Future Generations in the Workforce

Our future workforce will be dominated by Millennials and Gen Z.  Research shows that over 70% of Millennials are either not engaged or actively disengaged at work, making them the least engaged generation on record.  A common misconception is that they want to have fun at work; playing games, drinking hand-crafted expresso drinks, and being totally engrossed in social media.  The data tell a much different story. For their Harvard Business Review article, “What Millennials Want from a New Job”, Brandon Rigoni, Ph.D. and Amy Adkins surveyed over 1700 workers in the United States from four different generational groups and found some interesting results.  The data suggest that all generational groups rank having fun at work at essentially the same level; 15 to 20%.  The real takeaway from the data is that Millennials are far more interested than other generational groups in opportunities to learn, grow and advance; 60% vice 40% for Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers.

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Following after the Millennials are Gen Z'ers (born after 1996) who were born into the digital world. They aspire to have security and stability but are more likely to move between organizations and jobs without much forethought.  They are so immersed in technology that they have limited flexibility for exploring other options or adaptations.