Martyrdom is Back in Style – In the Workplace, that is
Posted On January 10, 2018
Want to get away? If you’ve seen its commercials, Southwest Airlines believes the universal answer to that question is “Yes.” But a large segment of Americans aren’t ready for a vacation. The thought of taking paid time off from work makes them feel guilty. They tell themselves they can’t afford to get away from the office, because no one else can fill their role. They feel the need to prove their dedication to the job, to appear indispensable. They’re called work martyrs. Chances are you work with a few. And according to 2016 research from Project Time Off, more than… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Work
Millennial Home Ownership on the Rise
Posted On December 18, 2017
When we discuss the differences between generations, between millennials and Generation X and the Baby Boomers and iGen, it’s important to recognize that some traits or trends that may look like characteristics of a generation are really just characteristics of all people of a certain age. For instance, we may look at millennials and consider them impulsive, and there’s certainly data that would back up that assertion. But really, most all young people are impulsive. And so we have found that Baby Boomers switched jobs at an even greater rate than millennials when they were in their 20s. It’s with… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Home Ownership
Are Millennials, online shopping taking a bite out of Black Friday?
Posted On November 29, 2017
Is Black Friday fading? It depends on who you ask. Anecdotal evidence around the country seemed to indicate that the traditional Friday-after-Thanksgiving shopping spree wasn’t as big a free-for-all as in past years, but Forbes cited numbers from the National Retail Federation and Prospect Insights & Analytics that showed turnout to be higher than expected. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that online spending on Black Friday was a record $5.03 billion, according to Adobe Systems Inc. — up nearly 17 percent over last year. We didn’t even wait for Cyber Monday. The ease of online shopping has taken a bite out of… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Generation Y / Millennials, Wealth
Here’s looking at you, kid: Millennials shun classic films
Posted On October 19, 2017
Frankly my dear, millennials don’t give a damn. Not about classic movies, anyway. The New York Post recently cited an FYE.com survey that found that less than 25 percent of millennials surveyed had watched a movie from the 1940s or ‘50s from start to finish. Thirty percent said they’d never watched a black and white movie all the way through. Not Citizen Kane. Not Casablanca. Not It’s a Wonderful Life. Not even Gone With the Wind, which was actually made in color in 1939. What’s more, 20 percent of the millennials surveyed called such classic and/or black and white films… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials
Get Off My Lawn: Another (Best-Selling) Writer Falls Prey to Millennial Cliche
Posted On September 28, 2017
Another week, another Boomer or Gen Xer writing a column about what’s wrong with millennials. You may recall the Los Angeles Times columnist whose “millennial pledge” drew the ire of younger readers. Or the Birmingham-area judge who vented in an AL.com column about the lack of adversity or sacrifice in millennials’ lives. Ragging on the younger generation seems to be a cottage industry of sorts. Or at least good column fodder. Now, in jumps a bigger fish to this putrid pond. Mitch Albom was already well-known as a longtime Detroit Free Press sports columnist before he gained even greater fame… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Generations
Telecommuting? Maybe teleco-NO!
Posted On August 4, 2017
Technology and millennial demands for flexibility have conspired to convince many companies to allow their employees to not bother coming into the office. With the internet, remote messaging systems and cloud technology, there doesn’t seem to be much reason in many industries for employees to be corralled under the same roof. While the advantages of working from home are obvious – who wouldn’t want to work in their PJs? – I cited a study in a blog several months ago showing that many millennials are actually now seeing the benefits of a more traditional office setting – particularly the interpersonal… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Work, Workplace
Next on millennials’ hit list: Beer?
Posted On August 1, 2017
You may have read that millennials may be the death of chain restaurants. Or that their news consumption habits have made newspapers endangered species. What are millennials killing next? Beer, apparently. CNBC reported recently that millennials are drinking more wine and spirits and less beer. Goldman Sachs recently downgraded Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams, and Constellation Brands, which brews Corona and Modelo, amid reports of sluggish sales. Business Insider, which has made a cottage industry of identifying industries that millennials are supposedly destroying, aggregated CNBC’s report with the headline: “Millennials are killing the beer industry.” Nielsen panel data… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Generation Y / Millennials
That Girl Can Code!
Posted On July 24, 2017
Women have made a lot of gains in the workplace, and many of those gains have been accomplished or expanded upon by millennials. Computing and the tech industry remain largely male-dominated fields, however. According to National Center for Women and Information Technology, only 26 percent of computing jobs in the 2016 U.S. workforce were held by women – this despite the fact that women filled 57 percent of all professional occupations in the U.S. Widen the scope to the tech industry as a whole, and the number isn’t much better – only 30 percent, according to CNET’s Roger Cheng. And… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Women, Work, Workplace
Do millennials have us motoring to a sharing economy?
Posted On July 12, 2017
How important is your car? Most of us would say, “very.” We are a nation that loves the freedom of private automobiles. It may surprise you, then, to hear that 30 percent of millennials who responded in a Goldman Sachs survey had no plans to buy a car. Another 25 percent said that while a car was important, buying one was not a priority. This particular section of the survey appears to have focused on Goldman Sachs interns, so we can assume many of them were in New York, where having a car is not a priority for many, many… Read More
Categories: Automotive, Generation Y / Millennials, Product Design
Preparing millennials for the grind: Not everyone gets a trophy in college football, or the working world
Posted On July 11, 2017
College football coaches find inspiration and motivational tips in a variety of places, from generals to CEOs to children battling cancer. It doesn’t matter where the lesson comes from, only that it is powerful enough to have an effect on a group of 18- to 23-year-old men who spend most of their time in the fall running into each other. One coach, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, found inspiration from a motivational speaker and marketing consultant named Simon Sinek. But this inspiration wasn’t for his team, it was for himself and his fellow coaches. According to FootballScoop.com’s Doug Samuels, Dantonio recently… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace