Technology and the Future Millenial-Driven Workforce

We've been talking about the great Millennial takeover for quite some time now, and with Millennials projected to rule 75% of the workforce over the next 25 years, things are definitely going to change. Millennials are motivated, innovative, and most of all technically savvy. Just how technical are we? According to a report by Join.Me called “Prepping for the Millennial Workplace Invasion,” 80% of Millennials sleep next to their phones. We are assuming the other 20% are still at home with Gen X parents who won’t let them, but that’s just conjecture. Bottom line is we like to be connected…all the time…even in the workplace. That Millennial on her tablet in the office isn’t just browsing through Facebook or posting pics on Pinterest. Millennials are using apps to do everything from taking notes to conducting meetings. In fact, executives under 35 host roughly 52% of their business meetings online.

Millennials like to stay plugged in, collaborating with others and increasing productivity while still having the freedom to be able to move about, and check in with friends and family. We expect to be available around the clock, so efficiency and work/life balance is important. We want to be able to multitask and not be stuck at a desk in order to be productive, so it’s important that tools are convenient and seamless across multiple platforms. It’s also important for us to trim the fat so we can get to what matters (we’re looking at you, lengthy, unproductive meetings). Quite possibly because we feel we are going to spend so much of our lives working, it’s important for our work to mean something. We value being valued, an area that will definitely need improvement in the coming years as we take over the workforce, because to date, only 28% feel their workplace is making the most of their skill set.

So, it’s time to throw away the mindset that Millennials are just techno zombies looking for an excuse to bury our heads in a social media platform. Technology has become far more integrated into our daily lives. 80% of Millennials text with colleagues and 60% text with their boss. 51% own a laptop, a smartphone and a tablet. And we’re still more likely than our Generation X and Baby Boomer counterparts to create boundaries between our personal and professional lives. As we move toward a more mobile world, we can expect to see a more efficient and collaborative workforce, and you know what they say about two heads being better than one? We’re already leaps and bounds ahead of that.