Building a Sustainable Millennial Workplace
It’s predicted that millennials will make up 35% of the workforce by 2020 and up to 75% by 2030. If companies want to attract and retain the best talent for the future – as well as keep them happy and productive – should they be doing more to shape a millennial workplace that better reflects the expectations and requirements of millennial workers? What would this workplace look like?
The truth is that millennials more or less want the same thing as everyone else:
- Respect, praise and feedback
- To feel included
- The means to be able to make an impact
- The technology to help get their work done efficiently
This last point is important, as it highlights the main difference between the millennial generation and previous generations. Having grown up with digital technology from a young age, millennials have greater expectations when it comes to the technology used in the workplace. If you want to attract the best talent you must have the right tools and develop the right company culture – one built with adaptability at its core.
In this post, we’re going to explore how you can create a business culture that can support a sustainable millennial workplace.
How Can You Build a Millennial Workplace?
There are some expectations of millennials that are widely agreed upon:
- They have grown up around digital technology
- They are therefore more comfortable with tech
- This translates to different expectations and habits around technology in the workplace
Millennials surpassed Generation X as the largest share of the U.S. workforce in 2015, meaning change to traditional working practices is inevitable. You need to build a sustainable millennial workplace to address them or risk losing them to competitors. Doing so does not entail focusing on the different ways generations operate in the workplace. Instead, we need to look at the workplace as a collective. It may sound counter-intuitive, but a sustainable millennial workplace is not a workplace-specific to millennials. Rather, it is a place with cutting-edge technology that enables digital transformation and keeps the business moving forward.
The idea of a millennial workplace is a bit of a misnomer—the real point here is that millennials will be more inclined to work for a company that encourages and facilitates a modern way of working.
The Importance of Adaptability
Investing in technology that is flexible and adaptable to the needs of your employees will set you up for the long-term. Much of that adaptability can be leveraged with cloud IT:
- The speed of access: in the cloud, it is not only easier for workers to access their files, but easier for them to share with colleagues and collaborate on them. From working simultaneously on files to joining conference calls and company social networks, cloud technology gives workers the means to better communicate and collaborate with one another across the business.
The result: increased productivity, simplified processes, unified communication
- Remote working: with content and systems connected via the cloud, workers are able to access their files, data, and programs regardless of their physical location. So, employees can get work done the same way at home or on the train during their morning commute as they might at their office desk.
The result: increased productivity, improved flexibility, increased morale
- Scalability: the cloud can fit the storage, operational, and people requirements your business commands. If you have an influx of new workers, for example, you simply add them to the system and they immediately have access to the same tools and systems as everyone else. If workers leave, you simply remove them from the system along with content and files that are no longer needed.
The result: more reliable infrastructure, cost savings, improved ROI
As younger generations continue to join the workplace, these highly communicative and collaborative areas of IT will become an integral part of how we work. If you adapt now, you can gain an advantage over your competitors and attract the best talent for the future today.
Your Sustainable Millennial Workplace
Because the makeup of each workplace is different, a cloud migration can be a complex decision. You need to think about how to transition your users to a new way of working, as some will find it more difficult to change than others.
Worksighted has done that research for you. With a Cloud Readiness Assessment, we can work with you to understand the individuality of your workplace and how best to approach a cloud migration. We also deploy a sophisticated cloud monitoring tool to gather performance information for the analysis stage—evaluating the results to identify the best plan-of-action to get you to the cloud.
Watch this short video to find out more
The adaptability of your organization will stem from the people and technology in your business. You need to consider flexible IT that can be molded to fit the needs of your workers and business. This is the key to a successful millennial workplace.
For help implementing technology for every member of your workplace, explore Worksighted’s Professional IT Services or get in touch with us today.
Worksighted Team
We are a team of over-enthusiastic people, ready to help our clients utilize technology to spur growth! We love technology and come to work every day eager to solve problems and find ways to impact our clients.
