THROUGH THE EYES OF A MELLENIAL

I made my debut in the working market at the age of 16 as a casual worker for one of the top clothing retailers in South Africa. At the time all I was interested in was getting my first paycheck and the excitement of spending my own money.

Being raised by a single mother, with 3 siblings, I grew up knowing that I would need to work hard if I was to be successful in life and my mother always taught us that you have to earn your way through life.

At the age of 23, I was already a department Store Manager. Not a huge success considering my varsity credentials, yet at the time it was enough for me. I could go out with friends, go on holidays and buy my loved ones gifts around Christmas. Some of my peers were not at the same level as I was. Others were working for big corporate companies while others chose to remain students and furthered their careers.

Fast forward to 2017, seven years later, I found myself in the same industry I started my working career in. The only difference now was that I was in a more senior role, more responsibilities and with colleagues who were ten and more years my seniors (age-wise). I have found myself having to lead people who were old enough to  be my mother and at times that can be a challenge considering my cultural background. Where I come from, youth do not reprimand their elders, but in the business world roles tend to shift daily.

I have only been with my company for over three years and found myself working alongside individuals who have been with the same company for ten years, some even more. 

My initial question was always the same, “What kept you here for so long?”, and I guess that’s the same question many people in my age the group ask at times when work pressures start to mount.

I had a conversation with a colleague who joined the company two months ago and already she was looking for greener pastures. During the entire conversation, I kept on asking her, “why do you want to leave? You just got here” and that is one of the biggest questions which many corporations keep asking themselves when discussing the so-called ‘Millennials’.   

“Millennials (also known as Generation Y, Generation Me, Echo Boomers and Peter Pan Generation) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and ending birth years ranging from the mid-1990s to early 2000s”. (Source: Wikipedia)

Her decision didn’t make sense to me considering the road I had to travel during my career and the distance I still needed to cover. But looking at the times in which we are living in people are no longer driven by the same motivating factors as was with our parents. We all stay in the same jobs or companies for various reasons and the same can be said about why people leave 2 to 3 months in the job. 

Are companies evolving fast enough to keep up with the demanding pace of the labour market? Are company processes and procedures being re-tailored to accommodate the new entrants to the market or is everything just staying the same with the hope that we all conform to the status quo?

Many companies a customer-driven. Their environment and culture are designed with the customer in mind not necessarily the individuals serving the customer. With that being said though, imagine if every single company structured its business model around the needs of each one of their employees. Who's needs would you satisfy first and how would you decide what is acceptable vs what is not. Some companies have made an attempt at putting their employee’s needs at the core of their business, yet this doesn’t answer the big Mellenial question on everyone’s lips.

Maybe it is time that we redefine how we do business. Youth unemployment statistics are on the rise year on year, yet no government official seems to have a concrete solution to curb this. The world requires innovative ideas on how to make processes simpler, more efficient yet cost-effective.

Maybe the so-called Millennials were not meant to work for anyone but themselves. There is always talks of the need for more entrepreneurs who will bring something different to the market, but the challenge with that is most investors are reluctant to place their trust in someone who claims their idea is the next Apple or Facebook, especially when they don’t have any working experience.

So the question remains; How do we solve this Millennial problem?