Millennial v Boomer: Young staff like to share, up to a point – Financial Times

The sharing economy is a key part of the millennial mindset. Young workers share themselves — their photos, creations, ideas and opinions — before anyone has asked.

Developments such as open source code and crowdsourced content are examples of this shift away from unique ownership. Many millennials own neither a car nor a house — instead they share them via Uber and Airbnb.

At a recent dinner with fellow millennials, the discussion moved to owning a home. “Are you thinking of buying soon?” asked one person. “No way. I don’t want to be tied down with ‘stuff,’” said another.

This conversation is consistent across millennials. Gone are the days when a freshly minted graduate dreamt of owning her first suburban home and shiny car. Regardless of whether this is because the state of the economy no longer allows for such aspirations, or because millennials have different ideals than their parents, it is a new reality that is also affecting the way we work.

Instead of moaning about their lack of possessions, millennials are taking advantage of the freedoms that sharing brings. It is time their employers did the same.

I recently visited a large company in Germany where employees can work from anywhere each day — on one of the open hot desks, in the cafeteria or on a bean bag chair in the breakout area. But some millennials are taking hot-desking much further. Instead of jumping from a desk by the window to a couch near the lift, they are hopping between desks that are continents apart. At my company, we just finished a “home swap” between two members of our team. One spent three months in San Francisco, the other in London. They swapped teams and living spaces — sharing their homes and lives with one another. The result? Both had fabulous experiences and returned with skills that will help them progress in their careers. Those benefits cost the company far less than had we had to pay for corporate apartments or hotel rooms. It is time for all of us to embrace what our kindergarten teachers taught us — sharing is caring.

Brynne Herbert, a millennial, is founder and chief executive of Move Guides, which helps employers relocate staff globally

Mrs Moneypenny

For a generation that does not want to be tied down with “stuff” I am amazed at how much of it my staff — more than half of whom are under 30 — have accumulated. As we prepare to renovate the office, whole boxes of possessions are having to be taken home. Desk drawers contain everything from cuff links and spare pairs of tights to dog-eared copies of Harry Potter books and endless lengths of phone chargers and earphones.