Millennials (aka Gen Y) are people born between the 1980s to early 2000s and this generation is changing the landscape of work as we know it. According to Wavestone, by 2025 millennials will comprise of 75% of the workforce which is why it is extremely important to understand the ‘millennial mindset’ so here are the top four reasons why millennials are now considering a virtual career’ over traditional jobs:
Work-life Balance
While older generations craved security and structure, millenials value balance and flexibility. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they want to work less, they just want to work differently and more flexibly outside of the confines of a 9 to 5 desk job.
Almost half of surveyed respondents (44%) said their ideal work arrangement would be a flexible schedule.
These values align perfectly with a virtual job which provides workers with the ability to work from anywhere within hours that suit their schedule as long as they get the job done.
Our virtual staff at Outsourcing Angel work remotely and have the flexibility to choose work hours suited to their lifestyle. This allows our virtual employees to do the little things that can do a lot for overall work-life balance like: skip the morning commutes, enjoy that morning jog, taking a swim break, tend to friends and families or just being able to make a nice home-cooked in the comfort of a kitchen at lunch.
Not only does flexibility increase the overall happiness of virtual staff, it also makes them more productive and gives them the motivation to always go above and beyond.
Availability of Technology
Millennials are a generation that grew up using technology from an early age as part of their day-to-day lives so naturally, if a company isn’t innovative, it can really lower morale for Gen Y workers.
Instead, millennials are more suited to a workplace that is fast-paced and encourages technology such as Project Management Software, online chat tools and online training programs.
For example, our virtual team at Outsourcing Angel used to communicate predominantly via email (or as Gen Y would call it – snail mail). As time went on, we migrated to Slack, an online chat tool that allowed us to communicate instantaneously and was easily accessible on desktop and phone apps.
This may have been a small innovation but it really bonded our team and boosted company morale. In addition to this, our virtual staff are never building, delegating or reviewing a task without the help of project management software like Basecamp and Trello and we’re extremely adaptive to new platforms, software and plug-ins suggestions from all of our staff.
Reversely, if a company was resistant to making changes or accepting new technology, it could really result in employee complacency at a never-changing workplace.
Remote Opportunities
According to the Business Insider, people between the ages of 18 to 34 are more likely to spend more money on vacations than any other age group and are essentially big drivers in the travel industry. In fact, 90% of millennials say that their travel inspiration comes from social networks like Facebook and Instagram.
This growing desire to travel can often cause conflict in a traditional workplace but with a virtual job, being a digital nomad is naturally already part of the job.
In fact, our virtual team at Outsourcing Angel can work and travel anywhere in the world as long as they have a stable internet connection and their laptop and most of our virtual employees either travel and work at the same time or just relocate to a new country altogether while still working online and getting their work done.
This kind of flexibility goes beyond just being able to take annual leave or having travel incentives at a traditional job.
Social Impact
Millennials are extremely socially conscious and pay attention to where businesses choose to spend their money and contribute to society. They choose to work with companies with similar values to their own in order to be surrounded by people with the same social awareness.
This is something that Outsourcing Angel has really embraced. As an outsourcing company with a social purpose, we donate parts of our profit to livelihood projects and charity programs to give back to disadvantaged communities and this has attracted Virtual Employees that share the same love and care to give back to the community. As a by-product of this, we see more and more millennials wanting to either work with us or be involved in our charity programs.
What Are You Waiting For?
All of us at Outsourcing Angel have created a virtual career for ourselves, which allows us flexibility, work-life balance and the opportunity to give back to the community.
If you’re a millennial and you believe that a virtual career will also bring you career fulfilment, then the best time to start is now!
Don’t wait for the perfect timing. Sometimes, the best way to begin is to dive straight in and enjoy the ride.
