A Boomer to Millennials: Lessons I’ve Learned and Lessons I’d Offer

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There is no question that the generation gap between baby boomers and millennials is dramatic. It includes a vast array of personal and professional differences that cannot be simply dismissed as so many boomers would like to do. I can’t even count the number of conversations I’ve had with boomer colleagues who complain about the millennials’ “work ethic,” and how difficult it is to manage them effectively.

In US News’ 5 Workplace Stereotypes About Millennials That Aren’t True, writer Alison Green says:

If you’re over the age of 30, you’ve probably witnessed your share of complaining and eye rolling about millennial workers: They’re entitled and expect to get great jobs without paying their dues; they don’t understand how office hierarchy works; they’re high-maintenance; they’re job hoppers – the list goes on and on.

Green goes on to cite that in reality, while there are certainly differences between every generation, most stereotypes that get lobbed at millennial employees just aren’t true. Here are the five of the biggest stereotypes, and why you shouldn’t believe them:

1. Millennials are entitled and don’t want to pay their dues. On the contrary, this generation graduated into one of the worst job markets in recent history. They have staggering student loan debt for degrees that were supposed to give them job security but didn’t, and many studies show that their lifetime earnings will never equal that of their parents.

Adding injury to insult, many millennials have been unemployed or underemployed since graduating and now must compete against waves of more recent graduates whose skills seem fresher.

2. Millennials need special hand-holding at work and are high-maintenance. We’re told that millennials want a constant stream of praise, that they break under criticism and that they require more guidance than generations before them. The reality? They’re far from the first generation to need some adjusting when transitioning into the workforce, and they’re not the first to find the work world harsher than expected after the more nurturing approach of academia. Having a learning curve when it comes to figuring out how workplaces work is pretty normal; it was true of 20-somethings several decades ago, too.

3. All millennials are great at social media. It’s easy to think that because they grew up with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, all millennials are great with technology and social media. It can be easy for managers to think that their millennial hires would do a good job managing the company’s Twitter strategy. Perhaps they will, but making those assignments based on age is as wrongheaded as making them based on, say, what cars the employees drive or where they grew up.

Even millennials who are truly skilled at social media often won’t have the maturity or judgment to figure out the best content to use, how to frame it, how to handle sticky dynamics with misbehaving followers and other higher-level issues. Millennials are no more inherently equipped to excel at your social media work than they are at your public relations or accounting work. They need training.

4. Millennials are job hoppers. Much has been written about milllennials’ alleged propensity for job hopping. They won’t stay at any one job for very long, we’re told. And having seen waves of layoffs affect their parents and older siblings, they don’t feel any loyalty to their employers or expect much loyalty in return.

However, the reality doesn’t back that up at all. In fact, a recent report from Oxford Economics found that millennials are no more likely than non-millennials to leave their jobs in the next six months.

5. Because millennials grew up with the Internet and social media, they have no concept of privacy. On the contrary, the majority of millennials don’t splash their private lives all over social media, according to a 2014 study from Communispace and Google Consumer Surveys. The survey found that half of millennials say they keep the majority of their “real” selves private, with nearly one-fifth saying that none of their real selves is reflected in social media.

As a boomer who has managed several millennials, and as a parent of one as well, I must reluctantly admit the very real truth of these stereotypes. My bad.

So what’s a boomer to do? Refusing to accept the differences, or attempt to understand what motivates millennials, is not an option. In The 2015 Millennial Majority Workforce study, stats show that as of 2015 millennials comprise the majority of the workplace.

I believe that boomers and millennials have much to learn from one another, and that it benefits both groups to embrace their differences and take advantage of what they each have to offer. Some of the lessons I’ve learned from millennials include:

1. Digital Aptitude: Millennials are the first generation to be raised with online media. As young adults, these digital natives quickly adopt new technologies, then adapt them to fit their lifestyles. If something that suits them better comes along, they are quick to move on. Indeed, 24% of respondents in this age group chose “technology use” as the trait that sets them apart from previous generations, according to the Pew Research Center. Cases in point: A millennial staffer showed me a full three years before it was the norm why social media was important to our organization, and then showed me how to set up our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Because of this, we were way out in front on the medium nationally in the industry. And my millennial daughter has taught me many lessons about how to effectively market a business as I watch her use apps to shop online and check in with her pizza maker on the progress he’s making on her pizza real-time. Cool stuff.

2. Workplace Development: According to the MTV “No Collar Workers” survey, a majority of millennials not only want their workplace to be fun, but they also want to make their own hours and eventually be their own boss. Above all, millennials want to be happy at work, so much so that 50 percent would rather be unemployed than work at a job they hate. The most notable misunderstanding for millennials comes regarding the confidence they have in their skills and knowledge. According to the poll, 92 percent of millennials feel their company is lucky to have them as an employee and 76 percent feel their boss can learn a lot from them. “What could be misinterpreted as ‘self-importance’ is a deeper sense of having many new ideas and wanting to contribute, as well as a desire to have their tech skills and savvy tapped by senior managers,” Nick Shore, senior vice president of strategic insights and research at MTV, said in a post on MediaPost. This is my experience as well, and any manager should be thrilled with team members who contribute in this way as it serves the best interests of the organization.

3. Continuous Feedback: In BusinessNewsDaily, writer David Mielach says, “Millennials also crave feedback and recognition from their bosses. According to the survey, 80 percent want regular feedback and recognition, while 50 percent of workers want feedback at least once a week.” So instead of the long-time boomer practice of annual performance reviews, to engage millennials we must instead provide continuous feedback on how they’re performing. I wholeheartedly agree with this approach as I remember a long-ago incident in which I was called to task during my annual review for something I had done a full nine months prior. To this day I remember being mortified that I was not told at the time so I could change my behavior immediately. Ever since then I have tried to bring issues to the attention of my staff as they happen so they have the opportunity that I did not.

So millennials do have some great lessons for boomers, but there are also some things that they can do to combat these stereotypes:

1. Lack of Loyalty: Although perhaps not “job hoppers,” there is an increased frequency in the number of jobs millennials take which can elevate the level of distrust by their boomer employers about loyalty to the organization. Companies invest signficant resources in hiring and training them, and are hoping for their strong performers to continue with the company to maximize this investment.

2. TMI – Total Transparency: There is a lack of awareness around privacy issues with many millennials. We have all heard about issues (and seen the lawsuits) relating to the practice of millennials posting inappropriate information on social media sites. This can be in the form of posting inappropriate personal information on their social media pages that are open to the public or posting personal views when acting on behalf of their employer. These types of activities can not only cause embarrassment and PR problems, but can actually cost the company money. It’s understood that millennials have never known anything else but online transparency, but with responsibility must come an understanding of appropriate uses and how too much information can negatively affect a company’s brand.

3. Personal Relationships: Because they have been born and raised on technology, communication by millennials via this medium is standard and preferred. In the Harvard Business Review article Digital Natives Are Slow to Pick Up Nonverbal Clues, this can be costly for millennials:

“Other research suggests that excessive, long-term exposure to electronic environments is reconfiguring young people’s neural networks and possibly diminishing their ability to develop empathy, interpersonal relations, and nonverbal communication skills. One study indicates that because there’s only so much time in the day, face-to-face interaction time drops by nearly 30 minutes for every hour a person spends on a computer. With more time devoted to computers and less to in-person interactions, young people may be understimulating and underdeveloping the neural pathways necessary for honing social skills. Another study shows that after long periods of time on the internet, digital natives display poor eye contact and a reluctance to interact socially.”

So, the ability to connect with people on a personal level and build social aptitude is even more important today as it is now a differentiator for hiring managers. Millennials must learn how to communicate effectively both online and face-to-face in order to build professional relationships that are based on trust and credibility.

There’s no question that millennials have a lot to offer the workplace, and to engage them should be top of mind for managers. As Rich Hein said in his article for CIO.com’s How to Hire, Manage and Even Appreciate IT Millennial Workers, “The bottom line is if you create a company culture that listens to, educates and values your employees’ work and contributions you will find it much easier to attract the talent you need regardless of the generation.”

That’s a win-win for both boomers and millennials.

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