Millennials, individuals born between 1980 and 1995, are characterized in the workplace as being egotistical, lazy, untrustworthy, and overall disrespectful. This type of typecasting unfortunately contributes to the misconception that millennials have a difficult time communicating and building relationships in the workplace with other generations such as baby boomers and Gen Xers, and also the widespread concern that this can affect a company’s performance. Organizational leaders must learn to look at the positive qualities that millennials have the luxury of possessing and how they can benefit the company. As researchers Myers and Sadaghiana (2010) explained, millennials work well in teams, are motivated by the impact they can make on a company’s success, they prefer to communicate openly and often with their managers and coworkers, and most importantly, especially in today’s workplace, they are at ease with communication technology (p. 225). All generations that exist in the world today are constantly affected by circumstances in the work place that drive change. As Howe & Strauss (1991) noted, changes in any tiny aspect of the workplace can trigger change within an entire organization. Tomorrow’s success for these organizations that are around today will depend on how they develop and respond to change (p. 93). Baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials all communicate and build relationships differently in the workplace. Organizations that embrace the change that
Every generation is influenced by its period 's economic, political and social events. From the Great Depression to the civil rights and women 's movements to the advent of television and advanced computer technologies. Thus generational background/situation may also affect the way they work. The key is to be able to effectively address and take advantage of the differences in values and expectations of each generation in the workplace. The current work place consists of four different generations; The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) who are slowly retiring and existing the workforce, The Generation X (1965-1976), The Generation Y or millennia (1977-1997), and the Generation Z who are about to or are just entering the work force. Although these different generations tend to want similar things in a workplace their environment/background has shaped their character, values, and expectations (Hahn 2011).
The most prominent change in the workforce affecting human resources at St. Anthony’s is the rise of a multi generational workforce. Providing different human resource needs for various employees is an evolving challenge. Being aware of different workplace standards between generations is taken into consideration to reduce “pain points” (Calvert, 2015). In the interview, Judie grouped Generation X and Millennials into the same group, and focused primarily on the differences between Baby Boomers and Gen X/Millennials. She described the Baby Boomers as
“After a century of trying to control people, processes and information, we have come to a point in organizational history where we need to recognize that what worked before just simply isn’t enough anymore.” This goes to prove that over time just like everything else evolves our behaviors towards our colleagues has to evolve as well. And management has to learn the new behaviors of his/her employees. The Millennials and generation Z needs to know that they are appreciated and need to be challenged before they get bored, hence the reason why managers need to learn
In her article “The Tethered Generation” for HR Magazine in May 2007, freelance writer Kathryn Tyler asserts that due to the fact that millennials grew up with new technologies such as the cell phone and internet, many of the skills they need to integrate into the workforce is severely lacking. She goes on to support this argument by addressing millennial connectivity and helicopter parents. With Tyler’s background in human resources and training and her proclamation of being member of generation X, Tyler shares her observation that millennials entering the workforce are tethered to technology, which in turn effects their work, communication, and decision making skills in and out of the office. By supplying the reader with information about these transgressions, Tyler builds her claim that HR professionals should work harder to accommodate the millennials’ shortcomings. She appears to write in hopes of HR professionals understanding why Millennials have developed into the people that they are in order to provide HR professionals with a better understanding of them and to teach these professionals how to deal with their millennial employees. Tyler’s explicit argument, which effectively appeals to her audience’s perception of millennials, is supported by an appeal to ethos in which she employs statements from credible professionals to optimize her argument. This strategy of opting to sparingly use her own voice in the text poses a unique method of making her audience more
Today, the workforce is made up of many different generations, which is affecting and effectively changing the workplace culture as a whole. The major generational differences between millennials and baby boomers can be either positive or negative depending on whom you ask. Boomers may categorize millennials as lazy and entitled, while millennials may call themselves innovative. No matter what they call themselves or each other, they all have to work together now as simply as that. This topic has sparked a lot of discussion as to how it’s best for each generation to act and deal with their other generational coworkers.
The generational span is exceedingly larger today than in the prior history of our nation. The multiple generations consist of the veterans 1922-1945, the baby boomers 1946-1964, the generation X 1965-1981, and, the generation Y 1982-1999, in addition, upcoming millennial generation born 2000-2016 (Murray, 2013). There frequently are misconceptions and misunderstandings based on the differing perspectives of each generation. Moreover, as an effective leader, one must comprehend and acknowledge the characteristics of each generation and utilize these individualities to mentor and motivate the staff they are leading (Hendricks & Cope, 2012). In addition to considering the impact of the generational
Many employers are challenged with handling the millennial due to the lack of proper understanding of this generation since there is plenty of myths, propagated through anecdotes and assumptions. However the separation of the myths and the facts is important for an organization so as
Every work environment is teeming with people from various generations. Though, the majority of people wish for a healthy work environment this is not the easiest to come by. People from these different generations have different ways of looking at the world. They were raised differently and though theoretically want the same things they want to reach these goals in different ways. Rising to leadership, the understanding of technology, adapting in the workplace, and communication are the four criteria you need to know to understand how the people of Generation X and Millennials function together in the workplace.
To prevent this, Gavatorta recommends implementing new techniques in the workplace to practice bridging the gaps between these relationships through management and employees. Gavatorta suggests avoiding assumptions, creating a common language, building trust, etc. These guidelines will connect the potential communication gaps. Steve Gavatorta states, “the key to is to realize that in many ways Gen Y’ers are indeed different, but they also have many of the desires, motivations, and behaviors as do the rest of us.” Gavatorta’s point is that they are different, but they try to reach the same goals as everyone else. Very soon, Millennials will occupy most of the workplace. According to Carol Axten from Millennials at Work she believes, “By 2015,
The only people who need to be motivated are those who cannot see a future. Simon Sinek on “Millennials in the Workplace” was one of the most depressing and it the same time thought provoking talks I have ever listened to in a long time. Simon O. Sinek is a British/American author, motivational speaker and marketing consultant, he is the author of three books, and has his own business “Sinek Partners.” In Sinek’s interview, he introduces four reasons why he believes so many millennials are unhappy at work: Parenting, technology, impatience and environment. Sinek says millennials are tough to manage and that they want what every generation before them wanted but the only difference is that millennials are
Many changes are happening in the workforce today. Our labor environment consists of multiple generations, which creates fundamentally differing approaches to everything from work ethics, business management, and co-worker cooperation. The most recent generation, commonly known as “Generation Y” or the “Millennial” generation, is slowly taking over the workforce. Because they bring with them a radically new mindset and opinion of labor, the global business infrastructure should be modified to not only accommodate “Millennials,” but also to remain sympathetic to the business practices characteristic of previous generations. Doing so will provide more harmony and productivity among co-workers of different generational backgrounds.
In an interview of 2016, Simon Sinek analyses and discusses the topic of Millennials within the workplace. Throughout Sinek’s speech in his interview, he explains the disadvantages which Millennials have faced while growing up in their generation. Now, Sinek claims that the reason why Millennials have been dealt such a “bad hand” in life, is a result of failed parenting strategies, and an imbalance of technology along with social media (which has advanced like never before within the adolescence of Millennials). Therefore, the imbalance of the internet and real-life interaction results in millennials being unable to form deep and meaningful relationships, in order to carry out happy and meaningful live in comparison to previous
The upcoming generation, millennials, are a new type of generation. They have proven to be the most educated generation, despite the hard times in the economy. Yet they still face criticism from their elders on their work ethic. Although they seem to all be lazy and not interested in working, not all millennials are like that. They just have different values in life, and balance work life with free time. Millennials have faced a lot of criticism on their work ethic, which has many questioning do millennials have a strong work ethic. They are said to be lazy narcissistic tech addicts, who don’t take any job seriously and slack off. What most don’t know is that the economy hasn’t been in the greatest of shape, this makes work ethic hard to
Today’s workforce environment is comprised of a wide variety of Millennials, Generation Xers, Baby boomers, and even some Traditionalist. Organizations are learning that there can be challenges when working with a diverse age of employees. Every age and generation has different and unique characteristics and values that prove to be challenging and advantageous. What motivated one generation of workers will not necessarily motivate another. In an organization age has an impact in many aspects such as hiring, promotions, workload, innovation, creativity. Each age group can bring something to the table in a positive and negative way. No matter the age or generation that an individual is from they all want equality in the workplace.
When it comes to Millennials, there is nothing that screams “business as usual.” Consequently, savvy leaders who want to remain successful in the global business arena, must concede their current method of attracting, engaging, developing and retaining Millennials as future global leaders is ineffective. Therefore, today’s leaders must develop a more compelling strategy to entice Millennials into leadership. Failure to use strategic foresight to recognize trends regarding future organizational trends and take timely actions to change their tried and true, old school philosophy regarding developing and retaining talented employees will result in losing the competitive edge, which is driven by technology-laden Millennial’s who are poised to innovation.