What Makes Millennials Tick?
What can I say about Millennials? Wow. What a wonderful generation, and what amazing things you’ve seen and experienced already during your lifetimes. Born between 1981 – 1996, Millennials are currently between the ages of 23 and 42, and believe it or not, make up the largest demographic in the US, at over 83 million strong. They make up over 1/3 of the workforce in the US today and representation is growing in percentage as Boomers retire and exit. In fact, Millennials are such a large generation, that some sociologists have started categorizing them into 2 groups, Early Millennials (born 1980-1987) and Recessionists (born 1988-1996). If you know people born in these two “mini-eras”, I think you would agree that they think and behave differently. For all intents and purposes, my sons, Chip and Kyle, are Early Millennials and they and their friends, being in their mid-30’s, seem to be in very different stages in life when compared to my nephews and nieces who are only a few years younger. The former, thinking about mortgage payments, diapers, 529s, Roth or Traditional IRAs and the latter pondering Manhattans or Vieux Carres, Scottish Ales or IPAs, box or bleacher seats, or vacations in the snow or on the beach.
Reflecting on the things that had the biggest influence on Millennials, go no further than technology and the Internet. For better or worse, this generation grew up with the world wide web, iPhones and 24/7 connectivity. As a result, information is literally at their fingertips, creating an extremely well-informed, well-educated generation. Perhaps not by coincidence due to the availability of media, Millennials are generally also very open-minded, adaptable, receptive to new concepts and more liberal than their predecessors. They went to college with a better idea of what they wanted to do with their lives, they entered the work force with more internships than any other generation before them, and in particular, in the field which they’ve chosen to pursue a career.
Where Gen Xers created the concept of “work-life balance”, Millennials decided to blend or integrate work into life or vice versa. They brought the informalities of home and integrated them into the work place, meaning much more casual dress but, in turn, this meant working at home with regularity. Thinking again about my boys, I cannot recall a single evening nor vacation when they haven’t pulled out their laptops to respond to email or check on forecasts or shipments. Whether it’s because of the full time connectivity, or just a function of being attached to their “productivity tools”, the access to devices has been a blessing and certainly a curse. One good by-product of social media, however, was learning to crowdsource and collaborate resourcefully. It is no coincidence that “teamwork makes the dream work” spawned from the Millennial movement.
As children of Boomers, Millennials grew up very comfortably financially, and as a result, became, by far the best educated generation up to this point. Where Boomers value success, and Gen Xers put a premium on Time, Millennials value Individuality. With regards to money, unlike Gen X which was very conservative and saved, Millennials “earn to spend” and enjoy the comforts of a better life, perhaps the life that their parents shared with them. Recent studies show that 55% of food deliver service (DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates) customers age range is 18-34, bridging Millennials and Gen Z. Millennials are also spending a significantly higher percentage of their incomes on vacations than their counterparts.
In the workplace, Millennials are ambitious, very entrepreneurial, and will test authority but on the same token, seek out mentorship and are obsessed with career development and meaningful work. They understand and appreciate the fact that strong individuals make a successful company, and acknowledge that experience counts. In fact, they seek the counsel of older, more experienced people in leadership for guidance as a way to fast track their careers and avoid landmines and mistakes. Unlike their Gen X counterparts, in an ideal world, they want long term relationships with their employers, and aren’t looking to job hop, but it is possible that the loyalty is with a person, and not the company. They seek out ways to influence the terms and conditions of their jobs, and have a work ethic that is not limited to the traditional business hours of a work day. They have extremely high expectations of their bosses and managers to not only stimulate and challenge them, but also to help them fulfill their dreams. While they may want to utilize senior leadership as sounding boards for guidance and mentorship, however, they also want to be viewed immediately as peers and equals and don’t respond well to traditional hierarchical organizations and structure. Being perceived as inflexible is a huge turn off as they respond much more positively to having options, and a “networked-open environment”.
Millennials have a distaste for menial work and need to be constantly challenged. They won’t admit when they need help, but they need supervision and structure because they lack discipline. It becomes tricky for a manager of a Millennial because they don’t respond well to authoritarian behavior or those who expect to be respected due to rank alone even though Millennials actually understand seniority. Whether it’s because of their youth or inexperience, or because they’re impatient, they lack the skills to deal with difficult personalities and therefore, often have personnel issues when they become managers early in their careers, in particular when managing Zoomers.
Many in this generation don’t remember a time before Smartphones, email, Instagram and instant gratification. Their preferred communication method is electronic over in person; email and text in lieu of a phone call, but use voice if the message is important and in person if the message is urgent. And even though Millennials tend to type in fragments and run-ons in their texts, you must speak to them with respect, otherwise they will resent it. I’ve also found humor to be the best way to align and connect. Despite being as much as 35 years older than the youngest Millennial, it is possible to find some common “thing” to laugh about.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the things and events that have had a profound impact on the growth and development of Millennials. This was the first generation where children woke up every morning with schedules. They grew up more sheltered than any other generation as parents strived to shelter and protect their children from all the evils of the world. Remember, 9/11 happened as my kids were in grammar school, the first time Americans truly felt under attack on US soil. School shootings and domestic violence has been on the rise for the past 25 years. All this was happening during the longest period of economic expansion in US history (until the pandemic of 2020, yet another global event). These events have shaped Millennials into being the most globally aware, realistic yet optimistic, highly tolerant yet hotly competitive, and full of civic duty generation in our history.
