One of the billion or so complaints about working with millennials is that they expect too much from the workplace. Millennials want flexibility. They want to work at home. They want to spend time with their families.
As one commenter responded regarding an article about millennial trends, "When I was a child in the 40s and 50s (admittedly a long time ago), we just made do."
Hold on there, Sparky. "We just made do?" Does that mean progress is bad? Because here are some other things we "made do" with in years gone-by:
Workplace innovation of all kinds come from people asking, why not, as in...Why not recognize that people have personal lives? Why not offer flex time? Why not consider families part of the work-success equation? Especially since it's becoming clear that people work better that way.
To their credit, Millennials in the workplace are asking those questions, getting rid of that tired old phrase, "but it's always been that way," and valuing cultural progress as much as technological progress.
And just as pioneers in smart phones and computers did, the goal will be to leave the workplace a little better than they found it. If the rest of us are smart...we'll let them.
As one commenter responded regarding an article about millennial trends, "When I was a child in the 40s and 50s (admittedly a long time ago), we just made do."
Hold on there, Sparky. "We just made do?" Does that mean progress is bad? Because here are some other things we "made do" with in years gone-by:
Manual typewriters
Carbon paper
Z modems
Dial-up internet
Telexes
Three television channels
Flash cubes
Waiting for the Wizard of Oz to be shown on TV once a year
Mimeograph machines (although the smell was all kinds of awesome)
Outdoor plumbing
Pony Express
The Struggle to Understand Millennials in the Workplace
It's funny because in none of the above cases would we look back wistfully and tell people to accept the status quo. But only technological advancements seem to make the grade. Somehow scientific gizmos that make life easier for us are progress; cultural advancements that make work nicer are just soft. Nobody ever says, "We had to write ye-olde memos on parchment using a feather quill and an inkwell; so you should, too." Yet it somehow seems logical to say, "We had inhospitable workplaces back then. That's just the way it is."Workplace innovation of all kinds come from people asking, why not, as in...Why not recognize that people have personal lives? Why not offer flex time? Why not consider families part of the work-success equation? Especially since it's becoming clear that people work better that way.
To their credit, Millennials in the workplace are asking those questions, getting rid of that tired old phrase, "but it's always been that way," and valuing cultural progress as much as technological progress.
And just as pioneers in smart phones and computers did, the goal will be to leave the workplace a little better than they found it. If the rest of us are smart...we'll let them.
