The workforce is adjusting to meet the needs of millennials.
Members of this group of 70 to 80 million people, born from 1977 to 1997, are entering the workplace with something past generations did not have: a great knowledge of technology.
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, associate professor of management in the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship and author of a book on mentoring diverse professionals, said that in addition to being more technologically-savvy, millennials are more optimistic, positive, diverse, open-minded and work better in teams than past generations.
“They also like personal growth so employers have to offer them those opportunities and get them involved with projects or they won’t have fun and leave the company,” he said.
With so many millennials entering the workforce, it will have to adapt to their needs, Mujtaba said.
“Millenials are more loyal [to companies] than Baby Boomers and Generation Xers if they’re correctly stimulated and having fun,” he said.
However, millennials’ knowledge of technology may come with disadvantages.
Lisa Fuller, Ed.D., professor in the Fischler School of Education and Human Services has worked with several millennials at the university and has noticed that they depend on technology a great deal.
“I don’t think they have the skills to communicate outside technology, but I think that it’s because they’re so technology-dependent that they haven’t needed to do so,” she said.
She said the dependence is not the millenials’ fault but rather that they are not educated on work etiquette as it relates to technology.
“I don’t think education has kept up with the trends. Therefore, these issues are not being addressed,” she said.
Fuller said that millennials not only find information faster, they also expect it faster.
Whitney Walters, freshman biology major, said this was not a bad thing.
“The faster we get the information, the faster whatever you need gets done,” she said. “And in this day and age, it’s all about time.”
