Well you can attribute a lot of this to parents, teachers, camp councilors, etc. of "Millenneals" for making this the first generation completely void of competition. For the most part they haven't had to worry about being the best because they have all been given trophies and led to believe that everyone is equal just for being there, not for their accomplishments. They have been told that they can be anything they want but have never had to have summer jobs due to the "Middle Class" becoming so much more well-off. Many have never had to worry about failing grades because the teachers don't want to hurt the child's self esteem. We have pampered and coddled these kids into the lack of discipline and motivation we see today. We have parents calling college professors to complain about the C their child received when they felt they deserved an A because that is what they are paying for. They are being told they are doing great for sub-par or mediocre efforts. Award without merit seems to be the story of this generation.

You can also blame the companies of the 80s, 90s, and early 2k for basically killing any company loyalty they have any right to expect. You have new CEOs coming in and running companies like Chrystler and Sprint and laying off 3k + people every year or two. These kids grew up seeing their parents replaced at companies they had spent 14-20 years at by kids fresh out of college who are willing to work for 1/2 the salary and have college degrees but no experience. It's cheaper to train new employees every 5 years than it is to pay the cost of living annual raises on experienced workers. It is no longer a bad thing to have 4 jobs on your resume in the last 5 years so long as you have a degree and no felonies and/or problem credit. With giving companies the right to use background checks, drug screening, and credit checks in order to determine employment eligibility you have in effect taken the person touch out of the hiring process. With the age of online applications, faxed/emailed resumes, cell phones/texting devices/internet access in the hand of every person on the planet you no longer even get to speak with someone before you are turned down for a job. You now have to apply for an average for 12 positions a week for 3-10 weeks in order to get 5-10 interviews scheduled. You have companies who don't even hire for themselves but use solely staffing/temp agencies to screen their employees. You have 90 day probation periods that have no flexibility but very high expectations in order to keep a position. And then you have everything Kags said which I completely agree with. Companies want perfection while laying off experience for cheaper potential.

Some companies however are "getting it" and realize that in order to keep employees from the millennium generation, who are the future of the economy, they must also begin to coddle and listen rather than demand and expect. Management must hold them responsible without wounding their fragile self esteem and the thin shell of imaginary self-worth that has been instilled in even the most underachieving laggard. You must care for the safety of their ego as much the safety of their work environment. It is called "Ergonomics and Egonomics" in the workplace. This is the future o management, part therapist, part parent, part mentor, and a small part disciplinarian...just don't push too much or they'll break. How do you motivate someone who has had their every whim catered to? How do you enforce the reasonable expectations that they have never before been held accountable for? How do you mold and guide someone who knows that if there is anything they don't like they can fall back on Mommy and Daddy for a place to live and go to any number of other companies who will gladly take them?