Back in April, I read a story in the Washington Post by Ian Shapira on the work ethic of Millennials – Millennials accused of lax work ethic say it’s not all about 9-to-5. I read some subsequent debate on the article a few weeks later and thought I’d reflect on it here. Shapira’s initial report on some recent generational survey data was pretty compelling to start.

As Shapira explains:

The millennial generation – about 50 million people between ages 18 and 29 – is the only age group in the nation that doesn’t cite work ethic as one of its “principal claims to distinctiveness,” according to a new Pew Research Center study, “Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.” The Washington-based nonprofit group found that young adults and their elders agree: Baby boomers and Generation Xers have better work ethics and moral values than those in their 20s.

In a survey of about 1,200 people of all ages, millennials chose other traits to define themselves: 24 percent said “technology use,” 11 percent went with “music/pop culture,” 7 percent chose “liberal/tolerant” and 6 percent said “smarter.” Only 5 percent noted their generation’s “work ethic” – the same portion as who chose “clothes.”

Among older generations, at least twice as many people cited work ethic as a badge of their age group’s identity: 17 percent of boomers, 11 percent of Gen Xers and 10 percent of those 65 and older. The older three generations also take pride in their strong values or morals and in being “respectful,” terms that hardly any millennials in the survey used.

I got stuck on this idea of work ethic. As member of Gen X, I pride myself on my work ethic, but what do you do when that’s not how people identify themselves? It’s an interesting question, because really, maybe the idea of work ethic is a bit outmoded in a culture built on weisure. Can you work hard all the time if you are always on? We are dealing with a new work model, and this presents a number of interesting challenges for HR that go far beyond generational differences.

One thing that struck me as I read Shapira’s article is that maybe Gen Y is smarter about their approach to work. The article calls it lazy, but I see way more work-life balance happening when you aren’t work obsessed like generations before. It may be a healthier approach in the long run and help companies move to a model where when your workhorse employee wants to slow down a bit once they have a family, it doesn’t become a deal breaker.

Deborah Frett, CEO, Business and Professional Women’s Foundation posted on this article on Huffington Post in response to the Washington Post piece, and shared some interesting insights into the methodology of Pew’s study. More importantly, Frett pointed out that in this debate about work ethic, we are missing the more important questions:

The current literature on Gen Y, seems preoccupied with the extent to which Gen Y is or isn’t lazy. But this distracts from larger research questions. We need a new framework for understanding Gen Y. We don’t have to stop discussing generational differences, but we do need to probe deeper to understand the factors that create those differences.

• How does Gen Y understand work?
• What is their definition of work ethic?
• How does their understanding of work affect how and when Gen Y produce results?
• How can employers collaborate with Gen Y to redefine the workplace?

For HR, Frett makes a valid and compelling point about how we need to get a better understanding of how to work together and most importantly, how to redefine the workplace. It’s less about who may or may not be lazy, and more about creating a new approach to work. Maybe Gen X has forgotten that we self-identified as slackers not so long ago, and maybe we can learn a thing or two from our younger co-workers about having a little fun.