Make way for the millennial generation

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2023 (965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Money Lady,

I have a small business and I hate hiring millennials. They want to work as little as possible, they have useless credentials, and they are too idealistic. Do you agree?

Rick

Dear Rick,

No, I don’t agree!

I have heard these comments more often than I would like to admit from readers and I have to say, people – wake up.

Millennials are the generation that those of us in our 50s and 60s should have been. When we got jobs in the ’70s and ’80s we were told by our parents to be grateful for the work, to put our heads down, work hard and stick with it no matter what. If we were bullied or made to suffer in our careers, we had to “suck it up” and just stay quiet. Every self-help book out there at the time encouraged people to work harder, to push through their fears and told us that only strong “take charge” types were worthy of success. After all, most of our parents and/or grandparents went through the Second World and would say that we were lucky to have a job. Women now in their 50s – the daughters of the ’60s feminist wave – still had to endure more stress than their male peers if they wanted to get ahead in “a man’s world.”

But millennials today, I am glad to say, won’t put up with what their parents did at the same age. They are stronger than we ever were, and, yes Rick, they are idealistic. Thank goodness for that. Millennials are very passionate, optimistic, positive, and confident. When you add in the fact that they are not afraid to express their opinions, have a lot more education and are much more collaborative, thoughtful, and empathetic than any other generation before them – you have true winners for our future.

Millennials today are much more open and they welcome criticism or professional feedback. They don’t get offended, but instead want to know how to improve and excel at their jobs. Growing up with constant technology changes has made this demographic more skilled in using new devices and software and they typically have a higher level of digital literacy to complete tasks faster using technology and online tools than the old way of doing things by hand. Millennials have a strong work ethic and welcome diversity, teams, and collaborative work cultures. Yes, they may prefer to have a more fun, casual, and easygoing work environment, but can you blame them? Their parents never understood the work-life balance until they went through COVID.

Only after realizing that we actually could work from home efficiently, we all now want options outside the traditional “nine-to-five in the office job” with the added bonus of a grinding daily commute. Our millennials believe that producing high-quality work is more important than the number of hours they work per week and that it doesn’t have to be done chained to a desk in an office bullpen. What a novel idea.

Just imagine where we would be today if the parents of millennials had demanded a better corporate culture. What if they, too, had wanted supervisors and managers who weren’t bossy taskmasters but instead helpful and easily approachable collaborative partners? What if employers cared about their employees mental-health needs and truly believed in a healthy work-life balance? I suppose we will have to wait another 25 years to see how great things will be, after our millennials take over and rule the work force.