By Tieke M. Utama, WRI Indonesia Human Resources staff

I remember a conversation some time ago with fellow HR representatives from various international NGOs about how to interact with millennials. Most of them felt that millennials were troublesome, needy, disrespectful, not committed, disobedient, and asked too many questions. They said that problems with millennials have started since the beginning of the interview process, when they always ask trivial questions, such as working time. Our discussion concluded with an agreement that HR practitioners would invite experts to provide a workshop on the Different Generations in the Working World.

Then my memory drifted to the working atmosphere at WRI Indonesia, where almost 70% of its staff are millennials. I asked myself a question, do I feel the same as the other HR colleagues? The answer is unequivocal: No.

The assumption of the difficulty of working with millennials would change 180 degrees after seeing the staff at the WRI Indonesia office. These millennials are fun! They have a strong sense of self and are intelligent, care about the future, tech-savvy, fluent in English, full of bright ideas, flexible, competitive, critical, very open minded, have a smart sense of humor, care about the future, and have other various advantages.

<p>WRI Indonesia staffs</p>

WRI Indonesia staffs

One thing that amazes me about the many millennials in WRI Indonesia is their commitment to the change and progress of our country. My admiration for millennials eventually changed my views and had a positive impact on the passion of work of a Gen-Xer like myself.

The key to working with millennials is actually quite simple. We need to be thoughtful and open up our minds to readily accept change, because it is now the millennial era. So while other HR representatives are talking about hosting trainings to deal with different generations in the workplace, I've gone one step further by mingling between them and moving forward with my millennial friends at WRI Indonesia.