Image Source – http://whymillennialsmatter.com/
By 2025, Millenials will compromise 75% of the workforce acc to World Economic Forum. Millenials are joining the workplaces in large numbers . Today , if you talk to any of the HR Leader, the top most question on their mind is How to Manage and Engage the Millenials.
Millenials are the people born after 1980. While earlier generations ie Baby Boomers, Gen X followed the top down corporate structure, Millenials like to operate in Networks .
Their mindset is all about networking . They have grown up with new technologies . Social Media is their way of Life. Therefore , Gen Y or Millenials expect different employment experience . They are more comfortable with flat structures vis a vis hierarchies. Command and control style of management doesn’t work with millennials therefore Managers will have to learn to give up control. This is a new management shift that managers will have to deal with caused by rising number of Millenials in the working population. Millenials grew up in an environment where they have a say in everything from electing Leaders to choosing vacation destination for Family.
They want their voices to be heard and have the need to have their inputs in collective decision making. They are not comfortable with decisions being taken at the top and thrown at them which affects their lives directly. The need to lend their share of voice is greater.
At IBM, the policy to use Uber for transportation was shaped because a Millenial wrote a blog that UBER is cost effective . Leaders took note of his blogpost and within 24 hours , policy decision was accordingly modified and adjusted. You cant ignore millennials .
The employer culture, salary, every aspect of working environment is openly discussed at Glassdoor by Millenials. If they don’t like something, they highlight it . Leaders are paying attention to glassdoor in terms of what is being said about their Brand, culture, management, leadership.
Millennials thrive on fresh goals and challenges to keep them motivated
They embrace technology just like fish to water. Their working lives doesn’t have 9 to 6 schedule but are connected 24 by 7 . In this hyperconnected world, they demand flexibility – the ability to do work anytime, anywhere. Hence more companies are offering Telecommuting or flexi work or work from home to their employees.
Millenials have also started occupying Leaderahip positions at workplaces. So we see, a new breed of startups , and fresh thinking coming up at big corporates. They bring new perspectives of how work gets done . They have underlying desire to shape workplace policies, to make a contribution, to play a role which contributes to society. Their communication style is open and transparent. They are open to be mentored , place emphasis on networking to succeed at work and at life. They demand flexibility and use mobile phone and apps for routine and specific tasks. In fact , they are the ones who are building these new apps for making lives easier.
Millenials are different and shaping up the Future of work and workplaces. It wont be prudent of any Leader to ignore this pool of Talent, to move the organization forward. Invest in Millenials, develop their Leadership skills and learn to include them in decision making to ensure they remain engaged , productive and effective at workplaces.
When we tell people to do their jobs, we get workers. When we trust people to get the job done, we get leaders – Simon Sinek
Ruchi Bhatia (@rucsb) 