Instant Gratification Generation in the Workforce
----How can we target the millennial generation with public health, knowing they need instant gratification? This essay will explore how this generation works in the workforce and the impact it has on companies. Through this exploration public health professionals will then be able to know how to target this generation.
Millennial children grew up on with technology, from computers and video games to cell phones and the Internet. Technology surrounded their childhood, and as a result they got things done fast and quickly. They did not have to read chapters on end to find the answer to a question. All they had to do was type the question into a search engine and the answer would appear in a second. This has caused many things to come easy to millennials, and has caused them to become impatient when results are not shown right away. Many have started to question the work ethic of this generation because of their willingness to cut corners and demand to get what they believe they disserve. Millennials are now beginning to enter the workforce, and they have become known as the instant gratification generation at work.
Millennials are very important in the work force place today because they represent around 25% of the workforce in America today. PwC carried out an online survey to 4,364 graduates in 2011 to 31 year olds and under who graduated from college between the years 2008 and 2011. 75% were currently working or about to start a new job, and 8% were unemployed. The other percentages represented self-employment or full-time students. Over a quarter of the participants expect to have six employers in their life compared to just 10% in 2008. A majority, 72%, also stated that they had to compromise with their current job. Only 18% stated that they expected to stay at their current employer for years. A majority also stated that they wanted a good work/life balance, but that this balance is worse then what they through before they joined with their current employer. 41% stated that they would rather have conferences or talks electronically rather than face to face; this has caused conflict with other non-millennial workers and the work structure (Millennials at Work Reshaping the Workplace). Millennials are reshaping the workforce environment with their motivation to rise quickly in the company and to use technology to their advantage. It seems if this is not achieved the generation will move onto a new company.
As baby boomers retire and more millennials move into the workplace companies will need to create new models to accommodate the wide range in generations (Gilbert). Millennials are very different from any other generation entering the workforce; they are highly skilled in technology, are well educated, have energy, and are self-confident. There weaknesses are a desire to get ahead quickly and the need a large social aspect in their lives.
Because millennials will make up 75% of the workforce by 2030 changes need to occur now in the workforce. The average tenure for millennial employees is two years because they want to grow and climb up the ladder. Millennials, it seem, do not want to settle, and if the company will not let them grow they will leave. Therefore, in order to keep millennials around companies need to keep up with their pace; this could include advance opportunities to show investment to the employee.
Along the same line millennials want a coach, not a boss. This is because they want mentorships, not solely direction. Creating an environment where the millennials feel supported and valued will keep them around the company longer (Fromm). In order to accomplish this, then, the employee and employer relationship needs to change and move past just formal work reviews. Instead, on-going check-ins would let an employee know throughout the year what they are doing well with and what they need to improve on. It would also create a friendlier environment. Millennials do not want to work for someone, but want to work with someone. These are just a few examples demonstrating how millennials have impacted the business world in terms of the workplace environment. The effects of this are changes in the system to accommodate millennials and other generations of workers.
Millennials have been described as the instant gratification generation because of technology and Google. Many can not resist checking their emails or smartphones whenever a noise appears. Technology has become the millennials addiction. As Hennigan, one millennial has stated: “I feel that maybe I’m going to miss out on something if I wait to check my text messages and emails” (Alsop). This desire and need to stay connected at all hours of the day is a need for instant gratification. Because of this many social media accounts are extremely successful by providing constant shares, likes, and comments.
Many millennials have their cell phones next to them so that they do not miss any texts or calls. People even check their phone constantly, even if they didn’t notice an alert or ringing. Millennials also expect responses right away to texts and emails, and do not know what to do with their life when there is no Internet. Tooba Ali said the following about the Internet: “The Internet was not working one day on campus, and I got so frustrated that I did not know what to do…I get angry if I can not get what I want right away. On tests, for example, I want to know right away the grade I got and figure out what I did wrong by immediately going on the Internet” (Alsop). This instant gratification has spread past just the Internet and school, and it has moved on to careers. Many millennials want their careers to take off and progress exponentially. They want the instant gratification of pay raises and promotions right away. They do not want to wait around. This is why, as explained earlier, the turnover rate for millennials in the workforce right now is just 2 years. This problem will likely only get worse with the millennials that were born after 2000 because of the never-ending expansion of technology. A popular saying is that patience is a virtue. It seems millennials do not understand this saying, because they do not have patience.
The problem has gotten so out of hand that people had to invent a device so people do not have to watch commercials on their televisions. Along the same line, people do not need to wait for their shows to come on anymore. They are too impatient for that. Due to on-demand, Hulu, Netflix, and others people get what they want when they want it. People no longer have to wait in line to buy tickets. With one click on their phone everything is booked, and many companies offer same day delivery of their products (Alsop). People have been brought up to believe that faster is always better, which has lead millennials to have and need instant gratification. There has even been talk of drones being produced and used to deliver items as quick as 30 minutes to customers so that they do not have to wait all day for their order.
Although the millennials are an instant gratification generation, it is not all entirely their fault. Many companies require their employees to be on call 24/7, so by that means the employees can not have their phone out of their site incase an something happened. Even though many have time off when they go on vacation, they still have to communicate with their work during these days and check their emails. This round-the-clock connection with work has fed the technology addiction, causing it to go out of hand even more so then before.
By having their employees being available at all hours of the day, it does not allow them relaxation and thinking time. This causes them to get distracted easily. This might correlate with those being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. As one can see millennials are an instant gratification generation, but their work is not helping them. Everyone is, in some way, contributing to the problem. To help fix the problem employers need to know that employees can not be available at all hours of the day. There needs to be a balance of pleasure and work.
Many have wondered what the impact of the instant gratification generation of millennials has had on the business. One impact it has had on businesses has revolved around buying product. Even though consumer’s attention spans are low, they are buying more products then any other generation. The millennials want to know “what is it if for them.” Because of this, marketing has changed to meet up with their demands.
Another way marketing in business has changed to meet millennial’s needs is by using pictures to describe the product instead of words. Many millennials do not have time to read through paragraphs describing a product. They want just a few key words and many pictures, so companies have adjusted to meet this demand. The companies are basically showing the products instead of telling about them.
Businesses have also changed how things are perceived to bring in more millennial customers. For instance, instead of having a few very long lines that will turn away millennials because they do not want to wait many stores have opened up many cash registers. This brings in shorter lines and a perceived less amount of time one would have to wait to purchase their items. This is a way of bettering the design for millennials (Millennials: Marketing For Instant Gratification). Overall businesses are finding ways to make things faster for the patient-less generation. Like the always say, the customer is always right. For this generation the customer is always right when they describe how things are too long.
This is why many companies like Amazon and Wal-Mart began doing same day delivery, along with eBay. Video companies need to constantly change because studies have shown that millennials will not wait more than a few seconds for videos to load. Ramesh Sitaraman conducted a study involving 6.7 million millennials using the Internet. The average time to wait for a video to load was 2 seconds. After 2 seconds fewer and fewer people abandoned the site. After 10 seconds only half of the people continued to wait for the video to load.
Instant gratification is not a new topic, but due to the increase in speed with technology and products the term instant has evolved. This has caused people’s patience to decrease over the years. Netflix has used this to their advantage. The company has 33 million people that stream their videos, but only has 8 million that order their DVDs by mail. Because of this the company focuses and advertise the instant streaming of shows and movies found on the website, and does not focus a lot of their time on the mail DVD offer.
A major conflict with the businesses changes is that valuable items take time, but people want the products right away. People can not overcome the urge to have their products right away and be patient. It seems impossible to most to be patient. A perfect example of this is saving money. In December of 2012 the average rate Americans saved in their bank accounts was 3.6%. In December of 1982 this average was 9.7%. There are many reasons why this has occurred, from unemployment to wages not being increased, but a major part of this is from instant gratification.
Due to millennial’s instant gratification need, they no longer think of the long future or plan ahead as much as past generations did. Even though several apps have been developed to encourage savings and tracks the amount, it has not developed as well as other apps like instant gratification game apps like Angry Birds (Wiggs). In order for these companies to be more successful they need to learn from other businesses how to set up their company to please milennials. Millennials want fast, instant gratification. Perhaps instant messages congratulating the customers for saving and sending out daily texts suggesting tips to save money could improve their company. Businesses can not longer be as stubborn as they are. If they want to have their business continue to thrive they will have to give into the demands of the millennials.
From a business perspective there is no harm in selling more items at a faster rate. People have always been impatient in one way or another. This impatience could help businesses grow faster then expected with same day delivery fees. Companies such as Uber, GrubHub, and InstaCart have taken advantage of millennials instant gratification (Wiggs). New companies seem to pop up every day, trying to follow the path of these companies and be successful like them. In order to be successful they promise “right now” products and results. Many dieting programs promise that people will loose pounds in just weeks, even if they know it can be harmful and it is unhealthy.
Many have stated that it is millennial’s faults that the world is like this today. They say that all of this happened because these children were spoiled, but this is not necessarily the case. Millennials have come from all walks of life. One can not sum up an entire generation of people into one category.
Along the same line everyone has benefitted from the instant gratification. It is not just millennials that order same day deliver, use Uber, stream videos, or buys tickets in advance. Every generation does it. Many businesses are also profiting from the instant gratification. Businesses have been advertising instant products even before millennials were born. For the longest time Pizza companies have advertised fast delivery of pizza, and if it did not come with in a certain amount of time after placing the order it was free.
Yes, there are problems that need to be worked out and changed in the workforce, but as a whole this is not a bad system. It is just life. Each generation is known for something. Millennials are just known for instant gratification.
To review, millennials have made a major impacts of the business world in terms of workplace behavior. Millennials function different then other generations at work. They work better in groups, prefer to communicate with technology compared to face-to-face, want to work with their boss instead of for their boss, and need more constant guidance instead of a once a year review. Because they do not have a lot of patience they can get up frustrated and upset quickly, creating possible contention at work.
The effects of this are numerous. Many companies are changing their system to support not only the millennial generation, but also the other generations. While there is still some old- fashioned parts to the employment there are more personal aspects to work, and more meetings are being held with the employer and the employee.
Millennials have been termed the instant gratification generation, and this is correct. Due to the Internet and receiving constant attention from social media with likes, comments and shares they believe that it should be this way in the real world as well. They do not want to wait to receive items, so they are willing to spend extra money to receive their products that same day.
The business world impact of this has been to learn and adapt to the new demands. Instant downloads and same-day deliveries are now everywhere. Many companies, like Uber and Amazon, have taken this and have run with it. They now have an advantage because they have drawn in millennials to their companies. As more millennials enter the workforce the instant gratification will only grow more exponentially. Because millennials will consume over a quarter of all employees, it is important that businesses adapt. The future of companies depends on this.
References
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