Millennial Life – boiled down to 5 key things

Image by Hebi B. from Pixabay

Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 – are both the 20th century’s last generation and its first truly digital one. We spoke to eight millennials from across the UK and boiled down what they told us to 5 key things. 

  1. They are time poor – living away from friends and family (but trying to keep up with them) and working for companies that don’t give them flexibility (which generations behind them will demand as they come of age), Millennials are struggling to fit it all in. Companies would do well to recognize this. As a generation, millennials are conscientious and given trust/flexibility, will deliver for their employers.
  2. They are financially stretched – living with mortgages and lifestyles to keep up with, they are more stretched than the generation above (cheaper lifestyles) and below (no desire to own property). This impacts their ability to live out their values. So, while they might talk the climate change or human rights walks, they aren’t all walking the walk.
  3. Though they have a strong sense of the world’s problems, they feel inert to solve them – probably because of points (1) and (2) above – time and money. This leads to feelings of guilt, compounded by worry that the generations above and below them don’t share their ethical and environmental values.
  4. Brands and organisations could benefit from this complex sense of inertia, guilt and social conscience by making it easy for millennials to behave ethically. Removing some of the burden of solving the world’s problems with products and services that can help them do the right thing, could prove financially and socially rewarding.
  5. Whilst marketers are quick to invest in social media, they need to ask themselves whether it is always the right channel for reaching millennials. Many millennials are scathing about social media and marketeers should approach with caution.

 

5 things: society’s biggest issues, according to millennials

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Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 – are both the 20th century’s last generation and its first truly digital one. We spoke to eight millennials from across the UK to find out how they want to live, what stops them, what they view as the biggest issues facing society, and what they think of the generations before and after them. 

  1. Unease around narrowing world views and increasing intolerance for other people’s beliefs is of high concern. One Londoner told us: “Tolerance for differing views is changing and becoming much more extreme. This is linked to people feeling that their opinion can be equal to a FACT.” A participant from Scotland said: “I think we are becoming more isolationist and people are retreating into their own tribes. It’s happening everywhere. There is a lot of division about most issues; a lot of misunderstanding”. C, 32, from Leamington Spa said: “The demonization of groups of people [is a massive problem] with media like the Sun failing to humanise groups of people – trashing immigrants and asylum seekers and Labour voters – we need to get passed this – we are going backwards.”
  2. The gulf between rich and poor was mentioned by a few respondents as one of the biggest issues facing society now, both reflecting and creating this division of opinion and inability to see things from other perspectives.
  3. Climate change (unsurprisingly) rides high as one of the biggest issues the world currently faces (according to millennials), with concern around denial and the amount of education required to turn the issue around.
  4. Social care was also raised, with worry about our unwillingness to look after one another: “There is a considerable unwillingness for volunteering and with a whole generation spending not saving and having fewer children I envisage a pinch point of a big, top heavy population, without the volunteers to help keep going – unless there is significant rebalancing” (M, 32, Manchester).
  5. Inertia, guilt and paralysis are stopping people from being able to act: “I think that the biggest issue is that people don’t know how to make a difference – we have the conscious awareness, but people don’t think they can impact on this and so feel guilty.”

5 things: what the millennial generation thinks of the generation following in its footsteps (Gen Z)

Image by Gary Cassel from Pixabay 

Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 – are both the 20th century’s last generation and its first truly digital one. We spoke to eight millennials from across the UK to find out how they want to live, what stops them, what they view as the biggest issues facing society, and what they think of the generations before and after them. 

5 things: what the millennial generation thinks of the generation following in its footsteps (Gen Z)

  1. A theme that emerged repeatedly in our interviews is the perceived lack of values held by Generation Z: “From what I’ve seen they don’t seem to have as strong values” (N, 33, London); “I’m not sure that people below 25 really have values, their values are more concerned with how many likes they can get on social media” (C, 32, Leamington Spa).
  2. In the eyes of millennials, Gen Z are consumeristic and looking for “instant gratification”. With saving so difficult and many of the things that previous generations strove for (property) out of reach, they are looking to other forms of consumption to express themselves. As a 32-year-old from Manchester summarizes: “Fundamentally the generation below differs [from us] very much. They are commodity driven – the big acquisition is so untenable and the inability to save enough means that there is a huge push on owning the nice things that can be seen and shown. This generation is much more about having and spending now and not saving.”
  3. Generation Z is also alleged to be lacking in work ethic. One respondent said: “I don’t see a strong work ethic, many of the people that work for me are temporary – not driven by a career.” Another said: “I think they are even more flighty than we are – I manage some under-25s and they’re more kind of – let’s just see how it goes. They feel very entitled e.g. benefits in the workplace, they [unrealistically] feel they deserve pay rises and promotions”.
  4. One respondent from Glasgow was kinder in her view. For her, Generation Z does not lack in ambition, but has expectations about how they will and won’t work: “I think they are as ambitious as we are – but want to work a lot more flexibly. They are more entrepreneurial and want to work for themselves, less forced to go to University and they are able to make decisions more freely”. Lack of resilience (in the workplace and more widely) also emerged in several conversations.
  5. There is sympathy for Gen Z as the generation that has grown up with social media. “I think they are under a lot more pressure because they have grown up with social media at school and university. Social media is no longer innocent – they have multiple Instagram accounts to present different images – they are very image conscious” (J, 30, Glasgow).
  6. While most of the views we heard about Generation Z were negative, some of our millennials were willing to give credit to this generation for its open-minded approach to life – something that millennials might learn from. Our respondent from Glasgow noted that Gen Z is “even more open minded around things like gender and different variants. It’s still a learning curve for me.”

Millennial Life: what millennials think of the generation before them

Photo by Slavomir Ulicny from FreeImages

Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 – are both the 20th century’s last generation and its first truly digital one. We spoke to eight millennials from across the UK to find out how they want to live, what stops them, what they view as the biggest issues facing society, and what they think of the generations before and after them.  

5 things: what the millennial generation thinks of the generation before it

  1. There is a feeling amongst millennials that their generation is more adventurous and ambitious than the generation that came before it, perhaps even “flighty” or “selfish”. A respondent from London told us: “Previously people have stuck to a path – we go travelling, do things differently from our parents; we are more conscious of our footprint in the world”.
  2. Millennials believe that they place greater emphasis on people and experiences with their friends, while their parents favour material items. They are “very into material things and are more likely to buy from
    big corporations, rather than thinking about where something is made or who made it” (J, 30, Glasgow). Their children, on the other hand, “share feelings and look towards activities for happiness, rather than buying things” (C, 30, Manchester).  
  3. This investment in relationships puts an additional time pressure on the millennial generation, that didn’t exist for their parents, because people don’t tend to live close to friends and family so much anymore. A respondent from Manchester told us: “My friends live all over the country and therefore it takes time to travel and see them regularly. As a generation, we are time poor.”
  4. There is a strong sense of progress, that the millennial generation is more open-minded and more tolerant than its parent’s generation. “My parents’ values are very internal looking, whereas I feel this generation is more outwards looking – we have so much more information giving us the chance to have a bigger perspective” (K, 34, London). “My perception is that my parents have similar values to me, but the generation as a whole is not quite as open to people from different walks of life or backgrounds. [They identify] ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups. They don’t spend time with ‘out’ groups and dismiss them, just because their opinion differs. My generation is more open, tolerant and accepting of diversity” (C, 32, Leamington Spa).
  5. This follows through to the environment. Awareness of the environment is very much considered to be a younger person’s pursuit… “[We are more] environmentally conscious than the previous generation” (C, 30, Manchester).

 

Millennial Life: what stops millennials living out their values?

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 – are both the 20th century’s last generation and its first truly digital one. We spoke to eight millennials from across the UK to find out how they want to live, what stops them, what they view as the biggest issues facing society, and what they think of the generations before and after them.     

5 things: millennials strive to be ethically and environmentally conscious. What stops them living out these values?

  1. Although millennials strive to live with ethics and environment at the heart of their conscience, our commodity-driven economy sometimes makes it difficult to keep hold of what is important to them – friends, family, experience… “It can be difficult when you are inundated by a commodity driven economy to keep the focus on the importance of the experience” (M, 32, Manchester).
  2. Whilst they are inclined to keep people and planet at the heart of how they live, an impediment they face is the (lack of) availability of products that align with their values. Which products can they trust? And where is the information that tells them what values lie behind the goods and services they want to buy? To some it feels as though the market hasn’t quite caught up with consumer expectation for (a) information, (b) proof of good behavior.
  3. Millennials are financially restricted, partially because many have mortgages (perhaps the last generation to do so), lifestyles to keep up with (though many claim to shun these), and other financial commitments. “I probably don’t [live by my values] as much as I would like. Like everyone, we all want to be ethical and environmentally aware, but ultimately look for price” (C, 32, Leamington Spa).
  4. One thing that is not a problem for millennials is peer pressure. Whilst previously peers may have influenced their actions, this generation has become more comfortable within its own skin as it approaches its late 20s and 30s. Our respondents reported that they are now able to act upon their own values, without concern for what others think: “We are all at the age where people are respectful [towards one another’s values]” (R, 31, London).
  5. Like peers, parents are also playing a limited or negligible role in shaping how their children live. Perhaps this breaks away from generations above, where parental approval (or disapproval) was highly significant. For millennials, it is not, and nobody we spoke to reported feeling restricted by the values their parents hold.

Millennial Life: the values millennials live by

Image by Harpreet Batish from Pixabay

Millennials – born between 1980 and 2000 – are both the 20th century’s last generation and its first truly digital one. We spoke to eight millennials from across the UK to find out how they want to live, what stops them, what they view as the biggest issues facing society, and what they think of the generations before and after them. Over the next few weeks we’ll share our insight on the Millennial Life.  

5 things: the values millennials live by

  1. Millennials are striving to be “good people” to show honesty and integrity and to “give people the time of day irrespective of seniority or walk of life” (M, 32, Manchester). As one subject from London summarized, she is striving to “generally speaking, be a nice person”. None of the respondents were driven by faith (a few actively reject religious values), but some drew on the language of religious moral codes to encapsulate their approaches. One respondent from Manchester stated: “it’s an approach of do unto others as you would like done to yourself”.
  2. People are incredibly important to millennials – keeping up with friends and family, being there for people, showing kindness and embracing those with different views. As a respondent from London said: “the main value for me is all about family and friends, and this has got even more important to me as I’ve got older, making sure I keep up with people and are there for them.”
  3. Social and environmental consciousness is driving relationships between millennials and brands: “I think I’m a lot more conscious about knowing what is behind marketing goods and services – I do go and do my research to make sure a brand is behaving ethically” (N, 33, London). Palm oil was mentioned by a few of our interviewees and is a big factor in brand choice, as is responsibility towards the community. “Yes, brand behaviour influences me – I wouldn’t buy a brand that is linked to palm oil or unethical behaviours… or one that has [had a negative impact on] LGBT Plus issues” (K, 34, London).  
  4. This follows through to life choices, including the kinds of jobs people look for. Millennials are not necessarily choosing salaries over social purpose, and some are specifically looking to work for smaller organizations where they feel they can make a difference. “It’s quite important from a personal perspective for me to find an employer that matches my values and cultures, and treats people in the way I want to be treated and treat others” (C, 32, Leamington Spa); “I would be more inclined to work for a company that has social purpose” (K, 34, London).
  5. Despite an intense ethical and environmental awareness, millennials remain financially restricted in the decisions they take. A respondent from Leamington Spa told us: “I probably don’t [live by my values] as much as I would like. Like everyone, we all want to be ethical and environmentally aware, but ultimately look for price.”

Social & Local completes insight for House of Commons

Adding further credibility to our award-winning services in helping large organisations with Internal Communications and Engagement, we are delighted to announce the recent completion of a major research piece for the House of Commons. By directly engaging over 20% of their 2,500 employees through online surveys, workshops and walkabouts, we have been able to deliver the insight and intelligence that will enable the development of a fresh, new Internal Communications Strategy.

“What an incredible privilege it was to spend most of my July walking the corridors of the Houses of Parliament at such an important time in history and to see the political landscape changing in real time; further to meet and listen to the stories of the army of people who keep the House going under all circumstances!”  Stephanie Drakes, Co-Founder & CEO, Social & Local 

Expanding Our Services for Government Clients

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Another nice to have for us in pursuit of our current listing on the Government Communications Framework – we’ve just been appointed to the Cabinet Office Research Marketplace as an approved supplier. Our offer in this discipline is smaller and sweeter than many, so let’s hope it tempts some buyers looking for specialised work amongst discreet groups, stakeholders or influencers.