US firms face growing levels of employee activism

Subject

Worker activism in the United States.

Significance

Millennials’ workplace ascendancy is stimulating employee activism over internal and societal issues. This trend will grow further and may spread beyond its foothold in the technology sector as the factors behind it (more millennials in the workplace and the continuing availability of enabling social media tools) will not reverse soon, if ever in social media’s case.

Impacts

• Millennial values will increasingly occupy the C-suite and board room, as this cohort is promoted.
• Employee activism may become cyclical, but firms cannot prevent it, only get ahead of it.
• Firms that serve consumer markets will be more vulnerable to employee activism over their business-to-business operations.
• Progressive Democrats will encourage tech worker activism, and campaigns against Big Tech and corporations.