Millennials are the children of the Baby Boomers. The oldest Millennials are born at the early 1980s.
Youth is the time of life when one is young and often means the time between childhood and adult hood (maturity). The intergovernmental organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) defines youths as “those between 15 and 29 years of age”.
These young adults are shaping our culture today. They are here to stay. Pew Research Center’s findings show that millennials are now 35 percent of the workforce (surpassing Xers and boomers) and will combine with post-millennials to become 75 percent of the workforce by 2030. They have outpaced the Baby Boomers in population. They will increasingly become the driving force behind technology and new trends in products and services.
Millennials (Gen Y) are technologically-advanced, highly-educated generation lot. They are thrown into the depths of an employment crisis and crippling student debt. Regardless of which narrative you subscribe to, the millennial generation holds the future of business, politics and of the world, for better or for worse.
To describe the to and fro of this generation in the scheme of things, let name the protagonist, R.man.
If he has a say, what will he tells us about his feeling of things said about him, his wishes that his superiors and senior colleagues could appreciate his positive personality traits and strengths more instead of highlighting the negative ones.
If R.man does not know something, he knows someone else does. He just need to type in the query in his laptop or smartphone and Google Search will display the desired information in real time. With this power of knowing anything at his finger tip, he understands that Globalization and Computerisation has changed jobs in the workplace like nothing ever seen before.
According to an Oxford University study on jobs in the United States, the probability of computerisation for 702 occupations, the high probability of loss through automation within the next 20 years are 0.99 Telemarketers, 0.97 Cashiers, 0.96 Restaurant Cooks 0.96 General Office Clerks, 0.94 Accountants and Auditors, 0.92 Retail Salespersons and 0.86 Real Estate Sales Agents, just to name the top few. These are a lot of jobs!
Today, these are no longer human-only traits. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been able to compose classical music and write stories. It is becoming increasingly capable of identifying a myriad of things – from photos to music. It can learn too (fast and well), as we saw when it beat a Go World Champion in his game.
R.man knows that having high paying job and lifetime employment are a thing of the past. He needs to chart his own career progression. To achieve his lifetime’s work, he could not rely on others’ favours but own deliberate actions and sheer hardwork. His perspectives of work and behaviours have created problematic relationships with his superior and senior colleagues alike in the workplace.
R.man is a great problem solver and is always looking for ways to make things more efficient. He doesn’t see the point in doing it the hard way. Bystanders think he is being lazy, for not following norms, work rules and procedures.
R.man respects actions rather than job titles. Most boomers and Xers achieved their titles through painstakingly worked and waiting for their turn to come. R.man doesn’t care about the past. He cares about now and the future. This behaviour has displeased his superiors/colleagues as disrespectful for authority/seniors.
R.man will change job in order to experience personal career advancement and fulfillment. He works to make a difference — not to simply punch a clock. He is being dubbed as job hopper for a few dollars more or no loyalty to company after being trained to be proficient in carrying out his job role.
So, now we know more about the protagonist R.man’s perspectives and his actions (which seemed perplexing and unreasonable to some), what can we do to help him overcome his career challenges?
How Will Millennials Manage? by James L. Heskett UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, Emeritus
If current social learning trends continue, what kind of society will a populous city like Singapore be like in 2065?
Can organisation executives and owners try to create a win-win working environment by tapping on theirs strengths instead of treating employing millennials as part and parcel of business expenses?
Food for thought, anyone?
You may also be interested to know more about R.man on the following:
Personal challenges of millennials and youths
Blockchain tech for millennials and youths
