Millennial Generation Misunderstood in the Office

While older employees often call out their 21- to 29-year-old Millennial colleagues for not showing respect, lacking a strong work ethic and being impatient on the job, new research by New York-based ad agency JWT reveal that these negative perceptions may be off the mark.

According to the U.S. study, "Millennials at Work: Myths vs. Reality," the younger generation is more serious than people think. When asked about the statement "I think a formal appearance at the workplace is important for career success," 67 percent of Millennial respondents agreed compared to 65 percent of respondents in their thirties, 54 percent of forty-somethings and 56 percent of the 50-plus set. Additionally more than half of Millennials (56 percent) agreed that having a job is a privilege, not a right. On a positive note, the study did reveal that older workers recognized their Millennial co-workers for being tech-savvy and flexible.

As to how managers and colleagues can better connect with the Millennial generation, Ann Mack, director of trendspotting for JWT offers some sound advice. "Millennials are outspoken to their detriment, buy you can pick up on their nuggets of knowledge and genius," she says. "Quite frequently they have brilliant ideas that are glossed over by managers who are rolling their eyes. However, if you tap into their opinions at the right time, the innovation will follow."

So what makes an ideal job for the Millennial set? The JWT survey reveals competitive salary, a flexible schedule and the opportunity to learn new skills as the top priorities for these go-getters.

I have trouble seeing how this is spin. In the business world (especially where I come from in the corporate education field), dealing with the differences among generations is a great challenge. Right now we have employees hitting the workforce who grew up playing video games, text messaging, using Facebook and MySpace. To best maximize the potential of these employees for the business' benefit, we need to understand and adapt to this generation (just as we have past generations.) In corporate education, for example, we have found that Millennials learn best from social networking and situational based gaming. If you tried to train this generation the way we trained, for example, baby boomers, you would have an ineffective workforce. The converse also is true, boomers don't learn well via gaming and social networking, they learn best from more formalized educational structures. Managing this generation is also different. The millennial generation is best utilized in a collaborative fashion. You would not have a very productive worker if you stick a millennial on an assembly line. However, if you put a millennial in a research team to analyze, explore, and find the best practices for production methods, you will have a very productive employee.

It is all about understanding your employees to get the best ROI bang for the employment buck.

You’ll have your work cut out with us, too.

I sat in one of those assembly-line type jobs for about two years out of college (digital data assembly-line anyway). While I was shocked at the apparent lack of work ethic, I was even more disgusted of the concept that everyone in the certain position has to be held in a standardized salary range. If so, standards should constantly rise to afford a rise in the salary, but no the slowest people are held up as the median and praised for showing up with their shoes tied.

Combine this with a lack of access to the data and analysis that could have made me even more productive, I did what a lot of millennials are doing: I left and started my own business.

"I think a formal appearance at the workplace is important for career success," 67 percent of Millennial respondents agreed

Sounds like a ruse to eliminate casual and comfortable clothing in the workplace. I know many executive types don't like clothing like blue jeans. I worked at one place where if you had to come in and work on your own time on a Saturday or Sunday, you better be in those dress slacks and nice shirt. Because of that rule, I refused to do weekends.

Additionally more than half of Millennials (56 percent) agreed that having a job is a privilege, not a right.

What is this thing about rights versus privileges ? I thought earning a living is a right. I had one liberal democrat manager who told me that taking vacation is a privilege bestowed by the company for the company's benefit. Enjoying it required special approval such as getting approval far enough in advance where you can pay cheaper prices for plane tickets. He also told me that earning income is a privilege.

This sounds like more liberal drivel to force everyone to toe the line once the election is over in November especially with Obama.

slowest people are held up as the median and praised for showing up with their shoes tied.

Funny you should say this. I worked (past tense) at a large three-letter technology company for a short while, and often wondered how some of the nine (yes, nine) people I reported to managed to dress themselves in the morning.

Never mind how they drove to work.

I mean, we're talking really dumb here. The Dilbert Principle in its most classic sense.

LOL. My wife supervises a bunch of millenials. About 1/3 of them get it.

The other 2/3 have trouble with notions such as:

* "Come to work on the days you are supposed to, not the other ones."

* "Don't call in sick every Friday for two months."

* And the always difficult: "If you are calling in sick, do it at about the time you would have come to work, not a day or two later."

What's funny is the millenials' exasperation at the sheer stupidity of people who enforce these rules.

I don't care about this survey. My wife has a sample size going on hundreds. The folks she supervise get top-dollar and the job does not require a degree. So she gets the cream of the crop of non-college-graduates in an upper middle class suburb in a highly educated metropoliton area. Frankly, most of them aren't worth a wet bag of spit as workers. But they make up for it with bad attitudes.

Millennials do not have the work ethic of prior workers. They come in to work late, talk on their cell phones throughout the day at the office, cannot formulate their thoughts into coherent sentences in an email, and do not know how to accept constructive criticism.

They expect to get a corner office and make $200K a year after two years in the work force. When they botch an interview because they have: showed up late, have typos in their resume, chew gum, have piercings and tatoos all over, they do not take a personal assessment to see how they can improve, they tell mommy and daddy who then do their bidding for them.

Managers don’t want employees who need to be coddled; they want employees who can effectively communicate, show up for work on time, do their jobs, and who can adapt to changing business needs.

Millenials do nothing on their own. They need a groupthink. Do not rely on one to solve a big problem. Boomers could work independently and without supervision. Millenial kids do not focus long enough on one thing to trust to much research. But they do make for good whiteboard chats or scrums. You need both. But neither is wrong. And companies now DO throw boomers into the neocollege-style teamlets for everything and we hate it.

I think there’s some generalizations going on, but there are very real issues in managing this new generation entering the work force.

I’m only a decade outside of the millennials, but have quite a bit of experience hiring/managing them.

When that study says that millennials take having a formal appearance seriously, it really needs to identify what is formal to a millennial versus what is formal to a 40 year old. It’s not the same thing.

And the comment on “So what makes an ideal job for the Millennial set? The JWT survey reveals competitive salary, a flexible schedule and the opportunity to learn new skills”

Competitive salary comes with proven experience. Entry level positions get entry level pay.

Flexible schedules come after you’ve proven your ability to execute to management.

Opportunities for new skills come after you’ve demonstrated a mastery of the skills required for your current position.

Those are the things that the millennial generation and I tend to butt heads on with some frequency.

What is this thing about rights versus privileges ? I thought earning a living is a right.

You have a right to sell your labor to a willing buyer in exchange for compensation. You don't have a right to a job. No one who has ever lived has had a right to a job, let alone a vacation. You have a right to negotiate for the deal you want, which may include a vacation, and the other party has a right to say: "no deal" and walk away. That's how it works.

Because I’ve managed these ‘geniuses’. Poor misunderstood creatures. Many sad they weren’t made EVP’s on the second day.

And on the weekends . . . a new tattoo! Nothing says, “I can’t be billed out for more than $7.75 an hour” like a tattoo on the back of the neck on a young professional lady.

And the utter indignation experienced in coaxing work out of these prodigies whilst they update their myspace page can shatter our poor orchids.

Yes, let’s all put them in a hot house, and listen closely as they sing new concertos.

If they aren’t Asian, they are almost a complete write off. Nothing says ‘work ethic’ like a girl who’s dad put her through school by running a convenience store. That girl (or boy) is going to work, then work some more. True of Central Europeans too.

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