hope that you’re ahead of the Millennial wave, or at least riding it, because Millennials already make up the highest percentage of the American workforce. There is a reason that so many articles have been written about this giant generation in the past decade, and one of the biggest reasons is its sheer size.
If you’ve somehow been able to avoid Millennials to date, you won’t be able to for long. Millennials are making major waves in today’s workforce:
❯❯ Millennials will comprise 50 percent of the American workforce by 2020 (Forbes, 2012).
❯❯ Millennials will comprise 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025 (U.S. Census Bureau).
❯❯ Millennials outpace other generations working, comprising 35 percent of the workforce in 2015, according to Pew Research Center, with Gen Xers 1 percent behind (Pew Research, 2015).
❯❯ The majority of Millennials plan to stay in their next job for more than four years (BridgeWorks, 2017).
The aforementioned statistics don’t need a lot of explanation, because the management challenges they cause are likely the reason that you picked up this book. The youngest generation’s attitudes and behaviors at work often baffle and confuse leaders and managers into stereotyping them. In numerous chapters, we pick apart where those stereotypes come from and, in turn, why they are far from the truth.
As a sense of calm comes over you because you’re feeling a genuine connection managing Millennials, prepare yourself for another generation arriving on the workplace landscape. The oldest Generation Edger is almost done with college, so you’re likely working with them already if not preparing to recruit the best of their brightest. You can read much more about Generation Edge in Chapter 16.
If you think Gen Edge will act and look just like mini-Millennials, these stats will tell you otherwise:
❯❯ Ninety percent of Gen Edgers want to see more female leaders in the workplace (BridgeWorks, 2017).
❯❯ Top concerns for Generation Edgers going into their careers are 1) financial instability, and 2) not enjoying their job (BridgeWorks, 2017).
❯❯ Gen Z (another name for Gen Edge) is the most ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history, composed of 47 percent ethnic minorities (Forbes, 2016).
❯❯ Their attention span is estimated at just 8 seconds, compared to 12 seconds for Millennials (Forbes, 2016).
If you are an Xer struggling to manage the Millennial generation, have hope. You’ll likely have an easier time managing Generation Edge because they’re going to be similar to your kids. Also keep in mind that Millennials will be managing a lot of this generation, and they’re going to be in for a bit of a rude awakening when they realize that they’re so unlike the younger generation. Managing across generations will continue to be a challenge for Millennials. So, you, as their manager, are going to be tasked with getting everyone properly trained to manage across the generations, even if the manager is a newbie.
Getting Grounded in Millennials 101
Welcome to your first lesson on Millennials, the generation that likely resulted in you picking up this book to help you navigate any pent-up generational frustrations. We know that Millennials can be a challenging, complex, even sensitive subject, and we aim to be the professors who drive you to think differently. This is Millennials 101, after all, and our mission is to give you “Understanding Millennials” CliffsNotes so you can better understand the later courses (or sections of the book). For this course, we start with the basics.
Our objectives are as follows:
❯❯ To give you a cursory understanding of Millennials
❯❯ To aid in your ability to bust stereotypes about the youngest generation at work
❯❯ To highlight the need-to-know information about Millennials
To prepare for this course, start viewing the world through the eyes of Millennials. When you do, imagine the following:
❯❯ You have never known a world without the Internet. Whether at school computers or work computers, you learned how to master the search line and chat box from a young age. Since then, tech upgrades have been the norm. Your world is in a constant upgrade cycle.
❯❯ You received participation awards and trophies from a young age and now everyone makes fun of you about that. But you didn’t give them to yourself. And why should you feel ashamed for the celebratory fifth-place ribbon you got in pre-ballet at age 4?
❯❯ Your teen years were marked with homeland violence, whether watching 9/11 in eighth-grade homeroom or empathizing with every national and international shooting, riot, or terrorist attack since then.
❯❯ You want to work hard, but everyone claims you’re lazy. No matter what you do or say, most leaders and older adults have a Millennial lens on when they speak and work with you that is less rose-colored and more of a brown hue.
Can you see it? Are you truly imagining growing up in a world like the one we just described, while at the same time facing the harsh stereotypes of the other generations? If you have your Millennial lens firmly fastened, read on.
The Millennial generation, just like Boomers and Xers, has a long list of traits associated with them. In the nature of KISS (keep it simple, stupid), these are the traits most commonly associated with the generation born between 1980 and 1995. Note: We don’t think you’re stupid.
Millennials grew up with “There is no ‘I’ in ‘team’” posters in every classroom and teachers encouraging a group mentality to do great work. Social networking fostered informal group gatherings.
❯❯ How it manifests: Open workspaces, whiteboard walls, brainstorming sessions, working together in one room even if they’re working on different things, regular check-ins, and valuing team goals and team decisions over those of individuals.
❯❯ How others view it negatively: Other generations can view Millennials as needy, uncomfortable working independently (or unable to do so), constantly distracted, or unfocused.
Millennials can’t remember a time without technological influence. Even if their computer or video game hours were limited, they still had time dictated by how many hours they could spend with a screen. They were the first generation to use the Internet when it went social and the first to get cellphones, and later smartphones, in their youth.
❯❯ How it manifests: Striving to use the latest digital devices; seeking tech solutions to streamline work; finding more comfort in text or instant message communication than the phone; and demanding upgrades in their work lives and personal lives, whether in the form of promotion, workspace, or process and procedure.
❯❯ How others view it negatively: Other generations can view Millennials as distracted, Facebook-obsessed, or unable to have a face-to-face conversation. They can also be intimidated by Millennials’
