Increasing influence of Millennials

Description:

Born from 1980 through 2000, the Millennials are well established in the workplace today, and the next generation is showing up with a whole new perspective, a different set of values, a distinctive work ethic. Today the Generation X’ers are managing them, but in the future more and more Millenians will gain influence both politically and within the working environment. Millennials are sociable, optimistic, talented, well-educated, inclusive, open-minded, influential, and achievement-oriented. They’ve always felt sought after, needed, indispensable. They arrive in the workplace with higher expectations than any generation before them, they’re connected and switch employer if the job doesn’t match those expectations. They communicate with thousands of their cohorts with one click of the mouse. Seven key trends of the 90s and 00s had a profound effect on their generational personality: focus on family, scheduled/structured lives, multiculturalism, terrorism, heroism and parent advocacy and globalism.

Enablers:

• Technology: television, cellular phones, computers, game consoles and mostly the internet enables the millennial to keep in touch with a fast moving world and his cohorts
• Wealth: more wealth enables more technology and supports an easy going life
• Liberalism: Liberalism supports the open-minded Millennial

Inhibitors:

• Economic downturn: less wealth and mostly youth unemployment affects the Millennial. He will be open to different kinds of addiction: drugs, obesity and technology
• Aging population: the longer Generation X stays working, the less chances the Millennials get.
• Drugs: Millennials live with no lack of wealth, drugs can hinder the Millennial to positively develop.
• Obesity: watching television on the coach with snacks hinders the Millennial to positively develop.
• Technology addiction: In Japan the phenomena of Hikikomori exists already. This phenomenon of reclusive adolescents and young adults who have chosen to withdraw from social life — often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement due to various personal and social factors in their lives. These people often are obsessed with (online) (role-playing) videogames and television. They communicate over internet only.
• Workaholism from parents: family orientation is a basic trend for the Millennial, a lack of this will enable chances of addictions.

Paradigms:

The emerging Air companys' all sorts of marketing programs aimed 'Frequent Travelers' is a very good example. Nowadays, there are people who travel so much that merely gaining milage services cannot satisfy them, and they bring so much profit for the air companys that they try all means to retain this group of travelers their roylty. Some even come up with special class which provide personal services above First Class!

Experts:

Claire Raines: Connecting Generations: The Sourcebook Neil Howe, William Strauss: Millennials Rising : The Next Great Generation

Timing:

The Millennials generation is born between 1980 and 2000, they will gain influence in the next 40 years as the Generation X’ers (born from 1960 to 1980) will retire.

Web Resources:

Managing Millennials: http://www.generationsatwork.com/articles/millenials.htm
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori