"Milennials" & What Makes Them Tick…

I have been wanting to do a piece on the “Millennial” surge for a while now, and am finally getting around to it. I suppose that one of the reasons this is such an intriguing topic for me is because I am one of them, I am part of the Millennial age group, or as some prefer, the Generation Y age group.

Over the past 3-4 months the “Millennial” group has been getting a lot more attention, both from Human Resource department’s across the nation, and by media outlets salivating over the chance to dig deeper into what makes us tick, note the 60 Minutes expose a month or two back which was, at least in my opinion, a little harsh in what labels they chose to pin on us. *I will post some of the footage from the 60 Minutes report at the end of this entry.*

I am going to go ahead and give all of you fellow Millennials a quick overview of how we as the new generation of worker are perceived. Here are some quick facts:

• 74% of employers say Gen Y workers expect to be paid more
• 61% say Gen Y workers expect to have flexible work schedules
• 56% say Gen Y workers expect to be promoted within a year
• 50% say Gen Y workers expect to have more vacation or personal time
• 37% say Gen Y workers expect to have access to state-of-the-art technology

Moreover, over half (about 55%) of employers over the age of 35 feel that the Millennials find it much harder to take direction from so called ‘authority’ figures then past generations of workers.

Generation Y workers are an important segment of the workforce and literally the future of companies and organizations,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of Human Resources for CareerBuilder.com. They grew up in a technology-driven world where standards and norms have changed and often operate under different perspectives than older co-workers. As companies cultures evolve with each generation, you see all workers benefiting from a variety of viewpoints and work styles.”

Employers are changing as well, even though they may not love the new, perceived attitude of the Millennial employee they realize that we are the future of this country, a long with a heightened level of technology and computer knowledge which is becoming a necessity in the modern workplace. Fifteen percent of employers said they changed or implemented new policies or programs to accommodate Gen Y workers, these include:

• More flexible work schedules (57%);
• More recognition programs (33%);
• More access to state-of-the-art technology (26%);
• Increased salaries and bonuses (26%);
• More ongoing education programs (24%);
• Paying for cell phones, blackberries, etc. (20%);
• More telecommuting options (18%);
• More vacation time (11%).

This clearly illustrates that even though the “Millennial” generation may be looked at as bit pampered or spoiled employers are doing whatever they can to accommodate us into thew workforce. The funniest thing I came across were the results of a Pew Research Center poll which showed that 81% of 18 to 25 year old’s surveyed said getting rich is their generation’s first or second most-important goal in life, with 51% answering the becoming famous held down the number one and two spots on their life goal list. Ha ha, at least we can’t be called shallow. I am going to try to make it a point to get whatever information I come across regarding our generation, the “Millennial” or Generation Y (both get annoying when you have to type it out every other sentence.) group. Up and public here on the site. Below is some of the 60 Minutes piece I talked about earlier and if you have a minute I would suggest taking a minute and watching, at least you will get some personal amusement out of it.

PART 1

Part 2

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