4 Things You Didn’t Know About Millennials in the Workplace

Technology is changing the way we do business, and nobody understands this more than the millennials. This tech-savvy generation, which will make up approximately 75% of the workforce in 13 years, is at the center of all these changes. In many ways, the millennial generation has helped us reevaluate the traditional working model so that we can come up with better ways to increase productivity and maintain a healthier standard of life in the office.

1. Millennials want flexibility

Having more flexibility and autonomy in the workplace is more important than money for a number of millennials. In fact, almost 90% of millennials said choosing when and where they can work is top on their list of things to look for in a job. Furthermore, of this 90%, nearly half would choose flexibility over pay. This shift in expectations has helped drive the popularity of co-working spaces, which are expected to service around 1.2 million workers worldwide by the end of 2017.

2. They’re masters of their own destiny

In the ‘90s and early 2000s, many students graduated college and entered the workforce with the hopes of working with a large, successful company. In more recent times, millennials have moved away from that goal and have focused on their own business interests instead. Studies show that more than half of millennials have either started their own business or are planning on it. Furthermore, those who do work in the corporate environment are likely to quit because of a difficult manager or boss, not because they don’t like the actual job.

3. They’re looking for upward mobility

Never has there been a group of workers more concerned with promotions and advancements than millennials. Not only are they more likely to switch jobs than any other group, roughly 60% of them are always looking for better job opportunities. Considering that this high turnover rate has cost the economy more than $30 billion, companies have been scrambling to find ways to attract and retain their younger employees.

4. Millennials are just as motivated as Gen Xers and Baby Boomers

It’s no secret that millennials have bore the brunt of various unfair stereotypes and accusations over the past couple of years. In actuality, research conducted by IBM has shown much of those negative stereotypes to be untrue, especially ones about being self-centered. Studies show professionals born after 1980 are just as hardworking and eager to make a positive impact on their workplace environments as their older counterparts.

Unpacking What We Know about Millennials

Simply put, changes in workplace culture are going to be inevitable as society evolves and new technology is introduced. There’s no denying that a number of millennials are breaking the idea of what a traditional office space should be, and are setting goals and using technology to achieve that. With that said, there have also been a lot of misconceptions about millennials in the professional world, and more often than not, their work ethic and expectations aren’t much different from other generations – except when talking about technology.