Millennials in the workplace — dispelling myths and legends
There is a whole heap of articles circling the internet and the world of HR surrounding millennials in the workplace and how, supposedly, line management and organisations need change their way of operating to accommodate millennial. As a millennial myself, I am writing this blog to talk to my personal experiences and, as the title suggests, dispel some of the myths and legends surrounding my generation in the work place.
I recently read an article written in Forbes, titled ‘Millennials In The Workplace: They Don’t Need Trophies But They Want Reinforcement’, which focussed on the following four themes:
1. They want to grow, even if that means growing out of your company.
2. They want a coach, not a boss
3. They don’t want to waste time on the little things
4. They want balance and democracy
So, put bluntly, yes we millennials want to grow! But doesn’t everybody? The fact is that the world of work is changing and one impact of this is that people are no longer staying with one company all their working lives. It is not just millennials who will leave companies in order to further their career and I firmly believe that organisations need to recognise this and nevertheless, commit to helping grow their workforce regardless. After all, what goes around comes around.
Coach vs Boss. I believe term ‘boss’ is very outdated. In a time where there is a huge amount of hype around a shift from management to leadership, traditional managers have a responsibility to help the progression and development of their employers. This doesn’t mean micro managing, but leading with a real sense of empathy; creating an environment in which people can freely push themselves without the fear of making mistakes. As stated by Gianpiero Petriglieri, a leadership researcher at the recent annual CIPD conference, leadership within modern organisations has a key role in promoting ‘the courage, capacity, curiosity and commitment to work with, learn from and give voice to the “other”’. This for me highlights the need for a change in mind-set in traditional ‘managers’.
I’ve already mentioned how everyone is keen to grow, doesn’t everyone also want to get their teeth stuck into the big stuff? However, it is the nature of work, and life in fact. Everyone has the things they enjoy most but you cannot only do the things you enjoy, there is a balance to be struck. Personally, I simply want to know that the work I do really adds value, even if it is the smallest thing, adding value in my role and to the organisation is extremely important to me.
Whilst I recognise the need for some extent of hierarchy, I have to say I completely agree with point four. Trust is vital in any aspect of life; people should be encouraged to think freely and have the opportunity to challenge the status quo. However, the crucial aspect to this is that those in position of ‘authority’ need to be open to challenge and open to potential change or at least fully explaining why things need to be the way they are. If organisations simply don’t allow people to challenge constructively, they risk people feeling as though they have no influence and becoming disengaged.
At the end of the day, yes we as companies need to take into account different generations being in the workplace, as for the first time ever, we now have five different generations I the workplace. However, it would be wrong for organisations to simply focus on millennials, a balance needs to be struck whereby adaptations are made in order to help the integration of all different generations in the workplace.
