Millennials: the generation of today in the workplace

It’s thé generation we need to focus on. They are playing an increasingly crucial role in the workplace. This is because they are flexible, switch quickly and ‘mastering’ digitally. They dare to dream and ensure that these can become reality. One of the reasons for this is that the average age of entrepreneurs has fallen enormously since this generation. Almost half of all entrepreneurs who start a business are younger than 35 years old. Ten years ago that was still 40 percent. Especially the part of starters up to the age of 25 is increasing. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this after an analysis of new figures. Millennials are no longer juniors and connect the juniors and seniors in the workplace as professionals. They can easily identify with the generation before them, but generations after them also understand. As a result, they have the age for the right dose of experience and are not stuck in the role they play at work. They are eager to learn, which makes them open to new input, but they also have a strong opinion and will do everything they can to realise their ideals.

The biggest difference between Millennials and all previous generations is that they grew up very naturally with technology. Generation Z, born between 2001 and 2015, has no life without the Internet. They were born in the digital age and cannot imagine a society without the internet. They are also often called ‘digital natives’ according to Youngworks. Born and raised media consumers. For the Millennials it was special to experience how the internet became normal in their lives. They were the guinea pigs for various social media platforms. Think of Hyves and MSN. The forerunners on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. In their teenage years, they received the first mobile phones that sent a lot of text messages.

This also means that they use technology more easily than previous generations. This helps them in the workplace, where technology is becoming increasingly important, but also in everyday life. Where older generations are often overwhelmed by all the new developments, the Millennials have been used to going along with new technology all their lives. But there is also a downside: Millennials are very busy with their image through social media. For example, they feel a lot of pressure to have as much fun as their friends radiate online and half of them even say they spend more money because of it, according to a study by Learnvest in 2017.