Why the Gig-Economy Disproves Millennial Misconceptions

Consider how often we hear something negative about Millennials.

“They’re self-focused. They’re lazy and narcissistic. Millennials are not what we want in our company. Millennials can’t keep a job.”

This perspective is wrong.

Millennials, especially the 50%(!!!) of the millennial age bracket, who engage in gig-economics disprove all this negative rhetoric.

In case you’ve missed it, gig-economics refers to the increase of freelance workers who take job-roles for a specific time-frame, usually short. It’s like a music gig, but with work.

A friend of mine is on the Board of one of New Zealand’s largest privately held tourism companies. They own boats. Planes. Buses. A ski-field. Thousands of tourists a day use their services to view this beautiful nation.

His perspective (and I agree with him) is gig-economy workers – the freelancers – bring passion and engagement to the workplace.

For two weeks, or two months, they engage at such a high level it’s almost worth the consideration to bring them on full-time.

Statistically, only 2 out of 10 employees are actively engaged in organizations.

This is a broad, global statistic. It should scare us though. Only 20% of our staff are onboard, on task, and on point. Fully Engaged. (Another 40% are somewhat engaged, while the last 40% unintentionally, or intentionally, disengage).

Every gig-worker is one more person on your team fired up and focused on your team’s success.

Most of those gig-economic engagers are Millennials; hard-working, intensely focused, choosing flexibility. So by no means lazy.

If you’re bored at work, undisciplined, and unfocused…be a little concerned.

There’s a new generation of workers who want to show up and shine at your job. Just for a few months. They’ll do it well.