Lexington, KY - Look out Boomers and Gen Xers, the Millennials are gaining a strong foothold in the workplace, for both good and bad. Already 80 million strong, Millennials, sometimes called the Y Generation, were born between 1980 and 1995. They are tech-savvy, achievement-, team- and family-oriented and, some say, attention-craving.
"They're a different group. They're fun. They keep Baby Boomers on their toes with respect to how they work," said Tracy Morford, human resources manager for Cardinal Hill Healthcare System and also president of the Bluegrass Society for Human Resource Management, an association for HR pros. Morford recently talked about the impact Millennials have in the modern workplace.
Unlike Baby Boomers, born between the end of WWII and the mid '60s, and Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, Millennials are like no one before them. They're technically literate, super-adept with computers (often laptops), integrate technology into almost every facet of their lives and are highly skilled multi-taskers. Technology has always been in their lives and is almost an extension of their bodies. They love immediate communication by cell, text messaging or IM and they're just beginning to enter Kentucky workplaces.
"They work differently. They're very collaborative and want to share information. Think in terms of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Technology? They're very accustomed to it," explained Morford. "They bring that approach into our workplaces. They expect communication. They can do multitasking instead of doing one task, completing it and moving on," she added. Morford also says Millennials are not seeking employment immediately upon graduation from college and are taking opportunities to do volunteer work, give back to their communities or to travel.
Gen Xers are a little better equipped to manage Millennials. Boomers, on the other hand, struggle to figure them out and keep up with them. Boomers entered the workforce during the early '70s and developed a reputation for being workaholics. They brought to their jobs an attitude of "put your head down, keep your mouth shut and push out the work," according to Mary Crane, a business consultant who helps managers understand how to best recruit, motivate and retain today's newest workers. Experts are studying the way Millennials operate in the workplace and how they expect to be treated. Their attitudes often rub Boomers and Gen Xers the wrong way. Millennials grew up in a world where they received an inordinate amount of coaching and feedback. Boomer bosses might be wise to be less of a drill sergeant and instead something akin to a tee-ball coach, HR experts preach. To illustrate, many Boomer parents enrolled their little Millennials in tee-ball leagues designed to reward them with trophies just for showing up, downplaying any humiliation from playing poorly. Sometimes scores weren't kept during tee-ball games. The message was "Don't worry; we'll create a world in which you cannot fail." That sort of coddling was hardly boot camp for the cold realities of the working world, so Millennials arrived on the job with certain expectations.
You might get the impression that Millennials are slackers without much of a work ethic, but Morford doesn't see it that way. "They probably are the most balanced we'll ever work with. They want a work-life balance. They want time for their relationships, hobbies, pastimes, families and work. It doesn't mean that when at work they aren't doing a good job. They are just not married to their jobs like other generations have been," she offered.
However, Morford notes at least one Millennial failing: oral and written communication skills. "They use abbreviations in sending text messages and e-mail and speak in an abbreviated format and may not understand proper sentence construction and grammar. And when the time comes for them to sit down and create a business document, many don't do it very well."
Workplace consultants have heard reports of young workers who received their first performance evaluation and for the first time in their lives were not told they were the most perfect young individual in the world. Those young folks went home to their parents, and inevitably, HR departments received calls from parents disputing the evaluation and claiming their child has always exceeded expectations. One story has it that Millennials offered new positions had their parents call the HR department to begin salary negotiations.
So, Boomers and Gen Xers are operating in a new workplace, almost a psychological battlefield. Consultants advise that 40-, 50- and 60-year-old managers should focus on training and nurturing Millennials rather than bossing them around. It's the old-line managers who may need to change, not necessarily their young charges. Those in the know say these new workers will likely need a lot of mentoring, no matter how smart and confident they appear, and they'll respond well to the personal attention because they appreciate structure and stability. So welcome them or not, Millennials are, without a doubt, the future of the American workplace.