Millennials are Making Work Better
And, thanks to our millennial team members...
We’ve embraced a more millennial-friendly culture here, so we can include the hearts and minds of today’s great people. You’ll find more food and drinks in the offices, health & wellness programs, sports teams (sometimes volleyball, softball or soccer), holiday events (Halloween contests, potlucks and parties). Your colleagues are dressed casually, and we’ve sourced discounts at health clubs, movies theaters, cultural events, and even apartments in some areas. ...more to come.
Millenials or not, the whole team appreciates the more significant elements of our culture that have seen the Company recognized as a "Best Places to Work" in two states for over five years running. The organization is known for:
- Freedom to be creative, take initiative and make things happen
- Direct access to company executives regardless of title
- Employee feedback surveys (that actually implement suggestions)
- Transparency and open communication
- Freedom to share opinion and respect for differing opinions
- Mentorship to grow and improve with a “never stop learning” mentality
- Encouragement and feedback
- Family atmosphere that feels more like home than work
- Ability to be part of decision-making processes
- Dedication to educating employees
- Support of entrepreneurial efforts and outside projects
- Challenging and rewarding work
- Fun work environment
It may sound unusual, but the whole team should thank millennials. When we started in Santa Monica in early 2000, we sought to replicate the usual large-company environment. After all, although we were always a highly tech-enabled company, it was still in a staid vertical (i.e. Supply Chain Management).
Fast-forward to now, and times have changed. We have embraced our tech-centric and people-centric culture. Now that we are larger, we don't need to act large. We need to foster the entrepreneurial, can-do, merit-based attitude that got us here. None of it would be remotely possible without the pioneers who worked in the early days to change the industry. But, more recently, the millennials are shaking up the place.
Thanks to the early pioneers at the Company, everyone has a strong set of typical corporate benefits, but the new generation isn't wowed by that stuff. They are interested in how the culture of a business speaks to them. They've grown up with a startup mentality and embrace iteration and even fast-failure that leads to learning and results. They understand and embrace collaborative technologies. And, what looks like impatience translates into a demand for quick organizational action. More important, millennials are a driving force towards significant, scalable, and lasting social change that will benefit everyone, whether it’s about the environment, socioeconomic diversity, or just a healthier work-life integration.
...always looking for great new people to join in our mission to change how the supply chain collaborates to improve consumers lives.
Dan is the President and CEO of CaseStack, Advisory Director to SupplyPike, and the author of Collaborate: The Art of We. You can check out Dan's Instagram.
Independent Director at ESOP owned Companies
7 年There is "millennial bashing" around for sure. For my part some of the things you hear this group push against - if you really listen, we should all agree with. They challenge some of the crap older generations have put up with. Some of this might not be fixable (a lot of it it) but at least they are willing to question the system we live in.
Being is the evolution of work. ?? Empowering and connecting people through pause, awareness, and sensory intelligence. ?? Speaker | Writer | Guide ??
7 年We are all better when we embrace all generations and the value each perspective brings. You have just described the co-working space I have been fortunate to work in for the past year. Multi-generations (ages 19-75). It is the most creative, supportive, and productive environment I have experienced in years!
Portretfotografie | Programmamaker | Co-creatie | Ontwerpen
7 年https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU
CSO & Co-charing CEO @Institut for Fugtteknik, Co-founder @Scientia Totalenterprise, Inventor, father and husband
7 年How many over 50 have you employed? That age group does not seem to jump from job to job impatient of promotions or fear of growing stuck hence urging for a sabbatical year backpacking. It's the age group that takes critique constructively and make fewer mistakes. It's the age group that brews more coffee when they take the last drop from the pitcher in the coffee machine because they understand that they are part of a community and egoistic behavior prey on colleagues. They are rarely late for work, rarely call in sick and they are loyal. They do not need pinball machines, table football, Friday after work parties, constant feedback, and appreciation or constant feel of inclusion in leadership thoughts and what is going on. Experienced 50-year-olds tend to be very confident in their abilities and their roles hence not vulnerable to external crisis, stress, and pressure. How do millennials perform under pressure? Loudly complaining about the hardship they endure to get sympathies. Millennials are a generation that is dependant on constant praise, appreciation, and sympathies from their surroundings hooked on their social curve performance on Facebook, the Snap, Twitter and not very focused employees. They need their offices to look like home because it takes them twice the time to get the job done - so they spend more time there than their actual home. But they are hard to manage - so I understand the temptation to bribe them with perks. Sir, go through the stack of employees at CaseStack and think how many of these can be replaced by a twice as fast, more reliant and more loyal senior employee. You may pay them more salary because they have families to feed, knowledge and competencies to match your challenges. They do not, however, buy into table football and homey offices. Personally, I do buy your freedom to be creative as a standard condition of running a business to overcome challenges and support of entrepreneurial efforts, but those are not unique to one generation - that's just clever leadership of which I think you are probably great at. But please do not celebrate young for being a competence and lull us into believing that it requires some totally alternative environment to embrace millennials.
Director of Sales - Middle East | MA Luxury Hospitality Management
7 年Millennial a word that have been choosen to be used excessively in 2017 waiting to see what 2018 will bring to us.