Why millennials are a force to be reckoned with in the workplace

Millennials have gained a bad reputation over the years. We’re considered stubborn, narcissistic and entitled, caring more about Facebook likes and Instagram followers than, well, pretty much anything else.

Yet recent research has shown that 75% of the global workforce will be millennials by 2025 and I’m here to tell you why we’re changing the workplace for the better.

Finding the perfect balance 

We’ve emerged battered and bruised from years of schooling and are now free to choose our own path, willingly casting aside financial gains to find the job that makes us happy.

With this, the little term known as the work/life balance has emerged and companies are starting to catch-on. Millennials have even been known to choose jobs based on the number of paid holidays and the option for flexible working and businesses’ are adapting to this.  

These benefits can range from the ability to work from home, dress casually or take unpaid leave and companies are starting to implement them into their contracts to appeal to younger workers.

Embracing Change

Although the term ‘millennial’ remains undefined, it is commonly associated with people born between 1982 and 2004. As far as technology is concerned, working millennials have seen it all. From the Nintendo 64, to VCR’s, MP3’s, iPad’s and mobile phones, we’ve grown up amongst constant technological change and we’re prepared to run with it.

This plays right into the accountancy industry’s hands, as it races into the digital world armed with employees used to embracing rapid digital change. Paper documents are set to become a thing of the past as digital data takes over and we enter the age of machine learning. We’re already doing our bit to appeal to the influx of millennial accountants by launching IRIS Snap the mobile app-led service that spells the end of manual data entry. 

Growing up in the midst of technological innovation we’ve learned to adapt fast. The accountancy industry is heading into an era of revolutionary change and there’s no other generation more prepared for the journey. 

The World is Our Oyster

Unlike former generations, millennials have no intention of staying in the same job until retirement. We’ve been thrown into the world of work with our minds buzzing from the positive messages inflicted on us by our parents and teachers and we want to seize every opportunity thrown our way.

This free-spirited attitude is understandably intimidating, but it comes with many benefits. 

Gaining experience from multiple organisations or even professions broadens our horizons, and the skills we pick up from our various roles will be implemented into our new place of work. What’s not to like?