Hayden Myers, Negosentro | 2017 felt like the world’s longest year, with so much happening all at once, and with unsuspecting landmine around every corner. There were so many things that were left in the wake of the last year, some of them the world is still trying to come to terms with, some good, some bad. But really if somebody had to ask me to sum up 2017 in a few short words they would more than likely be words like Trump, Feminism and Millennials and no that’s not to say that year consisted solely of these things but they took up a lot of time, a lot of learning, listening and trying desperately to understand how and why the world became so fascinated by these terms, people, phrases and ideas.
However, for the purpose of making this post succinct lets just focus on one of them, millennials, like with most things millennials get a bad rap with reams of articles written about how lazy, entitled and tethered to their phones they are. But with a year of speculation, judgement and assumption behind us, us reprobate generation Y have decided in 2018 it’s about time to set the record straight, to put an end to all the lies and speculation circling us. People try to label everything, thinking if they give it a definition, if they box it that they will understand it better. The truth is it’s impossible to try and group the millennials into one category in which we are all the same – because despite what you may think we are all different. There is so many misunderstandings surrounding millennials especially in the workplace – so in hopes of getting more millennials in the work space here is an article – a true one – about what it is we are looking for from our advertising agencies, law firms, digital marketing agencies, publishing houses and any other ‘workspace’ that is thinking about potentially taking on some generation Ys.
Things Millennials Actually want From the Workplace
Equality.
You would think this isn’t something that necessarily need to be said but believe me it does. Yes, we (millennials) are young but we are still employees, with a contact, we have been hired despite our ages and our lack of experience the company obviously felt that I would still be able to fulfill our job description. I am your colleague; your team mate your equal – please treat us as such. Don’t undermine us or micromanage us – we are capable regardless of what you may or may not think.
Affirmation
We know everyone think we are the participation trophy generation, but it is important to tell people when they are doing thing well. It’s important in the workplace but also just as a general human? To like to be nice and spread kindness? How do we know that what we are doing is right if you don’t let us know? We don’t need a trophy an email, or text would suffice.
Remuneration
We would like to be remunerated for our services, this is applicable especially for those of us working in the arts as mentioned before we are young with little experience but that doesn’t mean we are any less deserving of a salary that reflects all our time, effort and commitment.
Priorities
Forget your bottomless coffees and free pizza once a month. These aren’t things that we actually want – especially not from our place of work. If you just treated us like actual employees and paid us a decent amount, we could afford to buy our own coffee.
Growth
Growth is important for every employee to feel like they have. We, just like everyone else, don’t want to feel stagnant, we want to feel like we are growing, like we are evolving or at least learning. Don’t keep us in the intern roll or the same silly job role for years because you feel like we are not … again… experienced enough. You are our experience. Help us grow. Give us something that will help us gain all the skills and experience you feel that we lack. We would rather be thrown into the deep end of deadlines, tasks and responsibilities instead of multiple coffee orders and how to answer the phone courteously.
Be Transparent
Most companies, the startups and the big corporate ones have formulas, rules and regulations that don’t make sense and when we – the millennials or any person who hasn’t been brainwashed into thinking that there is only one way to do something asks why it is we do that? Or propose another way to do something we often get answers like ‘because I said so’ or ‘stick to the processes’. We aren’t suggesting that we do a 180-degree flip on how the business is run but give us valid answers. Don’t make us feel like small children who don’t want to go to bed at bedtime. We want to feel heard like we have an opinion that we are valued. Yes, we are young, and we still have lots to learn but if you just brush off our attempts to understand and give us answers like ‘because I said so’ we are never going to learn and or understand.
The ‘M’ Word
Please do not call us millennials, just avoid the ‘M’ word all together. We don’t call you the ‘Baby Boomers’ or make office jokes or wise cracks about the thing you like and the things you do based on the year you were born. You don’t really know us as individuals so don’t try and put us in a box that we don’t exactly fit in. Don’t label us or make us participate in what you think about us like your unproductive unnecessary bean bag ping pong playing office culture.
