Millennials Will Soon Make Up the Majority of the Workforce
More than a third of employees in the workforce are millennials, according to the Pew Research Center. With 50% of the global workforce made up of millennials in 2030, businesses worldwide need to respond to the shift in culture, expectations and ways of working millennials bring with them¹. According to studies, millennials and the generations following are more educated and more racially and ethnically diverse². But what does this mean for the way organizations work?
Why Generational Changes Impact the Way We Work
Millennial’s aspiration and attitude towards work and the technology they create and use are shaping the 21st century’s work environment. One of the clear differentiators between older generations and millennials (including their younger counterparts) is their interaction with digital technology.
They grew up with the internet, personal laptops, smartphones and social media. For the majority of today’s workforce tech is no longer only an alternative to a handbook—it’s the key tool of human beings now and in the future.
Technology, however, is only part of the equation of what makes millennials and the younger generations differ from older generations in the workforce. The other half of the equation is behavior and how they would like to work.
Millennials expect fast progression and varied career options. Frederic Laloux’s book “Reinventing Organizations” outlines how the workforce moved away from command-driven organizations to empowering employees to self-manage their own evolutionary purpose to the organization's benefit. Millennials will be the driving force of implementing and leading this organizational transformation.
Transformation Starts With Students
This type of transformation starts with students each year that impact the existing workforce. Some of the most well-known tech companies and products were created by students while they were still studying. Bill Gates and Paul Allen, for example, started developing the first Microsoft operating system during their studies at Harvard. Likewise, Matt Mullenweg founded Wordpress as the content management system during his studies at the University of Houston. And famously, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook during his studies and even acquired the whole user-base from students that were willing to try out his new platform.
Students Bring a Fresh Perspective and Approach
Students bring with them a fresh perspective and curiosity to tackle challenges from different angles. They are not held back by decades of experience and ways of approaching challenges that shape a well-seasoned executive. Students rather use their human ingenuity and practicality to solve challenges at hand.
We know that the best ideas don’t always happen in the meeting room. Great ideas can be developed anywhere— at the lunch table, on the beach, or in one of the best think tanks, the shower.
Partnering With WHU for a Hackathon
In order to validate and test out new hypotheses around utilizing skills and expertise for the benefit of organizations and employees, Starmind has partnered with the WHU, Otto Beisheim School of Management, one of the leading business universities in Europe. WHU and Starmind will bring together students from different backgrounds for a three-day hackathon to explore new ways of using Starmind’s unique skill technology.
Making human potential visible through AI is Starmind’s vision. WHU hackathon supports this vision by empowering young and curious students to take on challenging projects and will help identify new opportunities to make human potential visible.
We’re highly looking forward to working with bright and ambitious people mid-October to challenge ourselves, but also find further ways of uncovering human capabilities, through AI, for the benefit of employees and organizations.
To learn more about Starmind's unique skill technology, get in touch with one of our experts.
Max Elster is a Product Manager at Starmind and leads strategic initiatives around skills, together with the sales, AI and product teams. His previous experience includes founding a voice technology start-up, working for the current HR board of directors of Deutsche Post and being one of the first employees at the learning management system Masterplan. He’s also hosted a business podcast for three years with 1 million cumulative listeners worldwide.
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