Millennials: Reshaping The Workplace

“Millennial” is the buzzword of the moment. But what exactly does it mean?

Basically, this generation grew up in an electronics-filled and increasingly online and socially-networked world. They are the generation that has received the most attention. As the most culturally diverse generation, millennials have a tendency to be broad-minded. Having been raised under the mantra "follow your dreams", they tend to be confident.

While largely a positive characteristic, the millennial generation’s confidence has been argued to turn into selfishness. They are often seen as slightly more optimistic about the future of their country than other generations.

At some companies, millennials already make up 60% of their workforce, and by 2025 they will become 75 % of the global workforce. It's important for employees to consider how to accommodate this generation in the workplace.

The bring-your-own-device trend (BYOD), for example, is at least in part a reaction to the millennials’ need for mobile devices. Workplace satisfaction matters more to millennials than financial compensation and work-life balance is often considered essential. They are less likely than previous generations to put up with an unpleasant work environment and much more likely to use social networking to broadcast their concerns. On the other hand, satisfied millennials are often employee ambassadors for the organizations they work for, providing honest, free, and convincing public relations.

Having grown up being bombarded by advertising, millennials tend to be skeptical about promotional material of any kind. Whether buying products and services or considering employment, Millennials are more likely to listen to their friends than to be affected by marketing or public relations material. This characteristic makes both conventional marketing and employee recruitment practices often ineffective for millennials.

Work/life balance remains very important
This has always been a priority for millennials and this year’s results reinforce that view, according to a survey PWC did, 95% of respondents said the work/life balance is important to them and 70% said it’s very important. For some, though, their experience of working life has not met up to their expectations. 30% of employed millennials said that the work/life balance had been better than they expected, but for 28%, the reverse was true. The expectations of new employees are set by their understandings during the recruitment processes, and by their view of the employer.

There are a lot of negative connotations around the millennial generation, which aren’t exactly true. Do you think you've got your millennial employees figured out? You may not know them as well as you think. The below video offers important insights into how this generation likes to work and what works for them.

Many companies are struggling with recruiting and retaining millennial employees. The increasing number of this generation is growing and it’s important to have a strategy in place.

Millennials are a talented and dynamic generation, and the best of them are hard to find and even more difficult to keep. The finest of them are already in high demand and employers that meet their expectations will be able to take their pick of this generation’s talent.

We understand how difficult it can be to find the ideal candidate that goes hand in hand with what you’re looking for, for your company. But we at Communicate Recruitment want to help you with your talent search. Contact us today for more information.

Or if you happen to be in the job market, we are a reputable recruitment agency with consultants specializing in finding Finance jobs, IT jobs, Engineering jobs, Freight jobs, and Supply Chain jobs. Check out our vacancy page and apply now!