Chapter 5: Applying the Kaleidoscope Career Model to Explore how Millennials view Challenge: A Qualitative Study and Recommendations for Future Research

Millennials are the fastest growing generation in the workplace. Today, one in three U.S. workers are millennials (Fry, 2015) and it is estimated that by 2020 millennials will make up 50% of the global workforce (PwC, 2011). But what is really known about the millennial generation and their workplace values and motivations?

Time magazine’s controversial cover story of the “Me, Me, Me Generation” described millennials as narcissistic, entitled, disloyal, and lazy (Stein, 2013). Other popular press outlets have suggested that millennials have unrealistic expectations about work and compensation (Meister, 2013; Patton, 2015). Fifty-one percent of the 1,000 managers surveyed by Millennial Branding and American Express thought that millennials have unrealistic expectations about compensation, 47% thought they have a poor work ethic, and 46% believed they are easily distracted (Schawbel, 2013). There have also been anecdotal reports of the growing conflicts between millennials and members of the previous generations, with managers lamenting that they don’t know how to motivate millennial subordinates (Gravett & Throckmorton, 2007; Lancaster & Stillman, 2002; Marston, 2007; Patton, 2015; Salkowitz, 2008; Zemke, Raines, & Filipczak, 2000). Although there has been an increasing use of organizational programs focused on reducing inter-generational conflicts and managing workers of the millennial generation (Costanza, Badger, Fraser, Severt, & Gade, 2012; Hershatter & Epstein 2010), relatively little academic research has been completed on this generation’s workplace attitudes and motivations (Parry & Urwin, 2011; Twenge, 2010).