As recently as the headlines in legal media last Friday, the bonus wars dominated. That's a long time in this era of a rapid news cycle for any story (beyond Trumpworld) to remain marketable to editors.
So, obviously, there is a story embedded in that story.
The subtext, I have a hunch, is the pickle associates - and most millennials - are in. It's a painful state.
That includes, reports Business Insider, financial stress, burnout from too long hours, loneliness as human connection becomes elusive, and, yes, decline in health, both physical and mental. Overall, that demographic (ages 24 to 39) is aging faster than earlier generations had and are.
Also, suicide, direct and passive, is increasingly common. That drug overdose many would label a form of "passive suicide." The rooms of recovery are experiencing more and more of those.
Ironically, the millennial plight had been captured in the book "Disrupted" by over-50 Dan Lyons.
Knocked out of the box from his media job (he suspects because of age) he grabbed a position in a startup.
There he observed the syndrome of "Burn and Turn." Enthusiastic millennials were hired in and worked to near death. Then, when they limped away on their own or were pushed out, they replaced by another batch to "Burn and Turn." There was no shortage of new recruits. Startups are the ultimate cool.
That pattern does mirror the Up or Out system of many law firms. Also, there is no shortage of new recruits. Who doesn't want the prestige of being an associate in a brandname law firm!
Skilled capitalists (that's how they got to the top), the law-firm brass is usually not transparent about who will make it all the way to partner. Therefore, hopeful associates give their all.
Actually, in itself, that's not the end of the world - or necessarily of their physical health and health.
If only they entered that space with the right mindset ...
Associates could come out ahead of what seems like a brutal game by positioning and packaging it as damn-good experience they can leverage. Meanwhile. they are probably enjoying very good compensation. If they can last long enough they can pay off student loans.
But, come on. The prevailing mindset, thanks maybe to Mr. Rogers, is usually that they will become partners.
However, there's much more contributing to the mess that associates and other millennials are in than simply career fantasies.
Among the drivers are debt along with inflation in fixed expenses such as housing and groceries, escalating employment insecurity in most sectors, great expectations (followed by dashed hopes) about relationships, and stress-induced negative impacts on all the healthcare numbers which signal premature aging. About the latter - as any Baby Boomer like myself will tell you: Worrying about your health can throw shade on your entire existence.
Since associates lug around some or most of that, it's no surprise that those who didn't receive the off-season COVID Appreciation bonus would become the loudest voice in the legal sector about suffering. The tone was and is downright Dickensian.
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The more general one, though, is what just about every gen does as part of "growing up." That's realistically sizing up what is and then struggling to make the best of it. The rub is this: Giving up assumptions or hand-me-downs from parents or high school guidance counselors about how the world is supposed to work.
Those who manage that brutal rite of passage can not only make it professionally. There can be inner peace. Bill Gates shook off the mythology of the higher education system.
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