Millenial Generation: The New Workforce Enters
As the economy continues to be challenging, many companies are laying off long-time employees to make ends meet. The next big trend as the tide changes will be to bring on a new group of less-expensive workers, the Millenials. They will enter the workforce in huge numbers and will be in demand. The challenge will be to understand this generation of 81 million Americans that were born between 1981 and 1999. It is important to be aware of the life experiences that they were hit with during the formative years because this is what they will bring to our new work environment. Let’s take a look at the events that impacted them.
1. Technology has been a big part of their lives. They have experienced TV, the PC, Pagers and each of them certainly has a cell phone. They are very comfortable with technology and the new advancements and they adapt well. Due to this factor, they tend to be more menu driven in their decision making and process orientation actions. They also are very adept at multi-tasking as they’ve learned to handle many differing technologies at once. They assume that the computer will fix their mistakes and don’t pay as much attention to spelling, etc. in the work environment.
2. They also grew up in a time where there was prosperity and a good amount of spending. They purchased their clothing from high end retail locations. They were given a lot as a good majority of them came from two income families. Many times they were over-parented, over entertained, and over-stimulated.
3. Another influencing factor is that they experienced violence in supposedly safe places. The Columbine incident was an example of this driving a level of uncertainty and commitment in lives.
This provides you with a top-line look at this generation. As this generation matures and is positioned to be our next workforce, how do we address their needs and gain the maximum level of productivity in our work environments. While we’d like for them to conform to the old way of doing business, is that really the right thing to do? Will that bring us future success? Will we get the best people working at our companies if we do that? Or, is it time for businesses to change to meet the needs of the new employee? Could that bring us a new level of effectiveness in the marketplace?
The answer is probably somewhere inbetween although there is a need to meet the requirements of this changing workforce as it will be an influencing factor in our long term success. Some of the ways we can plan to meet their needs are noted below.
1. Allow this new generation a level of flexibility. Let them use technology to it’s fullest and allow them the flexibility to work from home or wherever they will provide the highest level of effectiveness as long as there are results that they are achieving.
2. Remember, they had it all and they want it all. They will not slight their families for work. They “work to live” unlike the previous generations that “lived to work.” They are not willing to sacrifice enjoying life for a job. Companies will want to also provide them with clear expectations as to what is required in their roles and training will be more important than ever before.
3. Through technology, they have learned about the strifes of others around the world. They want to be involved in making change to better the entire world as they understand the total connection we all have. Companies that sponsor, fund and involve their employees in making this a better world will be appealing to this generation.
4. This generation sees work as a contract rather than a life long commitment. Three year contracts would be optimum for this generation and is probably the wave of the future for companies overall. It is important that they view their superiors as partners instead of the traditional employee - manager relationship.
5. The Millenials will have little patience for meaningless tasks and will challenge them. They know how to streamline processes using technology and remember, they are wonderful multi-taskers. Utilize this quality to enhance your business processes and to ultimately reduce beauracracy.
If we really understand the needs of our employees both from a generational, gender and style perspective, we can truly maximize our organization’s potential for long term success.
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