The Millennials Are Coming! The Millennials Are Coming!
Well, technically, they are already here.
According to the Pew Research Center, more than a third of the workforce is already made up of millennials. And by 2025, Millennials will make up 40% of the workforce.
Aren’t you glad you were sitting for that?
Going further, according to the Digital Marketing Resource Center – 75% of the workforce will be Digital natives (Millennials and Post-Millennials) by 2025. In other words, people who grew up during the age of computers and the internet will dominate the workforce by 2025.
By now, there shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Digital Natives are joining the workforce (or are going to be a massive part of it very soon). The surprise is that most companies aren’t ready for them.
There are two primary concerns about these new kinds of workers (and why companies are ill-prepared):
- Millennials are a different type of worker (Who they are is different)
- Digital Natives work a different way (How they work is different)
Millennials are a different type of worker
I am going to make some broad generalizations here. As of 2017, 56 million Millennials (anyone born between the years 1981 to 1996) were working or looking for work. There has been a long-standing belief that Millennials are far more rewards-driven than their previous generations – that’s not exactly news as EVERY generation thinks the next generation is arrogant, self-centered, and lazy.
But here are critical key characteristics of Millennials pulled from the Millennial Compass Report:
- Millennials are ambitious.
- Millennials say they have a strong work ethic but redefine the term to include a decent work-life balance.
- Loyalty to the organization is not a particularly strong value.
- Millennials see their boss as a friend.
- Millennials look to their leaders to be transparent, direct, and inclusive.
Going even further, here’s Simon Sinek to help explain in more detail about the Millennial. If you’ve never seen this, it is worth your time.
Digital Natives work in a different way
83% of millennials admit to sleeping with their smartphones. This should tell you that how technology is perceived is entirely different than previous generations. When asked to rank a defining characteristic for their generation, Millennials ranked “Technology Use” first.
Given their fluency with technology, how they work, shop, interact and communicate is entirely different from previous generations. And companies are feeling the pressure to keep up with this shift. Digital Natives use technology to interact, but companies are struggling to find adequate technological solutions to meet the needs of this new way of working. Only 8% of Companies, according to a recent McKinsey survey, feel that they are ready for this Digital Disruption.
What are Companies Doing About it?
It should be clear by now that Companies are trying to embrace these new kinds of workers. HR departments are rebranding themselves (from HR to People Operations or Department of People and Culture) to create an atmosphere that challenges, inspires, and connects with these new employees. At the same time, all other departments are pushing for DX (Digital Transformation) initiatives to prepare for an employee base that doesn’t know fax machines, job jackets, or less than optimal User Experience.
With the new technologically-savvy employees growing, it presents an opportunity and the actual reason for these DX initiatives. For Companies to stay focused on their goals: (1) To increase revenues/profits or decrease costs and (2) To become more effective or more efficient – they need to leverage technology and the Digital Natives’ strengths to reduce time to market, understand a growing consumer base, and reduce steps and overall headcount.
Also, if you are trying to look like a Digital Native by dying your hair, but you poke at your keyboard like a chicken attacks its feed – you may want to take a typing class as a Digital Native, you are not.
References and Resources
Nielsen Data can be found here.
Supporting Music
Originally Posted May 21, 2018