Millennials in the workplace

CEBU, Philippines — Millennials have unfortunately been viewed by the older generation with some sense of disdain. They’ve been given various condescending names, among others, “Generation ‘We’,” because they tend to be so self-centered; “The Boomerang Generation,” because they seem to contradict the sensibilities and customs cherished by their elders. But they’re quite a formidable number – all those born between 1980 and 2000.

There is ongoing debate whether millennials are a blessing or a curse. Some older people think that millennials are lazy, entitled, self-obsessed narcissists – a pain. Others defend the young ones by pointing out their good qualities, like being open-minded, liberal, self-expressive, upbeat, and overtly passionate about equality. There is no doubt that both arguments, whether in favor of or against millennials, each hold some truth.

Perhaps a good arena to test millennials is the workplace. For one, they mostly prefer an informal dress code, no matter what industries they work in. This could be a problem in image-sensitive companies.

Millennials also like to work out-of-office. The office environment tends to restrict their sense of freedom. But the office is the place for co-workers to actually interact and wherecommunication cantake a simple hand movement or facial expression to a co-worker across the room.

While it’s true that many of the terms that millennials push for go against standard office practices – these are either not reasonable, impractical or too loose than businesslike – millennials also have qualities of their own that are hard to find in the older generation. Lydia Abbot, in an article at https://business.linkedin.com, lists some of the traits most prevalent in millennials:

• Multitaskers. They are multitasking pros, who can juggle many responsibilities at once. This also means, though, that they are easily distracted. And there’s the social media and texting habit to deal with.

• Connected. They are so well-versed with social media because it’s just part of their day-to-day lives. They share and obtain news and information Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. , which they are constantly perusing.

• Tech-Savvy. There’s no doubt that the majority of millennials are more tech-savvy than other generations.

• Collaborative.  Millennials are extremely team-oriented and enjoy collaborating and building friendships with colleagues.

• Transparent. They want to feel like they have an open and honest relationship with their manager and co-workers and that there won’t be any nasty surprises when they join a company. Once they’ve signed on, they want assurance that their opinion is valued and that they can give and receive a good deal of feedback.

Millennials want self-advancement; they choose to join a company where they can advance and develop their careers. They also go for balance between their work and their life. Unlike the older generations, millennials aren’t as willing to sacrifice their personal life in favor of their careers – that’s why they prefer a more flexible work environment.

Perhaps it is upon managers and supervisors at work to handle millennials properly, in order to tap into the positive things that they can contribute to the organization. Millennials need to feel like what they are doing is important and that they are on the right track.  It may sound like cuddling them too much… but that’s what works with them, since they grew up with constant praise from their Baby Boomer parents.