A Revolution at the Organisation’s Core: Millennials

How do organisations strategise to create a sound and functional workforce? In this article, the authors present how various companies and businesses restructured the workplace and devise new methods and work culture to keep up with the demands of the new generations.

While millennials account for 34% of the workforce in the United States (see Figure 1) – and that percentage is on the rise – current workplace structures are tailored to previous generations, which leads to generational conflict and the loss of motivation among millennials. This article is focused on examining that dispute, as well as how such structures can be adapted to make them compatible with the preferences of new generations.

Ambidextrous or Versatile

Some authors argue that the ability to compete in new markets begins with the strategies and priorities that are responsible for the very nature of innovation capabilities. It is not on the market where an organisation starts to become competitive, by offering different products and services to end consumers, but during recruitment of the talent that will design and develop such products and services to be placed on the market. Thus, the innovation process within organisations should start from the human resource (HR) department, with new talent-recruitment policies adapted to a generation with different traits and wishes. Employers need to transition “from a ‘boomer-centric’ workplace to a ‘millennial-centric’ workplace”.

It is not on the market where an organisation starts to become competitive, by offering different products and services to end consumers, but during recruitment of the talent.

Birkinshaw and Gibson identified a strong positive correlation between business performance and ambidextrous organisations. If we apply this to the HR department, we could argue that a company that focuses its talent-recruitment and retention policies on current and future employees will achieve better business performance, as well as better financial results. Nowadays, many companies still have policies designed for baby boomers and Generation Xers and have not yet modified them for those just starting out in the business world – those are, millennials and postmillennials. Since they will be the ones holding job positions in the future, those in charge of designing and applying said policies should pay attention to their demands and wishes, with the goal of achieving a more ambidextrous organisation.

With new generations comes the energy of those first entering the workforce, marked by a desire to get work done and prove their worth in the short term but also by inexperience regarding the