Seeing how Millennials are changing the workplace will inspire you

Out with the old and in with the new. It is a common phrase and, when it comes to the workplace, it has never been more appropriate. In recent years, a change in workplace culture have occurred around the world. The reason? Millennials. Young workers entering the job market are shaking things up, calling for a reform of the old ways and a reevaluation of what a workplace should look like.

The lifestyle gap between reliable Baby Boomers and idealistic Millennials is stark. Because roughly 10,000 Boomers retire daily, Millennials already represent a third of the workforce—a number that will increase by 2025 to 75%. So, what does this mean for companies as we move forward in 2017? It means that the need to reassess how businesses are run is paramount.

In a recent survey covered by Forbes Magazine, Randstad partnered with Millennial Branding and Morar Consulting to investigate how Millennial employees think. What the surveyors discovered was that nearly 79% of the 4,000 workers being asked said they aspired to be leaders, over 41% of Millennials expect their manager to let them work independently and, when asked which benefits were most important to them, flexibility ranked first by a landslide.

The biggest difference we are seeing is Millennials focus on incorporating technology into the workplace. Millennials are more likely than any other demographic of worker to push their companies to use the public cloud including tools such as Office 365 and CRM while rethinking IT policies. In previous years, concepts like telecommuting and remote working were rare. Now, they are expected standards for most Millennials. This degree of focus on technology is probably the most definitive aspect of young employees. They are part of a world where they collaborate with mobile apps and cloud-delivered software every day, and they expect the organizations they work for to embrace this lifestyle too.

In the coming years, there is no doubt that we will see a massive shift in the culture of our workplaces. With advances in technology and bright-eyed youths entering the workforce, the trends towards an adaptive, tech-savvy business model are sure to continue. So perhaps it isn’t as black and white as tossing away the old and greeting the new with arms wide open. Perhaps a more accurate description for the future of successful companies will be their ability to reinvent the old and collaborate with the new.