Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Richard Schwartz – editor for Templates Assistant. His opinions are his own.
Millennials seem challenging to manage as long-term employees. The generation that felt the consequences of the Great Recession firsthand is stuck between setting personal goals and coupling professional life with its expectations and lifestyle. Setting short or long-term professional goals is challenging for this confused generation. Millennials may not always know the hows, whens, and whys of the next big things, but they do like to learn.
1. Financial literacy is missing
Millennials lack financial education, and they find it hard to manage their money. In other words, a buck is worth so many things that it rarely stays just a buck. Being so caught up in planning vacations and enrolling in different activities makes saving difficult.
Only around 37% of young people are saving for early retirement – which is, either way, more than the baby boomers and Gen Xers did, two generations that had to just “temporarily forget about” 5% of their revenue. However, some of the Millennials are so busy with leading a healthy lifestyle that they ignore long-term goals.
2. Long-term thinking is frustrating
Millennials believe that goal setting is just a concept from the corporate world that is supposed to give them purpose and direction. In business, thinking long term might be unrealistic as the whole context that a company activates in might change within a few years.
The young generation is overly optimistic about its potential, and setting clear goals for the next few years might make the average Millennial feel uncomfortable and frustrated. The goals that most Millennials focus on revolve around personal development, professional bettering, and networking. Around 86% of them feel pressured to succeed in finances and personal life. So, long-term thinking can lead to additional commitments that keep them on the same track for years.
3. Soft skills need work to develop
Nowadays’ employees are the students who have graduated from universities that failed to teach them the so-called ‘soft skills.’ Millennials must learn leadership, communication, resiliency, and self-motivation on their own. Many of them prefer informal settings even when not necessary.
Higher education institutions help students develop only basic critical thinking skills, which won’t help them to adapt well to the ever-changing labor market.
4. Entrepreneurship is an option
Some Millennials see entrepreneurship as an option that fits their mindset. Over half of the Millennials want to start a business and plan to quit their day jobs for this purpose. Today’s young people are the result of a fragile and changing economy.
Over a half of Americans aged 16 to 24 who are enrolled in higher-education programs don’t have a full-time job. The unemployment rate is increasing, while low-wage internships in large companies become increasingly tempting.
5. Temporary jobs are the new norm
Around 41% of Millennials expect to stay in their current position for up to two years, according to new research. Generation X accounts for 17% of the responses, while 10% of the Baby Boomers look for new jobs once every few years.
Employee loyalty isn’t a priority anymore for Millennials as working in a stable environment is often no longer possible. While planning to develop continually, young corporate workers trade their loyalty for a breath of fresh air in a slightly larger and more convenient company.
6. Millennials love to stand out
It is challenging to fit in when you desperately want to stand out. That’s how most Millennials think and act. Thinking out of the box typically leads to positive results or even a disruption of the entire workflow. As an employer, you now have lower and lower chances to read two resumes with the same structure or get the same response twice.
7. Everyone is looking for meaning
If there’s something that most Millennials agree on, it is the idea that meaning is essential in their lives. They want meaningful relationships, activities, communication, and even jobs. Millennials look beyond the job description or office. They want to know why a company does something and if there are any other goals beside profit margins.
They have expectations of personal bonding, are preoccupied by their Instagram accounts, and want to make the most out of every minute. So, you will notice Millennials looking for meaningful and rewarding activities whenever the occasion comes up.
8. Money has a different purpose
Four years ago, 94% of the surveyed Millennials anticipated spending almost $300 on self-improvement in the following months. The sum is twice as big as what Boomers would allocate for learning. Millennials’ self-improvement includes topics like wellness, life coaching, diet plans, and therapy.
Millennials work hard at becoming better versions of themselves. Self-improvement industries benefit from clients such as the Millennials. Jobs that don’t offer training, workshops, or sponsored courses might have some ground to lose.
9. Millennials don’t trust leaders
Just like Boomers, Millennials don’t have political favorites. They are typically resilient to leaders, including those from large corporations. Millennials believe that corruption lies at the top. This is why they refuse to rely on leaders to solve their problems, so they need to figure out their own solutions.
Millennials’ strong point is creativity not leadership, but they do challenge hierarchical structures. Most of them dream of achieving instant success through means like building a successful app instead of working for decades at the same company before being awarded a Rolex.
10. Complaining is habitual
Who doesn’t enjoy a nice chit-chat that begins with a bit of complaining? Millennials certainly do. Complaining is mostly the go-to conversation starter of the young employees who sometimes miss the positives among so many negatives.
Sharing negativity isn’t productive and it might make the Millennials seem control-freaks about their job. Yet, complaining happens regarding of their position on the corporate ladder or the social context they’re in.
11. Millennials are tech savvy
Sometimes, they’re excessively tech savvy. Millennials grew up along the development of the Internet-based technology, so they take each new occasion to toy with it. Surprisingly enough, 53% of Millennials said that they would rather lose their sense of smell, instead of their digital devices.
Millennials see social media as a productivity and learning tool. Even more, they constantly improve their knowledge on how to use digital tools to build relationships and crowdsource solutions. As an employer, you will gain more from introducing your young employees to experts, instead of setting up in-house training sessions.
12. Millennials are into flexible work schedules
Around 69% of Millennials consider daily office attendance as unnecessary. They prefer to choose when and where to work from and avoid those 9-to-5 jobs. Tracking your young employees might do more harm than good.
They are very productive when telecommuting, working in the evening, or during weekends. Large companies fail to offer these options, so many talented Millennials start looking for small and risky employers who share their views.
13. Millennials cannot work without feedback
Young employees want to receive regular feedback from managers, team leaders, and anyone who supervises them. They disregard mid-year reviews, in favor of bite-sized input given more often.
They need to have full clarity over their day-to-day work and be aware of how they stand on performance. Despite procedures and company policies, Millennials see management as an ongoing familiar journey, rather than a string of one-off occasions.
14. The next Gen isn’t the last Gen
Millennials like to work independently. That’s why they are not as interested in teamwork as other generations are, as team work might lead to stressful situations.
You either build your business with teams comprising only members of the same generation or create a Millennial-friendly environment.
15. Speeches come against their vision
Working for a company for a long time leads to promotions. Promotions may require a short public speech about the newly-won crown. However, public speeches should follow a structure and be limited to protect minority groups and challenged individuals.
Millennials dislike holding speeches, and they avoid them at all costs. They are afraid of being embarrassed or be held responsible for the mistakes they didn’t initially consider.
Final Thoughts
Millennials have a problem with setting professional goals and committing to anything they find uncomfortable. Nevertheless, they find a way to climb the career ladder if the reward is motivating enough. You can hire a Millennial and turn them into a reliable employee only if you understand their vision and expectations.
Richard Schwartz is a tech lover and a productivity addict. He likes spending time trying the newest technologies on the market and designing websites. He is also an editor for TemplatesAssistant, a website that delivers free templates for making everybody’s work easier. Author
Richard Schwartz
Richard Schwartz is a tech lover and a productivity addict. He likes spending time trying the newest technologies on the market and designing websites. He is also an editor for TemplatesAssistant, a website that delivers free templates for making everybody’s work easier.
