Dealing with Millennials in the Workplace

In case you didn’t get the memo, there is a changing of the guard in today's workforce.  Members of my generation, the baby boomers, are slowly being pushed aside for the dawning of a new era. 

The Millennial generation has arrived and taken over America by storm.  According to statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau in June 2015, “Millennials, or America’s youth born between 1982 and 2000, now number 83.1 million and represent more than one quarter of the nation’s population. Their size exceeds that of the 75.4 million baby boomers.” (born between 1946-1964).

As it relates to the workforce, more than one-in-three American workers today are Millennials, surpassing baby boomers in 2014.   By 2025, it is estimated they will make up 75 percent of the workforce.  These youngsters have entered the workforce with new attitudes and perspectives on what their employment should be like and how relationships between employers and employees should be developed.

They are not interested in hierarchy or the “kiss ass” mentality to get ahead on the job.  Unlike us, if they’re not happy with the way things are going, they’ll just look for something else.  We, meanwhile, suck it up and continue to work and complain until we’re fired or retirement comes.

As someone who has and currently works with Millennials, my advice to my fellow boomers is to treat them respect and not view them as children.  Learn from them when it comes to technology while demonstrating your own wisdom and knowledge to help them with the soft skills they undoubtedly lack.

To read more, stay tuned for a copy of my upcoming book:  The Baby Boomer Guide to Understanding Millennials in the Workplace.