Much is written about millennials in the workplace, some of it pretty negative! People talk of a feckless, entitled generation who are not willing to learn from the experience and knowledge of their elder counterparts. However, back in the real world, away from attention grabbing headlines criticizing the younger generation, there is much that generation x and baby boomers can learn from ‘gen y’ the generation who grew up around the turn of the millennium.
For starters, millennials are generally digital natives – although they may just about remember dial up internet, the majority of their life has been spent with access to reliable, fast internet connection with their communication taking place via social media and instant messaging apps.
Savvy leaders in business are harnessing this understanding of communication in the modern world to use millennials, who after all make up around a quarter of the US population, to better understand the best routes to market for their products or services for their millennial customers. While older counterparts may struggle to keep up with the most modern methods of technology communication, millennials are right there to say ‘no people aren’t going to download an app to contact us – they want instant chat’ (a costly mistake that many organizations have made!)
Their ability to adapt between new devices and tech, and traditional methods, make millennials a gift to organizations.
It is true the millennial’s attitude to the corporate world is very different from the generations before them. Generally speaking, millennials are more interested in having a rewarding role than obtaining a large pay check, and are more likely to switch roles more often than older counterparts. For a generation who have grown up the shadow of the global financial crisis, it’s unsurprising that they place less trust in not just the brands they buy from, but the brands they work for, and the issue of trust is key. In effect, this is pushing leaders towards a vision that should be at the top of their agenda – being clear and transparent with employees, colleagues and customers.
Millennials also have rather a different perspective on work/life balance. Whereas older workers have often lived by the maxim of ‘work hard – get rewarded’ for younger workers, the reward is the balance of their working life with other pursuits such as travel, keeping fit and leisure pursuits. With rising stress related health issues plaguing the US workforce, it would be wise for organizations, and individuals to take heed of the need for a work/life balance, and introduce initiatives and procedures that do introduce a better balance for their workforce.
The image of older generations bemoaning ‘youth these days’ is really nothing new, after all Elvis Presley was denigrated by the older generation as ‘corrupting American values’. However, in our increasingly diverse workplaces, where there are now more generations working together than ever before, isn’t it time that we started to truly listen to our young co-workers – who may teach us a thing or two.
Angela Barbato is an award-winning Change and Transformation Product Leader. Having held a range of senior leadership roles, Angela is a foremost expert on the topics of leadership, transformation and customer experience. You can find out more about Angela at http://www.abarbato.com.