By Beata Socha,
Source: Observer, Number 12/01 (34/35)
For the time being, it is the managers (predominantly Gen X employees who have had more time to climb up the corporate ladder) who complain that the younger generation is simply unmanageable. But in the not-so-distant future, the tables will turn: Millennials are already the largest group on the labour market, and many of them are climbing up the ladder to senior managerial positions. What kind of leaders will they make?
“It will definitely impact organizations themselves, as they will have to change. We can expect a lot of innovation in building corporate structures and management styles. We could see a rise of companies with flat structures, such as the so-called ‘turquoise companies,’” explained Gołgowski.

Examples of turquoise organizations abound mainly in the tech industry. Video games producer and retailer Valve (famous for its Steam platform) is a well-known example of a hierarchy-less company and also one of the most desirable employers according to Forbes (although, some ex-employees have criticized it for feeling more like a “high school” than a workplace). In Poland, there are at least a few organizations striving to remain entirely egalitarian by design: web portal INN:Poland named physician rating portal ZnanyLekarz.pl, kindergarten chain Leance, and packaging producer Masterpress as some of the most “turquoise” Polish firms.

According to the Fortune magazine, expert consultants who advise firms on how to make Millennials happy in their jobs charge up to $20,000 an hour. With Gen Ys already the largest group in the workforce and the best educated to date, companies all over the world – including in Poland – are becoming acutely aware they cannot afford to miss out on their collective talent. Sooner or later they will all have to become Millennial-friendly, or die trying.
Glossary:
- predominantly – przeważnie
- forage – pożywienie
- teal – barwa morska
- devoid of – pozbawiony
- to emerge – pojawiać się
- to abound in – obfitować
- to strive – dążyć
- egalitarian– ponadklasowy
- to thrive – prosperować
- reluctantly– niechętnie
- acutely – wnikliwie