Future of Work: The Millennial Architect

Welcome to another future of work series article. This one is focusing on Gen-Y, AKA Millennials, and how I believe that they will be the defining force behind how our work of the future is really designed. Let's start with the basics..

Who are the generations in our workforce?

Why do they matter?

Before I start this, I'd like to just add a small disclaimer in that putting people and their traits into a micro-demographic isn't the most scientific approach by any means but there is a fair amount of science behind the nature and nurture of us working humans. So we're going on generalisations here as a "typical" skill set, rather than an age.

Anyway.. Each generation, as you can imagine, typically has a very different approach to their career throughout their work lifecycle. This includes how they engage with their employer and what their strengths and expectations are during their incumbency. For example, Baby Boomers are well known for being career long-haulers, meaning that they typically average 3-5 jobs throughout their career. By contrast, Millennials will average around 10 jobs throughout their career and as a result have become known as the "job-hopper" generation. Though Gen-Z trends are still evolving in their early existence, it's anticipated that they will have even more flexibility in job change, predominantly due to the gig economy and the rise of outcome based, transactional type engagements.

Portfolio careers and skill seekers

In the above above diagram from the Josh Bersin Academy, you can clearly see the Boomer-Gen Z transition. Interestingly, Millennials sit right in the middle of the Transparent Job Market and the Pixelated Workforce, meaning that they are in prime position to architect how that plays out in the future, right in the midst of the dust settling after mass socioeconomic change (a long winded way of avoiding using "post-COVID world"... Whoops).

Millennials, for the most part, are portfolio career makers and I would argue that many resonate with the Pixelated Workforce diagram shown above. One of the many benefits of exploring journeys with multiple companies is meeting and experiencing new people and cultures. With that comes experiential learning (my kinda learning!), greater EQ and therefore, knowledge growth, ability and new skills. It's this ability (namely finding and developing new skills), that make millennials so stand-out to their predecessors. Having the means to learn a skill, use that skill at it's prime and then move onto a new skill in demand takes a lot of adaptability and nouse. It's also absolutely critical in our change-driven, technologically centred world and it means that millennials should, in theory, be in the strongest position to take us forward in the world of work.

"What would this look like then?" I hear you ask..

Productivity and purpose at the core

With Millennials being "digital natives", it's no surprise that many workforces (of which, Millennials make up the largest portion) saw productivity increase during lockdown. Though varying statistics have been published, recurring studies suggest an extra day of productivity has been the fruit of our newly enforced regime. So employers enjoying the additional fruit of our labour, what's to entice them or their employees of coming into the office again? There are obviously many fair arguments both ways, but the word coming up again and again is that of purpose. What's the purpose of going into the office? What's the purpose of working from home? What can one achieve in any environment that is beneficial for both them and the employer?

In a recent podcast with Patrick Hull, VP Future of Work at Unilever, he shared that after employees had attended purpose finding workshops, 92% find themselves going the extra mile in their work, compared to 30% of those who haven't yet attended. A powerful statistic, and proof that purpose has a deep routing in our work lives as well as an immense ability to impact our output. So setting purpose as a fundamental foundation to, for example, your talent value proposition, as well as everything in between, could wield massive returns.

purpose-wellbeing-productivity-happiness-creativity-agility-curiosity-caring-loyalty-community-strength.

Collaboration and engagement on another level

Collaboration is another thing that has shot to importance during lockdown. From when we were previously able to mingle around the office and at the pub with friends after hours, to suddenly being locked in our kitchen, home office, bedroom, closets and sheds, it meant we suddenly had to make a concerted effort (AKA death by Zoom quizzing). However, the differences are vast. No longer do you feel the need to look someone in the eye over Teams when they're talking to you or the group. It's apparently okay to be distracted by phones, emails and the like whilst working in groups. The ability to read body language is slashed in half or at times in full without video. Connection has been disconnected.

These are just a few examples of poor traits being driven into our habitual digital working ways that millennials can rebalance through teaching traditional communication skills to Gen-Zers and "digital" communication skills / tricks to older team members. Being on the fence of both worlds, it means that millennials are better equipped at managing the transition from the old world to the new. I'll be very interested to see the anonymised Microsoft Viva analytics from their Topics and Insights modules

This potential new world will need a re-shake though. One that welcomes the creative agility of Gen-Y. Death to the pyramid structure I say. It hampers collaboration, restricts engagement and means you're less you when thrown in front of authority. Create collaboration groups which are level agnostic. Promote autonomy, risk taking and trust. Just do it with damn good governance and controls.

Work-Life-Balance (1) VS (2) Work-Life-Blend

Many have labelled the increase of remote working "the home invasion of work". It has a ring to it, sure, but in reality, we were already checking out emails when we got to bed, when we woke up, during our commute, at weekends, etc etc. So really the work-life-balance never existed.. It was just that we were getting work-life-blend all wrong. It's time to architect something new. And I, a Millennial, have an idea how.

Thank you for reading my rambles.. Until next time!...

Don't be a silent witness, share your thoughts, arguments and ideas in the comments!

Views are my own.