I attended the Mountain Travel Symposium in Keystone, CO the week of April 4th. There were many great presentations and interesting things to hear about in the mountain resort industry and the vacation rental industry, but one presentation stood out to me. The sharing economy and millennials. As you can imagine the ramifications that come with this are deep, but I wanted to take a closer look at how this generation impacts the workforce.
In 2015 the millennial generation (Generation Y) surpassed baby boomers as the largest share of the United States voting age population. There are now 88 million millennials, people born between 1981 and 2000. Millennials make up over 25 percent of the US population.
With millennials as the the largest generational group we have in the United States, it is important to understand how to attract this highly educated and sought-after source of potential talent for the US workforce:
- Make sure your needs as an employer are aligned with a millennials values. Millennials may choose companies that are focused on the community they serve, value a healthy work-life balance, and a company/culture that is ethical.
- You must follow through on commitments that you said or made to millennial employees. This point stood out the most to me. As an example that was given in the presentation if you say that you are going to promote someone or give them a raise for work well done or after a certain time period you must follow through. A millennial will not forget and expect you to deliver.
- Be sure to engage your millennial staff. Give them meaningful projects/jobs. Millennials want to feel like they are reaching their potential.
- About ¼ of millennials don’t think that they need to stay with employers more than a year.
- Millennials want to work at a job that makes them happy. Millennials want to work where they can enjoy themselves and feel like their skills and work are being put to good use.
In conversations the presenter had with millennials and the work place these concepts came up:
- They value experiences
- Being busy is not fulfilling
- Regularly take part in community service
- Millennials want to be heard
- A job is not going to love them back
- Looking to have options at the workplace
- Closely tied to options is having a flexible work environment
It is obvious that millennials also affect the economy. We do know that 20% of all discretionary spending in the United States is from Gen Y. This number is only going to increase over the next 5 – 10 years and beyond.
One article posted by the GBrief notes:
“because they were so often rewarded growing up, Millennials value things that appeal to their sense of uniqueness. This has made Millennials less interested in packaged travel, like the cruises and beach-and-bars vacations of older generations. They want custom travel experiences that reinforce their individuality. Two-thirds (66%) of Millennials value unique experiences while traveling, compared with 50% of older age groups. They demand personalized treatment from travel companies, and want customized options when traveling internationally and domestically.” (see more of this article here).
Also, our recent partner, Rentals United, have another great blog with 5 great ideas to make millennials love your vacation rentals.
Having insight into creating a work environment that taps into a highly educated and tech savvy millennial workforce will be crucial as you grow your business. Knowing what makes the millennials tick in terms of attracting their dollars as a vacation rental company will also require some thought. Whether hiring them or providing services to them, now is the time to do your research.
FOLLOW ON TO THIS BLOG
Just found this recent article about the same topic. The author goes on to note the following as well:
Lee threw out some eye raising statistics that he predicts will occur over the next decade:
- Twenty to 30 percent of real estate firms in existence in 2015 will close by 2025.
- Online retail sales, which make up 7 percent of all sales now, will rise to 19 percent by 2025, making shopping centers obsolete or in need of dramatic transformation.
- The emergence of certified underwriters means that within a decade, half of all today’s real estate brokers will be gone.
- Homeownership will drop into the 50th percentile. It peaked a few years ago at 69 percent and is now at 63 percent.
See the entire article here.
