The Millennials, also known as Generation Y, will become more important to reliability engineering, predictive maintenance fields as well as the workforce in general over the next few years. So far Millennials have gotten a bad name for themselves. Other generations refer to them as being lazy workers, disrespectful of authority and having a sense of entitlement; however, there needs to be a strong advocate for generation y in the workplace. The Keeping the Millennials article states that over the next two decades the cost to recruit and train Millennials will be huge. So huge that if proper steps to integrate these workers are not taken the turnover cost could run into the billions. Even though Millennials have grown up with more feedback and praise than other generations, many believe that this translates into higher expectations for success. The article posted on Industry Week goes into more detail and provides practical advice and strategies for a multi-generation workforce.

One problem with reliability and predictive maintenance is that not many people are familiar with the fields. This leads to tow issues 1) companies do not understand the full benefits of using a reliability engineer or predictive maintenance expert and 2) the younger generations are not aware of these fields during the time they are choosing their career paths. With Millennials being such an important factor in the near future, more time should be devoted to expanding their knowledge now. It is also extremely essential that companies become familiar with how the different generations work, and their different expectations. That way companies can do a better job of integrating multiple generations and continue on the path of success.

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