According to recent national studies, African American millennials in the workplace are more inclined to use the free agent option to advance their career. They feel as if they will have more freedom with an unrestricted path to their career aspirations opposed to a hierarchy. In the past, many African Americans were encouraged to stay loyal in their workplace for their lifetime, yet now the mental toughness of millennials have encouraged them to move forward.
It seemed that in previous years, many individuals built their careers by climbing to the corporate level. Their willingness to go all the way to the top and be able to retire let them feel as if they could say “I survived” as their ability and hard work made it as if it was a testament to how race has changed. However, the times are changing as “Free Agentology” is a new and upcoming way to work. This new system is the act of packaging and marketing a set of skills to an employer who is willing to pay above market value in order to gain a competitive edge to the extent that a contract binds the relationship together. This means, African American millennials do not see themselves as employees, rather they are skilled agents who get more power by obtaining twice the skill, instead of staying twice as long. “For African American millennials, the range of career/workplace options is augmented by the Talent Wars, the lack of strong Employee Engagement programs, bias built into the organizational culture, globalization, micro-aggressive scrutiny and leadership gaps the prevent advancement.” This is a very interesting new opinion about the workplace and sets new standards to every working individual in America.