Managers over the years have used several motivational techniques to deal with the motivational levels and morale of their workforce. Theories and strategies, new and old have failed to motivate millennials, though. At least that is what everyone has to say about millennials which has led to the word becoming stereotypical of being lazy and extremely hard to motivate. But that is exactly what they fail to understand (the managers and people who judge), that is the fact that they are not hard to motivate at all.

The traits of millennials are often very similar which is why they have become a stereotype, but those very millennials have gone on to find billion dollar companies and single-handedly change the business world. Now, when it comes to motivating them, managers believe it is an extremely hard task as the traditional strategies don’t always work on the newer generations of people joining the workforce.

In my opinion, what motivates millennials is not just what the theories state, but the freedom and autonomy to do their own thing. Growing up watching other people just like them do so well and completely change the world through an idea, breeding entrepreneurship, almost every millennial wants to be an intrapreneur in their own way, which is why one of the only ways to motivate millennial employees is to get to know them better, apply the same strategies, but also give some kind of freedom and autonomy in their work, which will help them channel their positive energies and provide ideas and improve flow of work and thought, which in turn is more beneficial for the firm. Hence, allowing employee feedback and vocalization is one of the biggest ways to handle millennial workers in today’s day and age.

In the end, the stereotype will never break, but the motivation required will need to be addressed and someone will have to come up with theories on how to do so as theories are becoming outdated.[i]

[i] Gasca, Peter. “How to Motivate Millennials, By Millennials.” Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur Media, Inc., 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 06 Feb. 2017. <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270764>.

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Refugee crises, wars, and other such evils of our day and age have forced dislocation for millions of people who have fled their homes in search of a land where they can lead better, more peaceful and prosperous lives. This dislocation and other such factors have led to Workforce Diversity becoming one of the biggest drivers of change in the business world. Workforce Diversity is not limited to religious and political beliefs, gender, ethnicity, education, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation and geographic location, and has to do with more than race or ethnicity.[i] It is defined as the presence of people from a wide range of backgrounds and possessing different traits.[ii]

Now when one talks about Diversity being for businesses all across the globe, one fails to realize how hard it is to manage a workplace with diversity as the firm may be subject to many conflicts, be it cultural, generational, or any other kind.[iii] It is extremely hard to help people adjust to the different behavioral styles of a firm coming from different backgrounds, which makes it extremely hard for managers these days to manage their workforce. Another aspect is that of the Generational differences in the workplace where the Baby Boomers, the Generation X, and the Millennials have different needs and wants, which contribute to them having different motivations in the workplace, which makes it so much harder for managers to find common strategies to satisfy every employee they have to manage.

The main idea of this post is not to challenge the idea of Workforce Diversity being good, but to go further and say that it’s extremely hard to manage it as well.

[i] Brookins, Miranda. “Define Diversity in the Workplace.” Define Diversity in the Workplace. Hearst Newspapers, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/define-diversity-workplace-4926.html>.

[ii] Kokemuller, Neil. “What Is Diversity and How Does It Impact Work?” What Is Diversity and How Does It Impact Work? Hearst Newspapers, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/diversity-impact-work-15985.html>.

[iii] Murphy, Steven. “This Is Why Diversity Is Good For Business.” The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 01 Feb. 2017. Web. 06 Feb. 2017. <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dr-steven-murphy/diversity-good-business_b_14549158.html>.

When we look at organizations in today’s day and age, we only associate ourselves with the leaders or the men or women who hold the highest posts in those firms. We then make assumptions on how their work ethics and impact on the organization shapes the organizational culture of the firm. This is where we go wrong.

Organizational culture can be interpreted in many different ways, by many different people, some may say firms have an ‘innovative’ culture, and some may say that their organization follows a “customer focused,” but then again, it’s the leaders in the firm that help set that image or that culture.[i] Now, why is every employee not a leader? Why is there so much differentiation between the workforce and the higher level employees at firms? The answer is simple, the general workforce is usually not motivated enough or given enough freedom or autonomy by the very leaders who practice different leadership styles and try to create or blend into the desired organizational culture they wish to create.

Moving back to my first point, we go wrong in identifying a firm by identifying its CEO or another higher level employee, which contributes as generalization and eventually effects workforce morale negatively as the lower level employees could only dream of achieving such a position and mostly lose hope of advancement. This generalization causes workers to think they are not good enough and hence contribute away from the desired organizational culture for the firm. This is solely in my opinion; I may be wrong as there as examples of firms such as Google Inc. which follow open cultures that allow a free flow of information through every department in the firm and also allow employees to communicate their ideas and vision.[ii]

In conclusion, I’d like to point out that we as people should not only look at the leaders of the firm, but also the drivers of the firms, the employees and give them the credit they deserve.

[i] Whitehurst, Jim. “Leaders Can Shape Company Culture Through Their Behaviors.” Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Publishing, 13 Oct. 2016. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <https://hbr.org/2016/10/leaders-can-shape-company-culture-through-their-behaviors>.

[ii] Kennedy, Sean. “Google’s Organizational Culture & Values.” Study.com. Study.com, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <http://study.com/academy/lesson/googles-organizational-culture-values.html>.