For years it seems like every day we are bombarded by headlines proclaiming new things that Millenials have killed. Be it the diamond industry, wedding traditions, cars, mayo, cheese, chain restaurants, cereal, at this rate Millenials are starting to seem like serial industrial killers. Now, whether or not you believe this is actually something to be worried about or just another case of older generations griping about changes that the new generation is bringing, a familiar story, is up to your own discretion. That being said, there are some trends that amongst Millennials (and other younger generations) that are going to have significant effects on the world. One such movement is the Financial Independence Retire Early (or FIRE) movement. With its origins in the 1990s, this movement has been growing in popularity over the years, especially amongst Millennials. The guiding philosophy of this movement is to live frugally, often saving 50% of one’s salary, in order to be able to retire early (think in your 50s or in some cases even 30s-40s). A quick search online can lead you to hundreds of different testimonials of folks who have achieved early retirement, like this analysis of FIRE members’ habits, this story of a man who retired at 24, or this couple who retired at 38 and 41. Now, this could be another Millennial trend that could die out, but what if it points to a larger trend, not related to retirement, but in fact related to work?
The Future of Work is Flexible
What if this desire to retire early is not necessarily simply a desire to retire and spend the rest of one’s life reading on the beach (though that certainly is an option for some)? What if this FIRE movement is more a symptom of the upcoming generations’ relationship with work? We already know that workplace flexibility is a top priority for today’s workforce. And even some participants in the FIRE movement openly acknowledge that FIRE’s goal isn’t necessarily the elimination of work once they retire.
“We’re not meant to sit around and drink Mai Tais all day…Humans have an intrinsic need to work. We need to feel like a valued member of society, and that’s not going to stop because you have an arbitrary number in the bank.” says Gewn Merz, host of FIRE podcast Firedrill. And Chris Mamula, an early retiree writes how the beauty of early retirement is the financial independence and the freedom to choose when to work, rather than not needing to work. So while the shock of retiring so young makes for a more eye-catching headline, maybe our focus should be more on the Financial Independence part of FIRE rather than Retire Early. This implies that what Millennials really value is not retiring early, but having the freedom to work when and how they want.
On FIRE and On Demand
While we are still a long way from having a 100% flexible workforce, staffing companies would be remiss to not take advantage of this changing form of work. If movements like FIRE continue to grow, we may see in the future a plethora of young, motivated, workers looking for one time jobs that they can take whenever they want. It is critical for staffing companies to begin to develop the infrastructure to support this new model of worker.
One of the main reasons that staffing companies are interested in our on-demand white label staffing platform at Wolf is exactly because they too have seen that the staffing industry is going on-demand. Now, while most are primarily interested in the on-demand features for their clients, we are seeing more and more that they are also interested in the on-demand aspect from the workforce side as well. These companies have begun to recognize that, not only can they attract better candidates to their platform, but they can also attract many more by offering on-demand jobs. Flexible work is extremely attractive and the more candidates they have on their platform, the more their business can grow. It’s easy to imagine a future where offering jobs on-demand, is necessary for temporary staffing companies to maintain their workforce.
If this FIRE movement is an indicator that Millenials are looking for the flexibility to work when they want, staffing companies should invest in the technology that will allow them to truly offer jobs on-demand and tap this growing workforce.
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Whether or not retiring at a ripe old age will be another victim on the list of things Millenials have killed, the FIRE movement is another indicator that work is changing. Staffing companies should be looking at what the implications of movements like this mean for the future of work and adapting their businesses to take advantage of what this could spell for the future of temporary staffing. The future of their workforces may depend on it.