Recap: 2019 National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP)

The Importance of Millennials in the Workplace, presentation cover slide

Presentation cover slide, The Importance of Millennials in the Workplace

This past June Meghan Thoreau presented a scholarly presentation on, The Importance of Millennials in the Workplace, at the 2019 National Association of Community Development Professionals in Asheville, NC. The 30-minute presentation, go.osu.edu/millennials, highlighted:

  1. The changing conditions in the workplace and the workforce induced by emerging technologies, like automation and AI, which are expected to further disrupt ‘the nature work’ and entry-level workers.
  2. General values and career priorities of Millennials. What Millennials want, value, expect from employers, bring to the workplace, how they can improve the workplace, and how to attract Millennials.
  3. Considers possible Extension Generational Program Development ideas, tools, and strategies to engage business and industry that are interested in reevaluating traditional approaches to: employee acquisition, job assignment, employee development, and influencing over organizational culture to support the current and future workforce, in addition to, reevaluating the hiring process and targeted skill sets.
  4. Be proactive of Generation Z, ages 7-24, starting to enter the workforce.

Meghan is very willing to present on this topic and related topics to the local community and business leaders to foster a collaborative discussion on next-steps or programming feedback to considering new approaches and strategies to our youth workforce development programming. Contact Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Education, Thoreau.1@osu.edu.

She and her fellow OSUE colleagues were also National NACDEP Award Recipients. Becky Nesbitt (Distinguished Career Award); Brooke Beam (Cross Program Award – Using Virtual Reality in Educational Programming), and Meghan Thoreau (Educational Technology Award – Scholastic High School Drone Racing League Program); and Amanda Osborne (Educational Materials Award – Produce Perks Toolkit for Farmers Markets). These individuals were also North Central Regional  NACDEP winners.

A worthy read, Generation Z enters the workforce: generational and technological challenges in entry-level jobs, by Carolyn O’Boyle, Josefin Atack, and Kelly Monahan. Asks the hard questions, With Generation Z entering the workforce and the nature of entry-level jobs changing, how can organizations redesign these jobs in a way that can both attract and engage Gen Z and ensure that these jobs continue to generate a pipeline of future talent?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *