‘Millennials will make up 72% of global workforce by 2025’

Millennials will constitute over 72 per cent of the global workforce by the year 2025, if facts and figures released by a study of modern employees in contemporary workplace are anything to go by.

This was disclosed at the public presentation of a research work on the demands of modern employees at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos.

The study, carried out by Head, Strategic Brand Management, Skye Bank Plc, Nduneche Ezurike, titled: Do We Then Kill the Millennials, exposed how corporate organisations could harness the abundant energy and intellect inherent in their young employees.

At the well attended event by bank officials, especially corporate communications experts, human resources executives and consultants, participants either condemned or commended the millennials depending on their experiences with young employees.

In his presentation, Nduneche explained that engaging and understanding them was not as easy it seemed but that with activation, as against an activity, employers and managers could get the best out of their young professionals.

He said although employees were usually not seen as talents and resources, but as people who go to work everyday to collect their salaries at the end of every month, engaging them through collaboration, communication and community engagement would yield maximum results when dealing with young workers.

He added that data from the banking industry showed that 50 per cent of the total employees in the sector were young men and women. Be that as it may, do we then kill the millennials or partner them for greater efficiency? He asked.

Nduneche defined employee market place as an engagement design, which seeks to harness employee interest to unlock organisational benefits of innovation and business growth.

On innovation and business growth, he lamented that everyone was in favour of innovation, yet almost every organisation conspires against it, adding: “The bank of the future must innovate or expire.”

Speaker after speaker tried to denigrate the millennials, saying they were anti-intellectual, as they do not like to read or work hard, compared to the baby boomers or generation x, but a handful of the audience spoke in favour of them.

Head, Brand and Corporate Communications at Providus Bank, Dafe Ivwurie, described them as digital natives who knew nothing about the era of ‘doxology letters’ but could manipulate any gadget or electronic devices.

“We should understand, engage and mentor them. We should know and motivate them because principles and values do not change from generation to generation. We should, therefore, create a platform of clearly defined values and principles to guide them,” he said.