Article Smashes Working Millennial Stereotypes

Multi-generational office environments are now the norm, and although many entrepreneurs have written favorable articles about integrating the millennial workforce, Generation Y is still associated with entitlement, laziness and an overdependence on technology.

Guardian reporter Aisha Gani released a trending article yesterday titled “Millennials at work: five stereotypes – and why they are (mostly) wrong,” as part of the series The Trials of Generation Y. Gani addresses “playbour” (work that feels like leisure or play), a lack of security and why this generation’s biggest critics might be themselves:

Millennials will make up half of the global workforce by 2050. Although generalisations are not helpful, broadly speaking members of this generation, born between 1980 and 1994 and also known as Generation Y, are bound together by the fact they have come of age during a severe financial crisis, have been both the pioneers and guinea pigs of technological change, and are more plugged into a global network than their predecessors.

Now they’re in the workforce, it should be no surprise that they are working differently too. But often those differences are reduced to lazy stereotypes. So what are the myths about millennial workers, and how true are they?

1. Millennials set the bar too high because of a sense of entitlement

“The millennials I know are not willing to settle for mediocre careers – they’re working hard to find work that they are passionate about, even if it means doing a boring low-paid job on the side,” said Sofia Niazi, 29, over a coffee in a small bookshop near Waterloo, London.

Niazi, who is highly qualified with multiple degrees, saw getting a teaching qualification as a pragmatic decision. “For Generation Y, the generation who have lived on precarious zero-hours contracts and are confronting impossibly high rents, there is a lot more insecurity and anxiety,” she said.

Read the entire article here.

During the month of March, EO’s social media channels will delve into the current status of the global economy. Follow #EOeconomy to hear real perspectives on business from the people who know best: entrepreneurs. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram!