The millennial workplace

The next generation of communicators have arrived in your office. Two of the brightest give their take on millennial wants and needs and what this means for the evolution of the workplace

 

Whether it is “The truth about managing millennials” (Forbes.com, January 31 2016), or “Why the millennials in your office hate their jobs” (New York Post, January 29 2016), or even “3 reasons why millennials are getting fired” (Inc., August 4 2015), the media is awash with coverage of the generation who are about to run the world.

However opinions and facts about people born between 1984 and 1996, otherwise known as Generation Y, vary greatly. In 2013 Joel Stein infamously suggested in Time Magazine that millennials are “the most threatening and exciting generation since the baby boomers” – narcissistic, lazy and entitled career opportunists who are likely to move swiftly away from your company.

On the other hand, in the same year as Stein’s Time Magazine article, PwC published its NextGen survey and suggested that Generation Y are looking for greater flexibility in getting the job done and simply less willing to sacrifice their personal lives to work, compared with generations past.

To get an inside view of this controversial generation, Communication Director spoke to two award-winning young communication professionals. Sonia Khan is press officer at the Department of Work and Pensions UK. Last year, she won the Young Communicator of the Year award at the European Communication Summit for her campaign that challenged attitudes deterring women from taking up roles in male-dominated industries. Pia Warburton, corporate communications manager at Cook Medical Asia-Pacific, won the equivalent prize at the Asia-Pacific Communication Summit for her work on a campaign to spread awareness of the harmful effects of smoking in China (both events are co-hosted by Communication Director).

Jan Wisniewski

Jan Wisniewski is an editor at Communication Director, under his role as an editorial and content manager at Quadriga Media. He works to ensure the Communication Director community has access to genuine insights into the world of corporate communications. He held previous assistant editorial roles at The Conversation Media Group and Street Press Australia.