MILLENNIALS ARE REVAMPING THE WORKPLACE

The future of work has become a steady topic with startups, entrepreneurs, co-working spaces and more. Through technological advancement and the demands of millennials, the workplace has adopted many changes that is shifting the way we work, where we work and how we work.

Millennials are the new generation of employees. According to the Pew Research Center by 2025, millennials are expected to make up 75% of the workforce. More than half of the workforce will be comprised of individuals who are social media and digital natives, focused on successful careers while building community and personal well-being.

Here are three driving factors to changes in the workplace, with social media and millennials at the foundation.

BUSINESS ARE FOCUSED ON COMMUNITY.

The future of work talk goes hand in hand with community building. Years ago, businesses and organizations focused primarily on strategy that led to high-yielding results directly affecting the bottom line. Now, community is at the center of that strategy and shared values and culture is driving the bottom line.

The demand of social media has charged startup founders and business managers to focus on their online communities. This focus has become a repeated core aspect of a business, reflecting on consumers’ (especially millennials) need to live and thrive in community.

MOVING BEYOND CUBICLES
With the workplace evolving, employees no longer have to confide to clusters of cubicles. Now, more than ever before, businesses are building remote and virtual teams. Employees are packing up their desks with the option of working from home or anywhere with Wifi accessibility. Co-working spaces are popping up all over the country, providing alternatives to the every day office life.

TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTIVITY
And with productivity in mind, new social media platforms and technology tools are being developed to coincide with this new workplace culture. Social media platforms like Google+ and Skype are keeping remote teams in constant communication. These tools are replacing those 3-hour long meetings, with quicker and more productive ways to brainstorm, communicate and achieve company goals. Together, social media and technology has helped in team collaboration and while much of these collaborations may now happen online, organizations still work to keep human interaction and authenticity alive.

WHO IS A WRITER? - MY FINAL POST... FOR NOW

Who is a writer?

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Those are the words from Toni Morrison, an American novelist, editor and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. However, those were always the words from professor Robert Kalm this semester. Write an essay, write a script, write a wiki, write a pitch, write a social media strategy, write, write, and write.

I was never afraid of writing, but I wasn’t sure if I was really up to the task of writing so much, about so many things.

So who is a writer anyway?

Writers are storytellers. Writers are historians. Writers are filmmakers. Writers are novelists. Writers are disgruntled readers. Writers are journalists. Writers are policy makers. Writers are people who shape the world and experience. Writers are dreamers. Writers are meaning-makers. What they all seem to agree on, however, is that writers are people who have something to say to others. So who is a writer? A writer is anyone who has something to say.

For a long time, I believed that you had to be born a writer, that you should show promise at an early age, be in love with the process of writing all the time and never feel fulfilled unless you were writing. I know better now. Writing, like most things in life, is a skill you work on. I should quote these lines because as I write them, I can actually hear them from my editor, I mean, my professor. Almost everyone isn’t a good writer when they start out, said Prof. Kalm on multiple occasions. Even those who are born with a certain skill at writing aren’t as good as they could be and need to practice their craft to make it better. Writing has less to do with any natural talent than it does with having ideas and perseverance. You write something and that will be your first draft. Then you and your editor will find opportunities to improve that piece and write a second draft. Then the third draft will come, followed by a fourth, and even a fifth. You’ll publish your piece and when you read it, you’ll still think there was room for improvement. In other words, there’s no magic, it’s all about practice. “Writing is a craft, not an art,” said William Zinsser, an ally for the past 13 weeks on this journey.

“Who am I writing for”

That was a question from Zinsser. Right now and following my professor’s instructions, I’m writing for myself. I’m looking back over my work and I see that writing about millennials, is something I really enjoy.

During the past thirteen weeks, I’ve discovered that millennials are an amazing generation, with high potential, and an impressive purchasing power. Those are the ones who transformed the way we communicate; they invented the concept “Social TV”, just because they can’t avoid being multi-tasked. I wrote that in terms of the workforce, millennials no longer value the traditional workplace rules of dress code, reprimands for being late, and the so-called “job-work balance”. They (we) love other intangible benefits such as a friendly work culture, freedom to listen to music. They prefer to work for 12 hours today and only 4 hours tomorrow. Millennials hate monotony. I do too.

When I read my posts, I feel I’m shaping my voice to talk about millennials in a way that is not common in traditional media. I don’t want to talk about them as a weird species controlling the world, but as the biggest age grouping in American history.

Marketing to millennials is both an enlightening look at this generation of consumers and a practical plan for earning their trust and loyalty. I think my blog is a liaison between millennials and companies. On one hand, I understand the marketing industry, and on the other I perfectly know millennials. I know how they feel, what they want and how they want it. I also know what they like, dislike, and hate.

I want my blog to be the key to persuading the customers who will determine the bottom line for decades to come. Millennials are here to stay, and they’re not going anywhere. And I will always be here to write something fair about them.

“The most important sentence in any article is the first one,” said Zinsser and I started with a powerful quote from Toni Morrison, “if there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I just started the first few chapters of my book about millennials. Who is a writer? I’m a writer.

TRAVEL LIKE A MILLENNIAL

I’m going to Europe in a few weeks and I’m really excited. When I told my co-workers about this whole idea and then shared my itinerary they couldn’t believe it. They thought that vising Prague in the Czech Republic, Munich in Germany, Hallstatt and Salzburg in Austria, and Istanbul in Turkey was a very expensive vacation.

I realized that all my co-workers are baby boomers. Traveling is been in easier for our generation then any other. Getting away to a different state, country or continent has never been simpler. You owe it to yourself to get on Airbnb right now to see what kind of deals going on in the next date over. Often you can stay somewhere for 40 or 50 bucks a night. You’d be amazed at what a change of scenery can do for your mindset. Traveling is not expensive; it’s totally affordable.

Here are some tips from millennials:

Ignore these excuses:

“I have a family!”
Take them with you

“I can’t take off work to travel!”
Go on a weekend

“I don’t have the money to-”
Go camping

“I can’t stay anywhere overnight!”
Take a day trip.

Here’s the thing — your brain is designed to assimilate and ignore as many things as possible. This includes surroundings. How many times have you driven all the way to work without remembering the process?

When you find yourself in a new area, you don’t have time to stress about work or family or personal crises because your mind has SO many things to process.

Step out and get away from the noise. A little headspace goes a long way.

I’ll share lots of photos in Social Media from my trip to Europe. I can’t wait!