Millennials at Work- Reshaping the Workplace Culture

This study explores the working styles of Millennials and how they are reshaping the workplace culture. It discusses the changes brought by Millennials, challenges and benefits they pose, and summarises relevant subject areas.

Running head: INTEGRATED BUSINESS MANAGEMENT PROJECT
Integrated Business Management Project
Millennials at Work- Reshaping the Workplace Culture
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction to research topic......................................................................................................2
1.1 Problem statement.................................................................................................................2
1.2 Research questions.................................................................................................................3
2. Literature review..........................................................................................................................3
2.1 Performance of Millennials at workplace..............................................................................3
2.2 Changes brought by millennials at workplace.......................................................................3
2.3 Challenges and benefits are given by millennial at workplace..............................................4
3. Summarising relevant subject areas.............................................................................................5
4. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................6
Reference List..................................................................................................................................7

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1. Introduction to research topic
Millennials are also known as Generation Y and they are following Generation X.
Millennials are the young generation who reached their adulthood at the turn of 21st Century (De
Vaney 2015). Millennials are marked by the increased utilisation of communication
technologies, media and they are familiar with digital technologies. Post-war of Baby Boomers,
Millennials were brought up in a liberal way and they are civic-minded. In this study, the
working styles of Millennials are described with the theoretical approach with taking help of
secondary data sources. Regardless of the age of Millennials, the people are emotionally
committed to the workplace and they try to find the works that suit them.
1.1 Problem statement
Millennials in the workplace are young, smart, brash and they are savvy with
technologies and latest gadgets. Management in the workplace understand the generation gap
and they deploy the employees in such a way where bonding among the employees must be
good. There can be a cultural clash between baby boomers and Millennials as their process of
thinking and working style may not match. Millennials are the pioneer of technologies and open-
minded thinking, baby boomers and Gen-X think that Generation Y brings attitude at the
workplace (Smith and Nichols 2015). Millennials are goal oriented, they have expectations, they
do not afraid of workplace changes and they find creative challenges at the workplace.
Millennials' differ in the application of new age workplace culture of gig economy, work-life
balance, flat corporate culture and social consciousness (Pomarici and Vecchio 2014). In the
Australian workplace, 18% of the employees in the workplace are aged after 58 and this
projected to reduce by 11% by 2030 (Pwc.com 2018). Millennials mainly bring the workplace

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culture by bringing the technologies, social media at the workplace, immediate feedback culture
and doing knowledge-based jobs. They choose the career paths that are less predictable and more
dynamic.
1.2 Research questions
1. How are Millennials reshaping the workplace culture?
2. What changes are employed in the workplace by the Millennials?
3. What could be challenges and advantages brought by Millennials at the workplace?
2. Literature review
2.1 Performance of Millennials at workplace
Millennials are born after 1982 and their thinking process is different than baby boomers.
Managers in the workplace try to exploit the Millennials as they have positive outlook and
qualities that the managers seek. Within a workplace, team bonding can become weaker if the
poor management style is employed. Baby boomers, Gen-X and Millennials need to work
together with the cohort. As stated by Pinzaru (2016), the performance of the Millennials is
different from Gen-X and Baby Boomers as they are the top employees and organisation's most
effective assets. They can use technologies, they are fresh thoughts of the organisation, they
believe in work-life balance and they focus on social-entrepreneurship. The performance of the
Millennials is an important matter for the employers as they have been entering the workplace in
vast numbers and they will shape the workplace for many years to come. Millennials already
take 26% of the overall work and it will reach 50% of the global workforce (Deal et al. 2014).

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2.2 Changes brought by millennials at workplace
Millennials have brought the concept of loyalty-line as Millennials are loyal towards the
employers. In 2010, a statistic showed that Millennials are expected to work between three and
five employers in their lifetime. Millennials and Gen-X both have experienced the recession and
tough time have provided an urge to compromise in expectation of salary (Choi et al. 2015).
They can work in different roles in the workplace and they try to work with the current employer
for long-time. In addition, according to DeVaney (2015), Millennials are committed towards
personal life as they have brought the concept of developing a work-life balance. Flexible
working hours and the idea of gig economy are the concepts brought by them. Millennials are
completely fine with working in the multicultural workplace and they are techno-generation.
They are moving up to the leader faster and Gen-Y tries to provide the waning significance of
corporate responsibility (Pomarici and Vecchio 2014). Millennials love to travel and they are in
love with going overseas for a job assignment.
2.3 Challenges and benefits are given by millennial at workplace
Millennials pose challenges to the organisational productivity when the employees glued
to the social networking sites or busy with online shopping sites. Understanding the generational
gap is very essentials for the managers and recruiters. Millennials leave the employers in short-
span of time and thus created alarming concern to the employers. Millennials want flexible
working hours and ‘work-from-home’ facility; therefore, managers face challenges to manage
them. Generation Y believe in casual dress at workplace and dress-code is a burden for them
(Papavasileiou and Lyons 2015). On the other side, Millennials are spirited with passion and
competitive in nature as they have their own traits and set of working styles. Gen Y love
challenges and they find a balance with the older generation. They define cross-generational

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values (Smith and Nichols 2015). They practice flexibility and they can reach leadership within a
short-span of time.
3. Summarising relevant subject areas
Pinzaru et al. (2016), discussed psychological profile of Millennials and they also found
out the differences between other generations and Gen Y in terms of characteristics, personality,
values and reactions of stress. This study explores the side of the motivation of the Gen Y
through public acknowledgement, recognition and positive feedback from the management.
Jennifer et al. (2010), did the empirical research on the behaviour of Gen Y in the
workplace and they found that behaviour of the Millennials is contradictory. This study focused
on long-term health outcomes, work attitudes and personal factors in the workplace.
Generational differences and similarities are also researched.
Thompson and Gregory (2012), stated about common stereotypes at the workplace of the
employees in the context of politics, education social and economical. The authors opined that
management style must help the Millennials to bring the best from them. Millennials ways of
working are different from the previous generations.
Hershatter (2010), illustrated and illuminated characteristics of generation Y. In recent
time, organisations have been facing the issue of a new generation which is entering in large
numbers as their characteristics are completely different. Gen Y has a relationship with
technologies and it highlights the best practices of the organisation.
Kowske (2010), explained that generational differences are an important factor in the
workplace by showing the work attitudes, job security, turnover issues. Millennials' attitudes in

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work differ from the previous generations; however, effect sizes are depended on the work
attitudes. Gen Y believes in mainly job satisfaction and benefits provided by employers.
Kultalahti et al. (2014), discussed perception of the Gen Y regarding the motivation
factors at the workplace. This study summarised the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at the
workplace; it talked about the many dichotomies of negative and positive factors of motivation.
Paulin et al. (2014), discussed non-profit organisations and its association with
sustainable involvement with the millennial generation. Millennials always support the social
causes and they get autonomous motivation.
Christina and Dimitriou (2015) suggested about American people and their characteristics
and traits. This study compares the Millennials with the older generation and Millennials'
attitudes are described with a relationship with colleagues and opportunities for promotion.
4. Conclusion
The business scenario has changed drastically with time and workforce has been going
through the change. The concept of working culture in the workplace is becoming more flexible
and employees are needed to have more EQ and less IQ. Millennials are used to with the
technologies and hand-held devices that they use in their life. Millennials want to have their own
business and digital technologies provide a better opportunity for creativity and entrepreneurship.
In workplace culture, they bring the flexibility of working hours, gig economy and work-life
balance. In addition, Millennials believe in fast-paced life and they are dynamic. However, their
relationship with the previous generations is blurred as Gen Y is less optimistic. In career and
work life, for Gen Y, money is not everything as an opportunity in career progression takes the
highest value.

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Reference List
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DeVaney, S. A. 2015. Understanding the millennial generation. Journal of Financial Service
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Dimitriou, C.K. and Blum, S.C., 2015. An exploratory study of Greek Millennials in the hotel
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