 2 audits which we passed with flying colors. If the IRS wants to look at any others we prepared, my PTIN, name and number are at the bottom of each of them, they know where to find me.
We also turned away many people who did not qualify and more who qualified for only a small number. I’m sure those folks went out and and got one of the ERC mills.
If a complete and honest accounting is ever done of this credit I believe is will prove to be the largest fraud in history. Billions were paid out with no verification or oversight. Dishonest “$26,000 per employee” service providers based their marketing pitch on “your CPA doesn’t know what he’s talking about” and charged a preposterous 25% contingent fee (which flies in the face of Circular 230). They are closing up shop and heading for the hills with millions in ill-gotten taxpayer money.
I have a modicum of sympathy for the business owners who were duped into this, but exactly none for the ERC mills and their owners / employees. We should all be rooting for the IRS to nail these people – they belong in jail.
I had a small business, with an annual payroll of about 120,000. I did get some ERC money, nothing near the 26K per employee because you had to not count wages paid with Payroll Protection Program money, and any other programs. It was extremely complicated, per person wage caps etc, even when my CPA tried to explain it to me with a color coded spread sheet, still was lost (and I was Mensa in college). But I got SO many mailings of misleading information promising large sums. These companies sprang up, charge an exhorbitant percentage (which makes no sense, my cpa charges set rates) and they will be long gone when you get audited and fined and have to pay it all back. Good luck explaining their math. My cpa turned down many of his clients that did not qualify, and now is having to file amended returns for them, when they had the ERC credit done by one of these gypsy companies, since you must report the money back in the year you had the wages for the ERTC (is what I knew it as). I never want trouble with the IRS, too stressful.