Millennials: Our Jobs Are Like Commodities
Brett November 18th, 2008
Today, young professionals view their jobs within an industry as little more than a commodity. During the shift from the Information Age to the Talent Age, companies have done little to differentiate themselves from their competitors. This commoditization has had a direct affect on allowing Gen Ys to change their jobs so often. Companies offer few compelling reasons for a young professional to show loyalty to the corporation, and many companies view their employees as static and undifferentiated assets, even if they say otherwise. It is assumed that a worker only has X utility and that they will not stay for long, and the whole goal of the corporation is to maximize that utility before they decide to move on to another job. The reasoning goes that since employees will not stay long, there is no value in creating a compelling employer value proposition to the employee. This thinking is a self fulfilling prophecy that makes young professionals feel unappreciated, and thus enables them to leave companies without a second thought.
Unfortunately for corporations, the job market has profoundly changed. At no other time in society has business depended so heavily on the knowledge in their employee’s heads, and McKenzie Consulting believes that a company’s employees provide its greatest competitive advantage. Coupled with the aging American workforce and too few young workers to replace them, the cost and need for quality employees has risen dramatically. These factors have enabled Millennials to look at their employer using a market perspective, meaning they look for the best deal and will always choose to maximize their return. With very little to differentiating jobs within a particular industry other than salary, price (wage rate) becomes the sole driver in the marketplace.
This sole focus only on price decreases loyalty because compensation provides a very low barrier for exit (competitors can raise an employee’s salary relatively easily). In order to create any loyalty among their younger employees, Human Resource departments must end this monetary arms race. Developing a robust employer brand that appeals to multiple parts of an employee’s persona is key to initially attracting and retaining the young professional for the long term. In order to create this employer brand, companies must examine their culture and find where it is lacking. Taking a read of the young professionals already at the company would be an excellent starting point. After this initial examination and finding the weak points, companies must adapt and be open to change. The Millennials will accept nothing less.
This view is accurate if one accepts the premise of the employer-employee model as the primary productivity model going forward. However, let’s consider a model in which we don’t have employees, but project teams, where the “employer” is now more of a general contractor and the “employees” are more like sub-contractors.
Now, the individual does not just hang out at the office and do whatever duties happen to fall under his/her title and job description, but develops the skills and connections to go after the projects that he/she is most suited for or desires to do. This way, menial tasks will fall to the lowest skill set, while those with higher skills will self-select into more challenging work and will be held accountable on a project by project basis (and monetarily rewarded commensurate with the difficulty of the project).
This model may not have been feasible for many things 50 years ago, but with increased technology to allow collaboration and project notification across the globe, the sub-contractor model for information based projects is realistic.
This brings more of us back to a state of entrepreneurship and empowerment rather than job seeking/begging. Creating value, rather than begging for a paycheck. Knowing what your services are worth, rather than hoping your skills match up to an acceptable job title.
Our risk aversion and overwhelming desire for security will lead to submissive sadness as we feel no control over anything, because control would induce risk and responsibility. Once we get over that hump, technology and capitalism can help us self-select our own happiness.