After a dozen years studying the millennial generation, this much is clear to John Zogby: Their definition of "work" is unlike anything the corporate world has ever seen.
Zogby, an internationally known pollster, broached the implications of what that means for employers during an hour-long talk Sept. 25 at the Fort Orange Club in downtown Albany, NY. The invitation-only talk was hosted by Gramercy Communications, of Troy.
Zogby, who is 65, was born and raised in Utica, about an hour's drive west of Albany. His company, Zogby Analytics, is headquartered in Utica (with 8 full-time employees and about 50 or so in the call center there).
Lately, he's turned his attention to millennials. He defines their "age cohort" as those born between 1979 to the mid-1990s. In other words, workers who are no older than 34 or so.
"It is a revolutionary age cohort. They are radically different in many respects," Zogby said. "The longer we postpone their entry into the world of decision-making, the more trouble I think we are in."
Zogby told of a recent day when he was in headquarters and he saw an employee on eBay at 3 in the afternoon.
"I asked, 'What's he doing on eBay?' Saving me money on hardware, it turns out," Zogby said. "We need to unleash them."
Below are some of Zogby's many points. It strikes me as good cliff notes for many CEOs:
• "It is unfair to say they are afraid of work. They are not a 9-to-5 group, so it is hard for us to adjust. They are a 7 and 24 group. They're on."
• "They were the first globalists, even before 9/11. ... many expect to live or work in a foreign capital at some point."
• "There is a growing phenomenon that worries me. I call it CENGA: college-education, not going anywhere. We have to make sure we don't lose them."
• "We are steeped in verticalism. If you see a problem, you move it up the chain and maybe after a few rungs up, it sort of disappears and everyone thinks it was solved. These kids do not understand that. They flatten that out. How do I get a resolution? I sent it out across my network and build consensus."
• "Any sense of permanence they might have is completely gone."
• "The common complaint is that everyone in this generation got a trophy. The upside is, they work best in teams."
• "Before the recession, I would get—and this is true—'Mr. Zogby, I have options, you know. So, will I be the COO in three years?' Now, they are willing to work their up, from the bottom."
• Zogby says 70 percent of them want their company that gives them time to volunteer. "No other age cohort even comes close to that."
• Millennial women tilt toward the "lean in"/have-it-all philosophy espoused by Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook. But millennial men, Zogby says, tilt toward the belief that women should put their career ambitions second to family. "So, that will be a very interesting conversation over the next decade," Zogby says.