MILLENNIALS: SETTING FUTURE TRENDS

MILLENNIALS:

The other day, I was with the owner of my printing agency for some specific task. He asked me to give some time because many of his employees have left job. When we discussed as why they have left, it was observed that the younger generation (millennials) is working hard to learn some trade but then switch over to their own business, be it a small one. And this is happening everywhere.

The world is changing fast. Things have been changing rapidly with the advent of information age somewhere in 1970s. Technologies have advanced much faster in these 50 years compared to that in over two centuries of industrial era. New concepts have developed in every aspect of personal and social life of people. The way we earn & spend, the way we communicate, our education system, and the way we gather information, our health care, our physical, social and spiritual environment, and our lifestyle has seen unprecedented changes.

The only constant in the world is change. So change is not going to slow down. In fact, as per Mike Doria, today we are already in the transition phase from information era to innovation era. The generation that is making big impact today is known as Millennial or Gen Y, born from 1981 to 1996 (23 to 38 years of age).

As per Morgan Stanley survey, India is on track to become the youngest country in the world by 2020 with a median age of 29. Today, millennial population is 440 million in India and counts for 34% of total population. Worldwide average for millennial is 27%. By 2022, millennial will number over 450 million in India.

MILLENNIALS CHOICE OF EARNING:

Technology is playing a major role in the lifestyle of youth today. Their learning is becoming more and more dependent upon digital media compared to formal education in Institutions. As per the Global Learner Survey by Pearson, 68% people agree that a vocational training will result in better career prospects compared to formal university degree. 84% of people believe that their career path will be significantly different than that of their parents or grandparents. Let us examine the choices that millennial are likely to adopt in coming times.

JOB OR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The attitude, thought process, behavior and choices of Gen Y makes them different from their previous generations. Their styles of personal grooming, dressing sense, fitness, digital connectivity, social media and entertainment put them far apart from their seniors. Job security has been the most important aspect of earning for Gen X and Baby boomers. But, Gen Y has closely observed them and established that their parents have been putting hard work for whole of their life. But they have always worked under job pressure from their bosses and could not have an exciting life. They could not give justified time to their children, parents and family. Also, they had no leisure time for their own hobbies and enjoyment. So, learning from parent’s mistakes, they are willing to plan their role differently.

By 2020 millennials will occupy 47% of work force in India. And, by 2025 they will occupy 75% of the work force. As per YOUGOV – MINT Millennial Survey, more than 80% millennials believe in freelance work and would consider it in future. According to Delloitte survey, ¾ th of millennials are at present in full time job. But ½ are open to non-traditional employment in future. Also, 43% have plans to leave their current jobs in next 2 years. Only 28% have plans to stay beyond 5 years. As per Census wide survey with 1002 employees, 60% voluntarily left jobs in 3 to 10 years. Also, trends show that 56% job hopped in last 16 months at least once and 3 times in 3 to 10 years.

https://www2.deloitte.com/cn/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/2019-millennial-survey.html

Imagine, when such a large work force is planning for self-employment, what is going to be the business scenario? There is a clear cut indication that their choice will be own nontraditional business. Let us see what makes this as their choice?

WHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

There are 10 top mostreasons for millennials choice of entrepreneurship via self-startups or self-employment.

• Jobs quite often have rigid working environments. This means setting strict working hours, blindly following programs and schedules given by boss, restriction on innovative ideas, limited leave entitlement and unjustified compensation plans etc. Young generation, on the other hand, desires to have flexible working hours, innovation, and freedom to design their own plans and to decide their own remuneration.
• Jobs require employees to work at traditional office space. A lot of time is therefore spent in commuting. To save their precious time, Gen Y, on the other hand, prefer to work at home or public spaces viz. CCDs, McDonalds etc. A new trend of co-working spaces is now emerging. And, more and more young people prefer to use these places for their work.
• Millennials do not like unethical practices adopted by companies. According to Delloitte survey, they will leave a workplace, if their companies do not consider social and ethical practices.
• Gen X approach was strong job security. Gen Y however has a never settling attitude. They want to keep experimenting new ideas and adept to change very fast.
• In job, family suffers at the cost of work. You have to make a balance between job and work. Quite often it is not easy to achieve. And, either work or family life suffers. Millennials want work life integration where both go together well.
• Companies lack agile environment. This is because they want to follow traditional rules and do not allow freedom to think and act differently. Millennials prefer an agile environment to work with.
• Pension is no more an attraction as they will be getting it after 40 years of work. They have no patience for such a long time.
• Although Gen Y feels capable to work even beyond the age of present day retirement age, they plan to retire at least financially by the age of 40 years.
• Millennials have an attitude of risk taking. They are adventurous. Their make things happen attitude helps them to build their own empire. Delloitte survey also suggests that millennials feel that businesses are best able to solve world’s most pressing problems. However they are less confident about university’s ability to do the same. https://thelifeuddeshya.com/learn-to-overcome-challenges/

• Some of the millennials have already set a trend in last few years. Facebook era and Mark Zuckerberg are good examples. Indian entrepreneurs viz. RiteshAgarwal, CEO, Oyo with networth of $ 365 million at age 25 years; Deepak Ravindran, CEO, Innoz Technologies; and Farrahad Acidwala, CEO, Rockstah Media with many others are setting trends for other millennials. Their examples provide a good role model to start own business, earn good money and enjoy exciting life styles.

CHALLENGES:

Gen Y choice is clearly to own their own business or self employment. This is quite opposed to the choice of their parents and grandparents, i.e. Gen X and Baby Boomer generations. The current day successful entrepreneurs are those who have either got support from their parents or who did not let their parents know what they were doing. Yes! It is a fact that in the future millennials will face biggest challenge from their own families. Because they are willing to do what their elders did not or could not do. Gen X and Baby Boomers will have to understand that what has worked for them will not work for their children as the world is changing dramatically fast. Millennials must get freedom to decide their course of action and must be encouraged to follow new paths.

On the other hand, Millennials must take entrepreneurship seriously and should learn the secrets of the trade fast. Their focus must be on products or services which may help the society to have ease, convenience or better lifestyle. 

CONCLUDING:

Indian industry is now prone to layoffs. Jobs are not secured as per the trends. 3000 temporary employees lost job at Maruti Suzuki recently. Samsung is planning to lay off 1000 persons in India amid price war. Cognizant is preparing to let go of a few hundred employees to slash cost. Different types of choices of Millennial are affecting various performances of current industrial sectors. Their preference quite often is not to own things like home or cars. Therefore, layoffs will continue till the industries are not able to align their products accordingly. Meanwhile, the risk taking and adventurous nature of millennials will guide them and show them the path of success through entrepreneurship. Of course, they will need to exercise caution, perseverance and calculated risk taking attitude.

Best wishes for their success.

Dr Lokesh N Rai