millennial privilege

As Millennials, we grew up in an era of immediate, predictable results. The Internet and mobile devices taught us that if we entered the right letters or numbers, we would get the information we needed instantly. That type of activity translates into the Millennial mentality in the sense that we anticipate that if we meet certain requirements – in work or in school or in life – we should get what we want, when we want it.

That’s called privilege. And it’s a difficult beast for non-Millennials to battle.

For example, on more than one occasion, I’ve heard my peers explain that they will get into this or that school or get this or that job/promotion because of their gender and/or race. That’s not to say these folks don’t meet the academic and experience requirements for such schools/jobs/promotions, but their ability to say things like, “I’m a woman of color, so I will get in to a top MBA program,” speaks to the personality of Generation Y.

It is precisely Millennials’ assumption of privilege and expectations for immediate results that can make them difficult employees to manage. Management professor Jane Gibson (2009) and her colleagues found that when asked to rank a list of qualities in order of importance for career success, Millennials ranked “loyalty” lower than both Generation Xers and Baby Boomers. This highlights the notion that when Millennials do not have their needs and expectations met, they will likely jump ship. In fact, 91% of Millennials expect to stay in a job for less than three years, meaning that they could have between 15 to 20 jobs over the course of their working lives (Future Workplace 2012).

So what’s the point? Millennials simply need time to learn and grow in the real world. Once they realize that the workforce is not at all like college – where you get graded and where it’s pretty clear how to get the letter that you want – their sense of privilege should begin to dwindle. In the meantime, their managers and employers need to ramp up their coaching and mentoring efforts to help guide these Millennials toward success in the workforce.

It's a difficult undertaking, but absolutely necessary, as Millennials - with their different values, expectations, and needs - form the future of the workforce.