A skill set that was sufficient a few years ago in a manual warehousing environment may no longer be sufficient in DCs where mechanized and automated integrated systems have been deployed. The workforce of the future will be required to work with automation and technology as much, or more, as they will with traditional forms of material handling equipment.

Looking back, a prerequisite to working in a DC was a strong back and some experience operating a forklift. Going forward, a person who has experience with an electronic gaming system has a leg up when it comes to the types of systems that are critical to DC operations today.

When you’re working with an integrated, process flow-based material handling system, and trying to execute waveless, continuous-order fulfillment strategies and provide value-added services that require some ingenuity, you need a workforce that understands the bigger picture. They have to understand the fundamentals of how system technology goes into processing and shipping customer orders.

The challenge to the Supply Chain Logistics industry is to make the industry more attractive to the next generation. For example, using animation in training – maybe something like Pixar of logistics training. My 11-year-old granddaughter just purchased and loaded a 7.5 GB Sims game on her laptop. This is a very sophisticated and complex interactive game with impressive animation – but to her, it’s no big deal.

We did some research and hope that the following will help understand who these people are and how to work with them.

The “Millennials” – Who are they?

They’re the hottest commodity on the job market since Rosie the Riveter. They’re sociable, optimistic, talented, well-educated, collaborative, open-minded, influential, and achievement-oriented. They’ve always felt they were sought after, needed, indispensable. They are arriving in the workplace with higher expectations than any generation before them - and they’re so well connected that, if an employer (or for that matter, a politician - as seen in the 2008 US national elections) doesn’t match those expectations, they can tell thousands of their cohorts with a few keystrokes and one click of the mouse. They’re the Millennial Generation.

Born between 1980 and 2000, they’re a generation nearly as large as the Baby Boom, and they’re charged with potential. They’re called the Internet Generation, Echo Boomers, the Boomlet, Nexters, Generation Y, the Nintendo Generation, the Digital Generation, and, in Canada, the Sunshine Generation. But, in response to an abcnews.com survey, several thousand of them sent suggestions about what they want to be called, and “Millennials” was the clear winner.

In this uncertain economy and highly competitive business environment, most companies recognize that the differentiator is their people. Those organizations that emerge as winners in the battle for talent will have their fingers on the pulse of this newest generation. They’ll design specific techniques for recruiting, managing, motivating, and retaining them.

The Millennials are just entering the workforce, and, as they do, employers are scrambling to find out everything they can about them. Are they Gen-Xers on steroids? Or, are they a new breed entirely? How do they choose a career, and why? How will they change the workplace as we know it today? What are they looking for when they post their resumes on monster.com? What is their work ethic? What is unique about them? How do DC logistics and operations managers communicate with and motivate them?

Growing up, Millennials were bombarded with a unique set of consistent and compelling messages - many of them so imbedded in the culture that adults, let alone children, were barely even aware of them. The school system reinforced a distinct set of values. Parenting patterns unique to the era molded a new generational perspective. The era had its own mood that pervaded the developing perspective of youth. These messages had a profound effect on the generation as a whole:

• Be smart—you are special. They’ve been catered to since they were tiny. Think Nickolodeon, Baby Gap, and Sports Illustrated for Kids.
• Leave no one behind. They were taught to be inclusive and tolerant of other races, religions, and sexual orientations.
• Connect 24/7. They learned to be interdependent - on family, friends, and teachers. More Millennials say they can live without the television than the computer. Many prefer chatting on line to talking on the phone.
• Achieve now! Some parents hired private agents to line up the right college; others got started choosing the right pre-school while the child was still in the womb.
• Serve your community. Fifty percent of high school students reported volunteering in their communities, many of their high schools requiring community service hours for graduation. On one Roper Survey, when Millennials were asked for the major cause of problems in the U.S., they answered selfishness.
  
  

Millenial Characteristics

All of this translates into a generation of employees with a different work ethic than any other, certainly different from their Gen X colleagues. Here are the main components of their work ethic:

• Confident. Raised by parents believing in the importance of self-esteem, they characteristically consider themselves ready to overcome challenges and leap tall buildings. Managers who believe in “paying your dues” and coworkers who don’t think opinions are worth listening to unless they come from someone with a prerequisite number of years on the resume find this can-do attitude unsettling.
• Hopeful. They’re described as optimistic, yet practical. They believe in the future and their role in it. They’ve read about businesses with basketball courts, stockrooms stocked with beer for employees, and companies that pay your way through school. They expect a workplace that is challenging, collaborative, creative, fun, and financially rewarding.
• Goal- and achievement-oriented. Many Millennials arrive at their first day of work with personal goals on paper.
• Civic-minded. They were taught to think in terms of the greater good. They have a high rate of volunteerism. They expect companies to contribute to their communities - and to operate in ways that create a sustainable environment.
• Inclusive. Millennials are used to being organized in teams - and to making certain no one is left behind. They expect to earn a living in a workplace that is fair to all, where diversity is the norm - and they’ll use their collective power if they feel someone is treated unfairly.
  
  

I believe that this is very good news for the Supply Chain Logistics industry going forward. Companies can get the Millennial worker, who is used to the Web and is video games certified, qualified and up to speed quicker, better, and faster. Managers will have a better feeling that they’re not putting someone out on the floor of their fast-paced DC that is going to harm themselves, others, or the business.

Agree or disgree with Holste's perspective? What would you add? Let us know your thoughts for publication in the SCDigest newsletter Feedback section, and on the website. Upon request, comments will be posted with the respondent's name or company withheld.

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