Many people have a lot to say about Millennials, especially as this generation begins to distinguish itself as the largest segment of the workforce.
If you’re like me, you likely once harbored the mistaken belief that Millennials, despite their size, could expect to be conformed by the workplace like everyone else. In other words, they’d learn to suck up the bureaucracy, the hierarchy, the authoritarianism, and so forth, just like the rest of us.
Well, maybe not.
Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace has this to say on the topic (bold mine):
“Most workers, many of whom are millennials, approach a role and a company with a highly defined set of expectations. They want their work to have meaning and purpose. They want to use their talents and strengths to do what they do best every day. They want to learn and develop. They want their job to fit their life.”
So here’s my question – is your company Millennial ready?
The Great Recession of 2008 put a hurting on many workers, including millions of Millennials entering the workforce at just the wrong time. Armed with their liberal arts degrees and their idealism, they found themselves smack dab in a highly competitive market where professional, good-paying jobs with benefits were few and far between. They became salespeople. They became nannies, baristas, and bartenders. They moved back home with their parents.
Eventually, the market got better, and Millennials did better. But the damage had been done. Traditional employers expecting to keep these workers inline using the old “command and control” style of management would find themselves, for the most part, disappointed. Millennials had learned their lessons. Employers aren’t loyal to them, and they won’t be loyal to employers. These young employees like paying their bills, and they definitely want to impact their communities, but if the working relationship doesn’t work for them, they’ll stop working for it.
Now here’s the twist. Although Millennials are working to live and not living to work, work is still vital. In fact, it’s so important that they’re prepared to keep switching jobs until they find one that fits.
Most of us want our work to be intellectually stimulating. Being bored at work, as a matter of course, is … well, boring.
In fact, millennials are no different and may be even more prone than the rest of us to eschew boredom. After all, they came of age during a time when constant stimulation – via the Internet, hand-held electronic devices, and television – was the norm. (Actually, it still is the norm.)
And guess what? Gallup reports that Millennials are the most bored generation at work. This is particularly bad news for many employers, because (as previously mentioned) Millennials want their work to have meaning. If they’re bored, most likely, they aren’t long for your workplace and/or are merely “going through the motions” until “something better” comes along.
But there’s hope.
In that same report referenced immediately above, Gallup offers the following advice for getting your company “Millennial ready.” They call these the “Big Six:”
To be sure, this is a tall order and maybe impossible for some organizations for a variety of reasons. However, organizations willing to take on the challenge of meeting Millennials where they are will be rewarded with a team of decidedly un-bored and highly productive staff.