The Millennial Generation

I have been working on a project proposal regarding employability for young people which has led me to read a lot about youth in exclusion, lifelong learning programs, employment laws and statistics etc. Youth unemployment is relatively high here, Ulricehamn has a low educated population (only 14 % of the population have higher education in comparison to 19% nationally) and we have more men and an older population than the average Swedish municipality. Creating the ideal climate for employment and business development is a challenge and sometimes local businesses have difficulty finding suitable staff.

Today I read about the millennial generation. Born between 1980 and 2001, the millennials were coddled by their parents and nurtured with a strong sense of entitlement. The typical millennial worker is a hard working job-hopper with little loyalty towards his or her employer. She demands a lot of freedom, flexibility and often bring an attitude of “what are you going to give me” to her employer.

Millennials are our future work force and according to American author Ron Alsop, a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, employers need to understand how to deal with this group in order to achieve the best results and to make transitions as smooth as possible.

Although members of other generations were considered somewhat spoiled in their youth, millennials have strong demands and feel entitled to high positions and want a lot of attention and guidance from employers. Older adults criticize the high-maintenance rookies for demanding too much too soon and for not believing in hierarchy. I can see this being true to a certain extent and at the same time I wonder if this is not typical for all generations. We who are now older, look at the coming generation as somewhat a threat, with low skills who will never be able to do the job as well as we did!

At the same time employers do not have a lot of choice as the baby –boomers are off to retire soon and this new group is getting in. Secondly, this new generation does contribute with new skills (teamwork, technology skills, social networking and multitasking) and maybe their view on work is a healthy one? For this generation, work is not a place you go; work is a thing you do and life is more than just work.

While reading this I could not help thinking about the fact that many people from the millennial generation are currently not at work at all. They grew up feeling entitled to a job, they went to good schools, expecting that someone would offer them a job and now when it’s not there it is a long step to create your own job or to lower your expectations. Many of the people taking part in our local youth project for the unemployed still show much entitlement and if there is no employer who can help them they just turn to the state. For many it is always someone else’s fault and its always someone else who should pay the bill.

I understand that being unemployed is crap and I really would like to help our young unemployed people into work or education so that they can create their future. But I think Alsop is on to something when he describes the millennials and their attitude. Somehow we need to combine the attitues of yesterday, today and tomorrow to create an inclusive society.

Interested in reading more; "The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace" by Ron Alsop