Millennials In The Workplace

The millennial generation is one that people cannot seem to stop talking about. It is the fascination because it is the generation that is starting to take over, in a sense. We are entering the work force and becoming quite successful. Socially, the millennial generation is getting a lot of flack. We are considered to be entitled and lazy. We are seen as selfish and childish. But what actually makes up the millennial generation?

Millennials are constantly searching for meaning; we are not OK with merely existing. Our lives need to mean something. We take this idea into the work place. We do not just want a job; we want one that will make a difference. Many millennials are very passionate about one or two causes and if we can find a way to use those passions and get paid for it, that is the ultimate goal.

Sharing an opinion is never hard for a millennial. Why would it be? Ever since we can remember, we have had a platform to share our every thought. With social media, we have learned that if we have something to say, people will listen.

This is something that can easily be taken and turned negative, however if you can get your millennial employee to get behind your company, they will talk about it. They’ll share that link on Facebook or post that promotional video on Twitter. Your ideas will be heard and your millennial will help you get that platform.

Social media is not the only technology that millennials understand. When we were 10-12 years old, we got our first cell phone. By the end of middle school, we fully understood how to work our parent’s computer. By high school, we were being taught courses purely online. When college came around, we were taking classes on technological advances and the digital world. This technology driven society is what we were brought up in. Having an employee that knows how to best utilize technology will take your company to the next level.

Because of this cycle of things always getting bigger and better and the idea that we can say something on the Internet and have replies in seconds, millennials are used to instant gratification and feedback. It is important to us that people think that we are doing a good job. A company who wants to keep their millennial employees happy, which we all know how your employees feel about your company makes a huge difference on their performance, will implement a feedback program. Telling us what we are doing right and how we could do things better will go a long way.

We are most likely right out of college; we just spent the past four or five years learning all types of new information. Just because we are out of school now does not mean that we want the learning to stop. We are constantly trying to better ourselves and that usually comes when we learn something new. We want to be involved in our company and taking in all the information we can to better do our job. It is important that we feel challenged or we will easily become bored. If our company is not actively trying to engage us, we will go to a company that will. One thing that we would really value is the outpour of knowledge and experience from our superiors.

We are relational people. Some would argue that the use of social media has made us non-relational, but I believe that it has just taught us how to be a different kind of relational. Regardless, we are relational. It would benefit us to work with our peers on tasks. We like the idea of a team being united and heading towards the same goal. A workplace that gives us a chance to be a part of a team that is learning from our supervisor is a place that we will thrive.

Every generation has their quirks and characteristics that define them. These are generalizations with exceptions but for the most part, these stereotypes are true. The reason that each generation acts how they do is due to the generation before them and the society that they live in now.

With the millennial generation, there are ways to take our traits as only negative and hard to work with. Companies that take who we are and look for opportunities to grow us and cultivate our skills will be the ones that the millennials gravitate to and both the company and the millennial will benefit from this.