The Millennials are coming – who cares
Unless you’ve been studiously avoiding them, you will almost certainly have come across articles quoting HR consultants, futurologists and even PR folk, on the rise of the Millennial.
Hot on the heels of previous generations, I have read, Millennials have very different outlooks and wants when it comes to the business of work. Consequently, the received wisdom tells us, working practices are going to have to change.
Sure they are.
Just not any time soon.
If, like me, you fall into the Generation X category you may still coming to terms with the recent news that (here in the UK, at least) you might have to wait until you’re almost 70 before you receive you retire.
So, I’m left pondering the following question… if 20 year old Millennials (for whom the workplace *must* be changed or else) will still have to wait until they are in their 50s before Gen X-ers are no longer above them in the workplace hierarchy (or are at least sharing the workplace with them), who are we kidding that the world has to start beating to the Millennial drum?
This is one of those occasions when the phrase “all in it together” might actually apply truthfully.
We need to stop polarising the issues. All of them. It’s not helping anything.
What we really need, now and in the future, is a more flexible outlook to work, personal life, success, fulfillment and more besides.
Whether it’s adjusting to the (constant) influx of a younger generation of workers, making sure we retain the knowledge and skills of an ageing workforce, or doing something to genuinely address issues like gender inequality, we all need to drop the me-opia and start empathising with others in pursuit of real, lasting improvements.