Millennials are often stereotyped as being lazy and entitled, but this stereotype is unfair and wrong. Millennials are hard-working individuals who are always striving to better themselves, whether that’s by seeking for better pay, further educating themselves or putting their health above financial freedom. Regardless of society opinion, Millennials are now the largest segment of the workforce and so businesses are beginning to accept how they differentiate to their other working counterparts. With their increased numbers in the workplace, Millennials now have a larger influence, and with the changing workforce, workplace cultures are beginning to change.
Below, we’ve listed five ways Millennials have changed the workplace. How many of these do you recognise in your own workplace?
1) Open Spaces and Communal Areas
In the past, offices were built up of individual cubicles where everyone works separately with physical barriers. Millennials have turned this type of work style on its head, with a serious focus on work community and teamwork. This is reflected in physical changes in the environment, with more offices embodying open spaces and communal areas so that people can work together and collaboratively in their workplace.
Not only this, Millennials also appreciate having important relationships with management, so the open environment also fosters approachability across all levels. Employees with direct interaction with management are three times more likely to be more engaged, rather than workers with no interaction with company leaders. Open-door policies and communal spaces are certainly a millennial adjustment, and they appear to be changing workplace cultures for the better.
2) Remote Working
When Millennials are in the office, they appreciate large, open and communal areas, but even then – the time actually spent in the office is slowly decreasing. More and more companies are offering remote working opportunities to their employees. In one survey, 85% of millennial respondents said that they would prefer telecommuting from home versus commuting to a central location.
Employers and businesses have been supporting this way of working, so the office population is shrinking, with different employees working from different areas at different times. The option for remote working allows individuals to work how they feel best, which increases productivity. You can find our other blogs on remote working here.
3) Tech, Tech, Tech
Linking into our previous point, remote working is more accessible due to the development of technology. Now, people can call, network and even video chat to multiple people at the same time purely because of the development of technology, programmes and software.
Not only this, but because of technology, offices are getting smarter. Millennials prefer instant online chat, texting and email to speaking on the phone. Due to this, emails are quicker and more frequent than ever, and the office pace is faster than before. Speeding up the working process can online increase productivity and this is a substantial change to the workplace.
4) Work-Life Balance
Millennials have a huge focus on their work-life balance, and because of this, their attitude towards work and the working world is completely different to that of their working counterparts. Millennial employees will have other priorities in their life as well as their jobs, and so in the way that an employer chooses an employee, Millennials are slightly pickier when choosing their workplace. Due to this, millennial professionals want to work in an environment that prioritises their health and happiness – money doesn’t mean as much! This is why many companies now offer benefits and perks, whether that’s free food, or letting employees leave earlier on a Friday rather than just increased salary.
5) Diversity and Inclusion
More than any other generation, Millennials are very politically independent, and interested in a wide variety of nations, cultures, ideas and beliefs. Millennials always want to better themselves, and they want to learn as much as they can, which is why many of them often go travelling. In regard to working life, millennial employees are attracted to companies that have high levels of diversity and inclusion. In fact, LinkedIn’s global recruiting trends report found that promoting diversity and inclusion was the most important factor within recruitment!
So it appears that Millennials are slowly changing workplace norms, and regardless of what previous generations may have to say about them, the changes that they are bringing are increasing productivity in the workplace. Be sure to check out our other blogs here.