WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION?
A word from the editor. Dear followers, on December 26th 2017 a mean hacker attack invalidated the entire Montecarlotimes’website. Today we are pleased to re-publish some of the most liked posts. Yours truly, Ilio Masprone – Knight of the Principality of Monaco for cultural merits, with the Team.
by Marco Volpato MONACO. The so-called millennial generation (all those young people who reached adulthood with the change of the century, in 2000) is perhaps the most selfish, narcisistic group of individuals in the history of man. The fact is that also if there are plenty of hardworking and reasonable millennials out there, as a whole research confirms that the millennial bracket is though to manage. So, what’s the deal with the millenial generation? It looks like the ME ME ME generation is disproportionately attracted to entitlement politics and disproportionately more likely to avoid personal responsibility for their shortcomings. Moreover, they are “unhappy”, as Simon Sinek points out in an Inside Quest interview that is raging on Fb. “They want a job that has a purpose. Right. They want to leave the impact, whatever it is. For some reason however, the Millennials are not happy anyway. Too many have grown up with family education bankruptcy strategies: they have always been told they were special. They could have everything they wanted from life. We’ve given them medals, even to get last. And so when they enter the real world, the image they have of themselves is crumbling.” Sinek states.
The fact is that the crisis that has saddled us all with debt, made millennials in big trouble to find work, they can’t buy homes, start families, and invest as early as their parents once did. The fact is that millennials, whether they want to accept it or not, are in debt by their own accord. Maybe they were duped into this mindset by their parents, and that’s, like, totally their fault, too, but the personal sense of entitlement to have everything at hand, like high-premium education, health system, and other facilities as natural-born right are simply unreal.
So, what’s the deal with the millenial generation? Why are the millennials so indefatigably sure of themselves against the odds? Maybe it stems from millennials having been raised in a time of nurturing parental norms. Or confidence that has been hard-wired into their DNA. Or perhaps they feel empowered by placing themselves at the center of their own social networks, as some spokesman from the Research Centers have pondered. They don’t listen to the doom and gloom and think it will work out in the end. The only certainty is that they believe in the future, therefore we must assume that the Y generation is possibly the the most optimistic the world has ever known.
Of course, if they happen to be inspiring students of higher education, they must understand that, in the eyes of society, medicine is more important than art. Computer science is more important than philosophy. Math is more important than theology. These aren’t values every single person will agree with on a personal level, but when you look at how the collective population is willing to spend their money, these values generally hold true. That’s how a free market works, and that’s why a free market is fair — it is a reflection of the collective values of society. Obviously there’s value in things like art and philosophy, too. Ultimately, though, the only way the world can keep the cost of education in check is to stop pretending like certain programs are more valuable than the market has determined.
As for their “ruining addiction to technology” (Sinek compares it to alchoolism…) we should highlight their “technological dependence” even in the world of work. All eyes are on them: a group of 80 million people in the United States and somewhere over 51 million in Europe, who by 2025 will represent 75% of the world’s workforce. A multiscreen and multi-device group, the first completely digital that is able to use multiple channels and digital devices for their activities. They have the capability and the need to do various things at the same time. 81% have a profile on Facebook and 83% sleep with their cellphone. They are addicted to WhatsApp and to their smartphones, they feel the need to be constantly connected and 45% admit that they could not live without for a single day. According to a study by Cambridge University Press carried out in Europe, almost half of them spend one hour a day and 14% almost three hours a day online.
When asked which social network they use most on a daily basis, WhatsApp is the clear leader with 95%, followed by Facebook (65%) and YouTube (44%). Of course, technology is carefully monitoring this generation Y aged between 17 and 33, as proved by the thousands of studies on their habits to be found on the Internet. Nomophobes and appdicts: this is the way an article in Forbes defines them. Their life is their cellphone, and their main access screen to the Internet is now a mobile screen. They look for support and reassurance among their peers, and they’re extremely social. The super-connected millennials consider themselves better prepared for their working life at the end of their degrees and even score higher in their leadership skills. They’re much more critical, demanding and volatile than the precedent generations. In fact 86% of today’s consumers declare that they would stop doing business with a company if they had a poor customer experience, compared to 59% four years ago. And for the millennials, negative digital experiences online and on mobile devices have a much greater negative impact than on other age groups. Technology wants the millennium generation, and they too are keen to work in technology companies. Of course, the Banks also are carefully monitoring this generation that “would rather go to the dentist than listen to what banks are saying”. A mounting percentage will no longer need banks in coming years.
In view of these data, capturing customers from among this new generation is shaping up to be a major challenge. Millennials look for absolute simplicity with technology, they’re used to accessing everything with the minimum number of clicks, and companies have to work hard to overcome the technological complexity involved in making a transfer or browsing websites. They must offer their products with the utmost simplicity; if Amazon allows you to buy things with a couple of clicks, the banks should also make sure the user feels completely at home. This generation can see they don’t really need the financial sector – as we said, they’ve lived through the economic crisis and they believe that part of the blame for this crisis can be laid at the door of the banks. But this is not the only idea that distances them from banks. There is also the fact that they have been born with technology and demand a very good user experience from any company. Should bank take into account that they are “fans of certain companies”? “If Apple opened a bank, it would have 37 million customers on the first day. Apple doesn’t have customers, it has admirers, and that doesn’t happen in the financial sector”, as a study by Deloitte points out. But not everything about this generation means bad news for the financial sector. They grew up with a much lower perception of risk than other generations. Banks should “exploit the fact that millennials are used to surrendering their data without any resistance without a second thought.” This benefits companies and banks by making it easier to learn about their preferences. This is a very well-educated generation with very clear ideas. They are not willing to work at just anything, they believe companies should generate values, and that’s why they demand that banks should have social responsibility, maximum transparency and values. The millennials work for something more than just money, and that’s why they’re doubly demanding with the financial sector: as employees, because they’re going to demand that companies manage their talent in the best possible way; and as customers, because they look for added value. Now, the greatest challenge for millennials is being able to afford an independent life, surrounded by technology without incurring harsh financial imbalances and with a future savings plan. However, more than half consider themselves to be savers. The millennial generation puts flexible and productive working hours ahead of salaries. Teamwork is something Millennials actually enjoy. Having grown up in an environment that fosters teamwork, most Millennials like working in groups and they highly prefer a sense of unity and collaboration over division and competition.
More than half of millennials say that they have set financial goals, compared with just two out of five of people from other generations. They want flexibility and that’s why they find companies like Google and Microsoft so attractive. A study by Forbes’ consultants points out that Google and Apple were chosen by 11% of the Millennium Generation from among the companies that are most closely identified with the concept of leadership. Coca-Cola (6%) and Microsoft (5%) ranked immediately after, followed by Samsung (4%).
Last but not least they are environmentally aware. Millennials are willing to pay a little more for products that have been made or processed in an environmentally friendly way. 80% of young people would like to work in companies that are concerned about the impact of their activity on the planet. The environmental culture is more deeply ingrained in countries like the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany, although a 7% growth in this sector is predicted for Spain and Italy.
