5 Challenges Millennials Face At Work And How To Deal With Them

If you were born between 1977 and 1988, you are a so-called Millennial. You surely face many challenges at work every day, right? Dealing with your colleagues that are from different generations, using outdated tools or even worse, not using them at all, too formal dress code and communication and much more are the challenges this article will help you overcome. Just keep reading!

Be honest, Outlook is so outdated! Not only was the poor UI/UX design popular back in the nineties, but the way you manage your inbox takes a lot of your (precious) time. Yes, Outlook does have countless features, but it is sluggish and often very unreliable.

Enjoy the clean, yet modern interface, easy email management and integrated features. Hiri is a complete replacement for Microsoft Outlook, as it has all the needed characteristics: emails, tasks, calendars and contacts.

Moreover, you can divide all emails into two sections: emails that require your action and those with information you just need to know about. Saves time, right? Not to mention that the subject line is under the email body, so there is no more “No subject’’ emails in your Sent folder! Depending on your email style, Hiri will suggest whether the email is a task, question, etc.

Baby boomers spent way too much time on their phones, and nowadays, Millennials face the same problem with their inbox. That’s another great thing about Hiri: the integrated dashboard reminds you not to check your email too often!

Millennials are team-oriented workers and feel very comfortable working that way. This should be a huge advantage when it comes to business, but the facts paint a different picture. Formal corporate culture with an emphasis on hierarchy is anything but an ideal team-work environment.

If you develop a fear-from-the-boss mindset and are not comfortable asking your colleagues for help or giving them constructive feedback, your work will definitely be less productive. People are often intimidated to ask for help or even a raise…so they never get them.

Even in schools, the Millennial generation was taught to socialize and be cooperative. So, why don’t get the most out of your team in business? If you don’t have an actual team — create one!

Start by organizing lunch breaks. Yes, that’s right! Suggest that you order food or coffee together and that every day a different colleague should make the final menu choice. If this goes well, suggest going out for dinner or beer next Friday.

Ask your colleagues how they feel about going to the gym and find one close to your office. Try to bond with them, but don’t be too persuasive. If you have colleagues who are much older than you are, be patient and remember that “team building” is a word they’ve never heard before.

Team building is not just about having fun. When you develop a friendly relationship with your colleagues and bosses, you will be able to casually ask for advice and suggest ideas. All in all, team building can result in a boost of productivity!

This problem goes hand in hand with the previously mentioned too formal work environment. Emailing has become such a habit that people tend to send emails to the colleagues they sit next to.

What happened to business communication? Well, it became very difficult. It is often hard to express your thoughts, especially without using body language. It is not unusual that younger generations complain that they get misunderstood. With informal texting and commenting on social media, sending business emails can be quite an issue.

Communication is faster, informal and more natural. Ah yes, the usage of proper Emojis is more than welcome!

Just choose a tool that suits your team best and start sharing information, documents or funny GIFs!

If the hierarchical corporate culture in a company is so strong, it will be really hard for you to get a promotion. The Millennial generation has a lot of fresh ideas, but not that many chances to express them. When it takes too much time (or is impossible) to become a team leader or a manager, people often don’t even make an effort. As a result, Millennials lack new skills and stay in the same (old) position…

By learning new skills, you will not only be more productive, but more confident as well. That way you won’t be scared to suggest a new idea or even change your current job! If you have the necessary skills, you will open so many new doors! That way you won’t need to wait to get rewarded at your current job. You can find a better one or even start your own!

Start with a webinar and if you like the topic, find a suitable online course.

Since Millennials are crazy about technology, they usually have very good laptops, mobile phones and other gadgets. If this is the case with you, the solution is very simple — bring your stuff to work!

Anything that helps you be more productive will certainly be well received by your company. In addition, if something is urgent, it will be easy for you to finish it at home.

These are just some of the problems Millennials face every day, but you need to start solving them!

Comment below if you have a useful tip (or a problem) of your own!

This post is part of our contributor series. It is written and published independently of TNW.

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