Get Along or Get Left Behind.

Module A

Millennials in the Workplace

The Background

Millennials, (also known as Generation Y) in substantial numbers, have been and are entering workplaces en masse.

With this occurrence there has been considerable workplace disharmony as the preceding generations—Generation X, and the more adversely, Baby Boomers—acclimate to working with the Millennial Generation.

Millennials are set to outpace the latter generations in regards to population.

According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020 nearly half of the American workforce will consist of Millennials.

What’s the Deal?

Baby Boomers

The Players

Millennials

Generation-Xers

Born from 1946 to 1964.

Projected population of 74.9 million.

Born from 1965 to 1979. Projected population at 66 million.

Born from 1980 (or later). Projected population at 75 million and growing.

All age and population parameters defined by American Census Bureau’s (American Community Survey)

• The ideal was for them to secure a position, work their way up the organizational hierarchy

• Acquire the requisite family and a home.

• Retire to enjoy the twilights of their lives with a formidable nest egg.

• Tend to have a strong work ethic and be independent.

• Goal oriented and highly competitive.

• Traditional work-your-way-to-prosperity

• Place a higher significance on work (long hours) as it supported the other aspects of their lives (home and family).

Boomers

• Generation Xers are the smallest cohort of the three generations.

• Bookended by Baby Boomers and Millennials; they share characteristics of both.

• Like Boomers, they expect to pay their dues, waiting the appropriate time for advancement.

• They tend to respect hierarchical authority.

• Willing to ascend through work ethic— however…

• Find worthwhile value in the work-life balance and will eschew the 50-70 hour work week.

• Technologically adept having been the first generation to have grown up with intimate access to personal computers.

• Generation that gave the world Amazon.com and YouTube.

Gen-Xers

• Optimistic attitudes and close family ties.

• Unlike their parents who became independent as soon as they finished college.

• Called digital natives” as never experienced a world without technology.

• Their technological sophistication allows them to consider the world a smaller, diverse, highly-networked environment in which to live and work.

• Understand connections with others as involving high speed and instant responses.

• They expect frequent feedback from their families and friends, and have similar expectations for their employers.

• Innovation and change are both expected and valued.

• Idealistic and have high expectations of employers.

Millennials

• Prefer a team-oriented work environs versus the isolation of a cubicle.

• They don’t value hierarchal systems.

• feel as though their opinions matter regardless of workplace status or length of tenure.

• Idealistic nature means that they tend to look for a higher purpose in their work outside of a pay.

• Possess a highly actualized self-image and elevated self-esteem.

• Millennials place the highest value on work-life balance and will often prioritize personal interests over work.

• Having been born with social media platforms (and the requisite devices), they have strong attachments to digital networking.

• Offshoot characteristic of this is their proclivity for seeking “insta-fame.”

Millennials Cont’d

Now equipped with definitions of all generational cohorts, please access Module B which expounds on the documented, varying dynamics that have caused occupational friction between cohorts.