8 Common Characteristics of the Millennials and their impact in the workplace

The millennials also commonly called the Baby-on-Board Generation or the Facebookers. They are about 80 million young adults and they that are either in the American workforce or getting ready to join. The millennials are the people that were born between 1982 and 2004, and their population in the workplace in America has been on the increase hitting 36% of the total U.S. workforce in 2014, and it is projected to comprise about 46% by the year 2020. Millennials in the workplace are known to be great team players, collaborators, socially conscious, highly educated, tech-savvy, and they embrace diversity much more than the generations that preceded them. There is a leadership vacuum being created with the growing number of Baby boomers (Baby boomer is a descriptive term for a person who was born between 1946 and 1964)going into retirement, the millennials will be expected to bridge the leadership gap because of their increasing population in the U.S workforce.

Companies are now in intense competition to get a larger share of this group of people for the creativity and new perspectives that they typically bring to organizations. Do you have a millennial in your team at your workplace? Are you currently looking to bringing a millennial onboard? In order to bring out the best in them, every organization needs to understand how to properly utilize the millennials to ensure that they stay engaged. Here are 10 common characteristics of the millennials and their impact in the workplace:

1. They are tech savvy:The millennials are the group that mostly stays abreast with technology much more than any generations before them. You can find them on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchats, and they embrace the sharing economy by using Airbnb, Uber, DogVacay, just to name a few. Since modern technology is now taking a larger share of our personal and professional lives, hiring a tech savvy employee will be prove to be more beneficial to companies in the new technology era.
2. They don’t save enough towards retirement:The millennials are falling behind in retirement savings due to their huge student loan and consumer debts. According to a survey conducted by GOBankingRates, a whopping 72% of millennials have less than $1,000 in savings. With little retirement savings, there is a tendency that they will work longer probably getting to age 70 or older.
3. They push off buying houses:According to a report from Bank of America, 68% of millennials are currently living in a home that they would like to change when financially possible. The homeownership rate among the millennials is about 30% compared with about 60% for the Gen X (Gen X, is the name given to the generation of Americans born between 1965 and 1984).The fact that they are not buying homes like the previous generations makes them more flexible to move anywhere in search of greener pastures.
4. They are active on social media:The Facebook generations are very active on almost all social media platforms, they share pictures and status updates more frequently than the prior generations. They prefer to communicate using text messages or WhatsApp much more than making actual calls. They also prefer to use instant messaging platform for office communication rather than the traditional email system.
5. They are brand loyal:Millennials love cool stuffs. They typically stay loyal to any brand that they love, and that are more convenient to use with more features at lowest cost. According to a survey by AIMIA on US Millennial loyalty, they found out that 57% of millennials compare prices in store before making a decision to purchase any item.
6. They love flexibility:The millennials love flexible schedules on their job in order to achieve work-life balance. They do not like the traditional 9-to-5 schedule preferring to work remotely where and when it’s suitable for them, and they are often able to get their task completed. They do not cling to job security like the prior generations choosing instead to work in companies that offer freedom and flexible schedules. In a recent survey conducted by FlexJobs, 82% of millennials responded that work-life balance with flexible schedule is a big factor in choosing a job that best suit them.
7. They are big side hustlers:The millennials are big hustlers, having side gigs that they come back to after office hours. Majority are using their side gigs to make money in order to quickly get out of debts. According to a new survey by CareerBuilder, about 39% of workers ages 18–24 and only 22% of those ages 45–52 have some side gigs. This may impact their overall commitment to their regular jobs.
8. They embrace health & wellness:The millennials are big on keeping fit and staying healthy. They take keeping healthy as a lifestyle, they go to the gym more frequently, they apps to track their training data and they choose healthy meal and smoke less than the previous generations. They are often willing to share their health goals with their friends and families. Staying healthy is good for business because they will have less sick time requests.

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