While millennials are stereotypically thought of as entitled and lazy, that is far from the case when it comes to work. Although many millennials graduated college and entered the workforce in the shadow of the recession, they have since found their footing and have contributed heavily to workplace culture and environment. Additionally, they have brought widespread use of technology into the workplace, and have helped companies innovate in terms of their technology practices. This has helped companies to become more agile and efficient, and also help workers feel more empowered than ever before. With that in mind, here is a quick overview of how millennials in the workforce have changed how companies approach work.
How Millennials Have Redefined Workplace Culture
Like every generation preceding them, millennials have come to define their own experience and created their own expectations. This, of course, also applies to the workplace. For one, millennials are much more communicative, and don’t respond as well to constructive criticism, especially if it’s not actionable. Instead, millennials expect to be in a more open dialogue with their managers and bosses, and want to be coached in a way that is perspective-based and not feedback-based.
This doesn’t mean that millennials in the workplace aren’t looking to improve – it’s quite the opposite! What millennials are looking for out of workplace culture is to feel respected, and not just viewed purely as a cog in the machine of a business. Instead, they want to feel as though they are making an actionable and measurable impact, and they expect to be treated as such.
How Millennials Have Helped to Implement Technology in the Workplace
There’s no place where millennials have disrupted workplace culture more than through the use of technology. This is because millennials were raised to use technology productively. Unlike Generation Z, they didn’t go through their formative years with smartphones, but they were able to access the internet and use it for school assignments at a young age. In practice, this has totally altered how millennials research and solve problems, and this has impacted their workstyle.
Millennials are certainty incredibly knowledgeable about all things technology and digital media, but they also understand that they can learn anything they need to know with a quick Google search. This has allowed millennials to become expert researchers when it comes to solving workplace problems or troubleshooting job skills, and many millennials often find that they learn basic business management skills on the fly, such as using Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint. This alters the skills-focused approach that workplaces have typically taken, and it allows millennials more flexibility in learning what impacts their jobs and careers.
In Conclusion
Overall, millennials have impacted the workplace in various ways, from changing workplace culture to altering how companies use technology. Far from being lazy or short-sighted, millennials have adapted and embraced the workplace and suited it to their own purposes. Fortunately, due to their heavy literary with technology, workplaces have followed suit and relaxed many polices to accommodate millennials, including dress codes and flexible schedules. This has allowed millennials and companies to create a more symbiotic relationship that will only continue to alter the workplace as millennials gain entry to more and more senior management and leadership positions.
