Being an Employee: A Proud Statement of the 20th Century Transformed into a Stigma in the 21st Century

Abstract

Mexican companies fight aggressively nowadays to attract and retain talent, constantly innovating methodologies to motivate candidates and employees. However, the ability to retain talent has been increasing in complexity with the new trends in the 21st century. Many assume that the problem comes from the generational differences between baby boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Z’s in the workplace. The blame is typically assigned to younger generations for not exhibiting the commitment as employees and being challenging to manage. The original goal of this study was to detect common generational attitudes and characteristics and find the motivation variables that could improve talent attraction and retention. The study found variables that directly motivate an employee to change from one company to another but found no correlation to the employee’s age. The results point out that the attraction and retention problem is not a generational one but a context problem that similarly affects all generations. The study also found an underlying expectation of becoming entrepreneurs instead of employees in most Mexican professionals. This expectation affects companies directly when they have employees already wanting to become entrepreneurs. It also indirectly affects those companies that cannot fill positions because the available talent does not like to become employees. The problem also intensified with the new work models developed starting 2020, making “being an employee” lose its attractiveness and profitability.