How Millennials are changing corporate culture

Many young professionals today opt for a new road of success: entrepreneurship

By: Tom DiNardo, Staff Writer

Turning the traditional corporate world on its head, young professionals aged 19 to 30 are looking more and more toward entrepreneurship – startup businesses and freelance work – as a viable option for work.

It’s not very hard to see why Millenials are abandoning the traditional working lifestyle. Let’s face it, corporate jobs are rough. You work nine to five in an office cubicle with minimal interaction and a rigid schedule. Startup companies, on the other hand, seem more like a university student center than an office. Think Zoe Barnes’s job at Slugline in the TV series House of Cards (she doesn’t even have a desk!). You’re more likely to see an open concept, a free cafeteria and social interaction than people isolated in cubicles hunched over PCs.

Young professionals today see traditional companies as unaccommodating, stagnant, black holes where you have to spend years working your way up the ladder in order to be heard. Even once you reach the top there is still red tape at every turn.

Today’s youth are deciding to say screw it and forge their own path. That could mean starting a company in their parent’s garage, hopping on to a project already underway, or doing freelance work.

Start me up!

Most students know at least one person involved in a startup. Some people know twenty-somethings who have hit gold with a simple idea that caught on and was sold to a mega-corporation like Google. Possibly they developed the idea for a final project in a computer programming class. Sometimes the idea materializes in the university caf.  Some Millenials decide to put their entrepreneurial aspirations on hold until they graduate. Others don’t even wait until they cross the stage to start their professional career. Either way, Millenials are embracing startups as an attractive alternative to the traditional corporate lifestyle.

Silicon Valley, once the haven of startups in North America, is slowly being challenged by strong Canadian competition, as Ontario has recently become a hub of entrepreneurial activity.

A large contribution is government investment in entrepreneurial activity. The provincial government has invested $3.6 billion dollars in the technology sector, mainly in research and development. The province is also encouraging foreign businesses to set up in the province with their new Startup Visa.

Investors can be lured into the deal as well. They benefit from reduced corporate taxes and the government provides significant tax credits to companies doing innovative work.

[pullquote]Some people know twenty-somethings who have hit gold with a simple idea that caught on and was sold to a mega-corporation like Google.[/pullquote]

Waterloo in particular has seen enormous growth in entrepreneurial activity. Kyleigh Platz is a social media specialist at Communitech, a Waterloo-based company dedicated to supporting tech businesses in the community at all points in their development. She points to the surrounding environment to explain the burgeoning entrepreneurial hub. “With Waterloo, we see that the community is the one that makes the culture,” she says. “You still see the community coming together; it’s not about one individual.” Communitech connects with local startups and universities in order to help the community grow together.

Waterloo is lucky to have a constant influx of young professionals from its local universities, with students graduating in engineering, math and computer science schools. This helps to explain why 500 startups have taken root in Waterloo in 2012, while Ontario as a whole produces 30,000 computer science and engineering graduates every year from its 44 universities.

Freelance

Freelance is like the left jab to the startup’s right hook to the typical corporate setup. It packs a smaller punch but is still bruising the traditional workplace.

“… Traditional barriers of work are being knocked down,” says Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, a website that connects freelancers with employers.

Freelancers can still work at a “regular” job, unlike those involved with startup businesses. According to a survey by oDesk, many freelancers plan to slowly transition away from “regular” employment and toward full time freelance work in the near future.

Of those freelancers surveyed, 72 percent said they wanted to quit their jobs and 61 percent said they were likely to quit their job within the next two years.

Freelance work is enticing. You can work whenever and wherever you want. You work on projects that excite and inspire you. Freedom, according to oDesk, is the number one reason for becoming a freelancer today.

Image courtesy of See-ming Lee via Flickr

In the modern digital age it is easier than ever to become a freelancer. Several websites, such as oDesk and freelancer.com, offer to connect freelancers with employers. Freelancers are encouraged to set up an account and create a profile – similar to Facebook – and upload sample work. They can either pitch an idea to a company or respond to listings posted by companies.

There are currently about 62,000 freelancers in Canada. Projections indicate that freelancers will make up a significant proportion of the work force in the next few years. By 2020 more than 40 per cent of Americans will work as freelancers.

The word “entrepreneur”

The word “entrepreneur” has recently changed in meaning, according to oDesk. Before it was used to define someone who started his or her own company. This person had a brilliant idea along with the savoir-faire and investors to make their vision a reality. The results of the oDesk survey show that most people now believe an entrepreneur has a certain mindset. This type of person can see opportunities and go after them.

“The redefinition of entrepreneurship and increased opportunity for all matters because it opens more doors – for the Millenial generation especially – to think big,” says Gary Swart. “The entrepreneurial mindset is also becoming an important asset for corporate careerists. Companies respect those who bring an entrepreneurial mindset to the table – it means they see opportunities and are willing to take the risks required to seize them.”

Everyone is an entrepreneur now, according to the headline of Jana Kasperkevic’s article on Inc.com. While this may or may not be true, it’s clear that

many people want to be one. Websites for the potential entrepreneur abound – www.Entrepreneur.com and the Forbes Entrepreneur section are just two examples.

Universities are recognizing this interest and adjusting their curriculum to accommodate it. McGill University is launching a new major concentration in Entrepreneurship at the Desautels Business School. Required courses include “Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship” and “Entrepreneurship in Practice.” The concentration is described as giving students “an understanding of the key concepts and processes involved in starting and managing new ventures.”

 Backlash

There is one problem now that everyone is an entrepreneur – most employees see themselves as “free agents” and are always looking for more promising opportunities. In return employers have no qualms about cutting employees if costs need to go down or they want fresh ideas. This produces high turnover and holds back productivity.

Image courtesy of Michael Kappel via Flickr

Harvard Business Review writers Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh think there needs to be a new employer-employee compact. The authors call for an alliance between employers and employees. This way both parties would figure out how they can mutually benefit from their relationship and this would allow them to adapt. Both sides would recognize that the arrangement is temporary, which in fact encourages greater risk.

However temporary your job may be, there’s no denying how awesome the new entrepreneurial culture can be. In a recent article on coaxing efficiency out of employees, Entrepreneur.com points out that a fun work environment actually improves employee productivity.

[pullquote]The redefinition of entrepreneurship and increased opportunity for all matters because it opens more doors – for the Millenial generation especially – to think big[/pullquote]

Michael Kern, the executive creative director at We Like Small – a digital agency in Salt Lake City, wholly embraces this philosophy. In an interview with Entrepreneur.com he revealed the 6” rule he applies in his own workplace. “If it snows more than [six inches], and your projects can handle it, you should be out skiing.” Talk about your dream job.

Click to expand infographic.

Tom DiNardo has a B.A. in History from McGill University. Tom is passionate about reading, writing, and experiencing all that life has to offer. He is currently living and working in Montreal, Quebec.

Sources

How Ontario plans to become the world’s top technology hub
Groundbreaking Survey Reveals the Rise of Freedom-Seeking Freelancers and Redefinition of Entrepreneurship
40 Percent of Americans Will Be Freelancers By 2020
Why Everyone Is an Entrepreneur Now
Concentration in Entrepreneurship at McGill University
Tours of Duty: The New Employer-Employee Compact
Why Everyone on Your Team Should Leave Work Early Today