Modern Training

Maybe the Millennials are Doing it Right

Posted on: May 30, 2014Updated on: May 30, 2023By: Axonify Team

The generation of people born between the early 1980’s and the early 2000’s are making headlines these days-and not exactly in the best way. Unceremoniously dubbed ‘Generation Me’ by skeptics, millennial workers are often criticized for needing constant affirmation and easy success. Raised in a world where the words “selfie” and “tweet” were added to the dictionary, Millennials are sometime cast as vapid, social-media-obsessed, and in need of an attitude adjustment. I suppose you could look at it that way, but don’t write off my generation just yet.

I like to think that the millennial generation brings fresh perspective to the work environment. Millennials don’t want to put in the long hours that past generations did, but who says there isn’t value in this? Pursuing outside interests and balancing family life with work can make people happier-and more productive. Millennials also grew up in a more accepting time period, in terms of sexual orientation, race, gender and religion. Millennials are known for valuing flexibility, ethics and innovation. Growing up with the internet and all the media outlets that came with it, Millennials are great at networking and are tech-savvy. It’s this environment that created a need for a new corporate learning strategy for these technology natives. Week-long training sessions just won’t cut it for these active, eager Millenials.

axonify-millennials

A few of Axonify’s favourite Millennials-Ryan, Jon, Dave and yours truly!

So what’s the solution? Gamified, bite-sized learning programs that test employee knowledge on a daily basis. These programs provide small, daily bursts of learning that can be completed online, that don’t require the time and resources that traditional classroom learning requires. This is a far cry from the onerous training sessions that were considered the norm for past generations. Millennials need variety and interactive training-and companies like Axonify are fulfilling that need. The best part? Bite-sized learning really works, and not just for Millennials. It works across generations.

After Axonify was introduced to Walmart, the Logistics department saw a 54% decrease in incidents. Not only that, voluntary participation rates were 80%. This is within a working population that encompasses four generations: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. The appeal of the product and the success was found across generations-but it was the Millennials that inspired this new approach to learning. A new approach to learning that is not only effective in increasing knowledge retention, but through the use of gamification, is actually quite a bit of fun too.

So don’t give up on us Millennials yet. Like any cohort we have our flaws, but a lack of innovation certainly isn’t one of them. And considering that an estimated 75% of the workforce will be made up of Millennials by the year 2025, innovative, bite-sized learning is just a sneak peek at how the millennial generation will transform the modern workplace.

Written by Emily Kroboth

Axonify Team

We're lucky to have so many bright minds authoring content that's bold, innovative and offers a proven perspective on how to drive business results through frontline enablement. You can connect with us here. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get new insights delivered right to your inbox.