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How millennials changed the core values of business

Core values are extremely important for every single business operating right now.

Regardless of industry, size, or location, a company’s core values paint a picture of their ethos and reason for existing. The independent local bakery with six employees, the telesales business employing 100 part-time staff and the construction company operating across multiple offices and sites across the UK with a workforce of 250. They all need a foundation on which to build their business and support their staff. 

Common corporate values have previously included things like quality, service, accountability, honesty, improvement, leadership and innovation. And, while these are still very relevant as basic business needs, the wants and must-haves of the current workforce generation have evolved in a big way, particularly over recent years.

A couple of years ago, KPMG predicted that by 2020, millennials would represent as astounding 50% of the global workforce. And, as such, companies would need to tailor their efforts more specifically towards this cohort. Boy, were they right.

As a generation, Millennials bring wants and needs that differ from those of previous generations, and so businesses (at least those who want to survive the future) have been forced to re-look at their core values and assess how to satisfy the needs of this powerful generation.

So, just how are they doing it? 

Digital innovation

Having grown up with the internet evolving alongside them, millennials are quick to try new technology and are familiar with an on-demand lifestyle. For this generation, outdated training systems and old-school working methods just won’t cut it. They don’t have time to waste with clunky, over-complicated systems and are not prepared to accept anything less than the latest thing. Businesses need to invest in digital innovation as standard, embracing emerging technologies in order to thrive in today’s commercial and employment battlefield. Companies that ban social media at work, or who don’t embrace remote working or digital learning strategies will be soon to get caught up in a high staff turnover culture – especially when it comes to millennial employees and other younger generations.

Businesses need to invest in digital innovation as standard, embracing emerging technologies in order to thrive in today’s commercial and employment battlefield. Companies that ban social media at work, or who don’t embrace remote working or digital learning strategies will be soon to get caught up in a high staff turnover culture – especially when it comes to millennial employees and other younger generations.

Learning and growth

A major study by Gallup ‘How Millennials Want to Work and Live’ reported that 60% of millennials say that the opportunity to learn and grow on the job is extremely important.

For the majority of this generation, learning and knowledge-acquisition feel as natural as eating, exercising and socialising. A Baby Boomer might view training as a burden that they have to ensure, but a millennial would be more likely to say, “Wow, when can I start?”.

To fulfil their training and learning needs, however, businesses need to look way past the traditional corporate earning systems of old. Replacing them with agile, enterprise-class systems that are modern, mobile and globally-connected. Everything employees need in one cool, easy, intuitive system.

Just as employees access their news, entertainment and social media updates in an instant, they need to quickly access bite-sized pieces of knowledge from their mobile devices.

Flexibility & Support

The majority of today’s millennial workers would not only reject, but campaign against, the the employment and evaluation conditions that previous generations thought of as normal. If millennials started a job to discover such structure and conditions that the Baby Boomers endured, they would probably start looking for a new job online in a matter of hours, if not minutes.

What people yearn for now is to achieve that all important work/life balance. Achieving success at work, but also spending time with friends and family - as well as time for hobbies, self-care, travel and learning new skills.

According to Business Leader, around 74% of millennials want a flexible working schedule that suits their lifestyle. The popularity of the standard 9-5 office day spent on a row of desks with fixed computers is declining by the day. Therefore, businesses must prioritise flexible working solutions as part of their ethos. Home-working, job-sharing, hot-desking and shared work spaces should be considered in order to attract and retain the best young candidates.

Sustainable ways of working

In today’s climate, there’s no getting around putting sustainability as one of your business’ core values. ‘Our house is on fire’ and if you are not seen to be doing your bit, then there will be consequences – both from your customers and your employees. Millennials are the most sustainability-conscious generation to date, and for the most part, they admirably prioritise purpose over profit.

Founders and managers are at the forefront of driving sustainable ways of working and ultimately decide how the brand behaves. However, when embedded within a business’ core values, sustainability runs through the veins of each and every person associated with the business. From the staff uniform, to how food and drink is served in the staff kitchen, to how the waste is dealt with, how the orders are posted out and the choice of transportation for business meetings – each process must be considered with this core value at the forefront.

So, how can Cademi help businesses to meet these core values?

Cademi is the first digital learning platform focussing on professional and personal development with an understanding that everyone (millennials and other generations too) need a work/life balance in order to perform at their best.

As a business, Cademi is at the forefront of digital innovation. Not only do we offer the only holistic learning platform (HLP) with an artificial intelligence curation engine to deliver the most relevant content to learners, but we also offer the only HLP to provide learners with online psychometrics to grow their self-awareness and help identify growth opportunities and constraints.

When it comes to flexibility and support, Cademi is designed with the most modern of workers in mind. They can learn when it suits them – on an evening, on their morning commute or while power-walking on the company treadmill. All of their learning content – from their career CPD to their wellbeing regime and their personal interests are in one place – available from any of their devices. Employees are able to create their own learning paths based on the skills and knowledge they need and want.

Sustainability is high on the agenda too with our learning solution. No fuel-guzzling treks half-way across the country to attend seminars, and no takeaway food and drink supplies required to energise the starving (and bored) trainees. Just bite-sized, personalised learning that is savvy and smart.  

If you are keen to find out more about Cademi and how our Holistic Training Platform could be implemented to enhance your business’ core values, then here are 2 ways to get started:

  1. Book a free demo to discover how Cademi can transform your business today
  2. Start your free 14-day full access trial today

Cademi provides the platform, you see the results.