NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTING THE WORKPLACE
February 2018
Millennials, Social Media & The Gig Economy. The Death of Unions or the New Face of Organized Labor?
Millennials view work very differently from past generations – including the one managing them.
The Great Recession of 2007, slow growth in the job market and low wages have presented very different career opportunities for them than for their parents. The left-leaning Center for American Progress (CAP) reports 30-year-olds are making less today than the same age group 10 years ago despite being more educated and working in a more productive economy.
They also make up a smaller share of labor union membership than ever before. Less than 6 percent of 30-year-olds were union members in 2014 compared to 17 percent of Baby Boomers when they were 30 in 1984. But that’s changing. More than three-quarters of the growth in union membership in 2017 came from people younger than 35, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
In true millennial fashion, they’ve turned to social media to discuss their experience and, in some cases, form their own, informal unions. And in true union fashion, traditional organizers are meeting them there.
All of these changes represent an opportunity for employers to maintain, or regain, their direct relationships with a new generation of workers. Let’s explore how.
Wage gap woes
Millennials, by any measure, have not seen the growth in wages that generations before them benefited from, according to the Center for American Progress. The group’s March 2016 report highlighted the impact of the wage gap in detail.
- 30-year-olds today make about the same as 30-year-olds in 1984
- More than 38 percent of 30-year-olds today have college degrees compared to 25 percent of Baby Boomers when they were 30
- Millennials are competing for work instead of employers competing for them
Meanwhile, conservative Heritage Foundation reports Millennials aren’t investing for retirement, either. It found in 2015 that only 7 percent of households headed by those younger than 35 own stock – a record low.
The wage outlook for Millennials in 2017 is not much better. While the economy is improving, it will take years of extreme growth in wages to make up for the decade or more of stagnation and low pay.
CAP says joining unions would help.
“Millennials have spent almost their entire working lives in a labor market that is loose — with too many job seekers and too few jobs — and where private-sector labor unions are almost entirely absent. Certainly, monetary policy that promotes employment while making it easier for workers to form unions would help Millennials make up lost ground.”
OPPORTUNITY: Rather than thinking of these employees as annoying or high maintenance, take this opportunity to help build relationships and keep this important group from looking for outside help:
- Set aside pre-conceived notions and stereotypes about this new and emerging workforce. They’re reasonable and credible people who simply look at the world from a very different perspective
- Seek first to understand, not be understood
- Stop trying to change them to conform to your idea of what a “good employee” looks like and let them help you redefine the notion
Employers must develop and use true leadership skills instead of relying on the old notion of simply being the boss.
If you don’t build strong relationships with Millennials, unions will
Unions are taking notice and looking for new sectors, often full of young people who might be looking for protection due to uncertainty in rapidly shifting industries.
Millennials being targeted on two levels: Those who are part of the new “gig” economy who might be looking for camaraderie or some sense of community as well as collective bargaining rights on their own terms, and those who are part of the “old” economy, which is being significantly affected by the gig economy, and are looking for some job security and leverage.
- Unions are getting into the schools to engage with Millennials, thanks to a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board that allows them to organize grad students and adjunct professors.
- Recently, journalists at the Los Angeles Times voted to join a union despite opposition from the newspaper’s management. The election is the first in the newspaper’s 136-year history, and seems to be part of a growing trend among other – primarily digital – media companies.
- UPROXX reports a push by producer Sonny Digital encouraging freelance hip-hop producers to unionize in an effort to make more money, or even get paid at all, for their contributions to hit songs.
Employers must develop and use true leadership skills instead of relying on the old notion of simply being the boss.
