Millennials in the Workplace

When the HeinOnline Blog featured an article on millennials and the workplace, we had a moment of realization at Jenkins: All three of our current Reference Librarians - Michelle, Tom, and Kristen - are considered millennials (at least by Merriam-Webster’s standards, which defines a millennial as a person born in the 1980s or 1990s)! So we thought it would be interesting to highlight items in our collection that discuss millennials in the workplace, particularly within the legal community.

According to the HeinOnline post, as a group, millennials have been “...characterized for their emphasis on work-life balance and social consciousness. Studies show they value a strong relationship with their supervisor and prefer immediate feedback.” So how can supervisors best manage millennials? How can various generations better communicate with one another? What other changes are occuring with the integration of millennials into the workplace?

You Raised Us, Now Work with Us: Millennials, Career Success, and Building Strong Workplace Teams examines some of these questions, based on the author’s survey of over 1,000 millennials. This paperback edition discusses intergenerational conflict and communication, personnel management, and attitudes of the millennial ‘Generation Y,’ which became the largest generation in the US workforce in 2015 (p. 3). Author Lauren Stiller Rikleen (a mother of two millennials) notes that millennials are “possibly the most stereotyped generation in history,” despite the nuances between older and younger millennials who grew up with very different experiences regarding technology, September 11th, and the 2008 economic crisis, for example (p. 7 - 9). Rilken “seeks to bridge the generational divide by separating the myths from reality in the behaviors ascribed to Millennials” (p. 4) and to “provide specific strategies that can be employed to develop a better and more effective work environment” as generations understand each other better (p. 5).

Jenkins also has print titles that focus on millennials in the legal profession. The Millennial Lawyer: How Your Firm Can Motivate and Retain Young Associates and Communicating Across Generations: Skills for the Courtroom and with Diverse Age Groups are two such books that address steps firms can take to inspire, connect with, and retain millennials as well as the role of mentorship, work-life balance, attorney credibility in the courtroom, and training multigenerational workforces. 

For electronic resources on this topic, check our catalog as well as Hein’s aforementioned blog post, which offers some great tips for exploring the database for relevant articles.

As for us millennial Reference Librarians at Jenkins, we look forward to continuing to provide our patrons with accurate legal research and top notch service!