By 2025, Millennials will comprise 75% of the global workforce. Millennials are tech-savvy, greatly ambitious, in love with change, multi-taskers and globally connected – mainly due to being immersed in the digital world from a young age.
How to Build a Millennial Workforce that “Likes” You – the top 3 game changers coming up…
Born between 1980 and 2000, this generation is bringing a whole new perspective to traditional organizational structures and working habits, which may present a management challenge for established professionals.
Their strong mindset constitutes the roots of the generation’s entrepreneurial motivations, such as creating a social network that connected a billion people around the world, building startups such as Groupon, Mozilla Firefox, Foursquare and WordPress in less than a decade in their late 20s, a reach that took corporates like Walmart and Amazon several decades.
THE TOP 3 GAME CHANGERS:
Every generation is a product of its times.
With technology being the driving force behind the revolution, those who do not adapt to the new ways of how business is done will soon exit the market. Millennial behaviors are inevitably shaped by the global connectivity, and rather than trying to re-mould them, we’d better start focusing and adapting to their needs as they are already shaping the workforce at a staggering speed.
What Are Millennials Looking For?
“60% of Millennials leave their company in less than 3 years;
over 50% expect to have 2-5 employers throughout their careers.”
Millennials and their ambition to move on quickly if their expectations are not being met has become one of the biggest talent challenges with organizations. The best of them are difficult to attract and even more difficult to keep. They leave because they expect change, are happy with change and don’t accept the status quo.
1. LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Skill development is vital for those that expect to be around for the long run
“Training & Development is the #1 perk when Millennials evaluate
prospective employers, more than cash bonuses or a 401k program.”
What are they looking for?
Millennials are young, optimistic and eager for career progression. With these pioneers as examples, they know that one’s skill set is what matters and they are willing to spend a high proportion of their time gaining new experiences and acquiring new information.
Getting in touch with peers and friends from anywhere in the world is simply one click away. Networking sites like LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter and Indeed have streamlined the hiring process and made recruiting overseas easier than ever. LinkedIn’s network includes professionals from over 130 different industries and ZipRecruiter employers can reach over 2 million resumes for free. Millennials understand that competition is global and the only way to stand out is to continuously develop their professional skill set.
The Opportunity:
Deliver training the way they live, with bite-sized microlearning bursts of information that is shareable and mobile.
Social sharing means that learners are used to attention spans of 90 seconds and 140-word messages, whether it’s SMS, post or video length. The underlying success factor of Microlearning is that content is offered in short durations of 1-4 minutes to mirror the human attention span. Bite-size content is easier to digest, understand and remember.
Make sure that what they’re learning interests them. Assess skills for specific roles, offer digestible content and deliver training at the right time of their career path. Too many employees get training on things they don’t need and skills that cannot be applied back into their daily tasks.
2. ENTREPRENEURSHIP / AUTONOMY
The desire to work on their own terms: efficient work at higher productivity times
“58% of Millennials already classify themselves as entrepreneurs.”
What are they looking for?
Growing up, Millennials have consistently been taught that as long as there is a will, a great mindset and the right resources, nothing is impossible. Technology has irrevocably cracked open the opportunities for anyone to be an entrepreneur.
A Different Take on Work-Life Balance
This has resulted in the Millennials having a very entrepreneurial mindset. The conventional rules in business where work is done in a perfect suit & tie at an office environment no longer applies. According to Harvard Business Review, they want time and space for their own self-development, defined as “enough leisure time for my private life” (57%) and “flexible work hours” (47%). Millennials are driven to be creative and produce great work, but they don’t want to sit in a cubicle all day.
Greater Autonomy on How Work is Done
Technology has blurred the line between work and home. Companies like Google and Yelp, that have been successful in attracting and retaining Millennials, are flexible where work is not restrained to how and where it should be done. Corporates on Great Place to Work’s Millennials list are 76% more likely to offer flexible scheduling compared to 63% for other companies. Although many would still prefer working in office environments than alone, they prefer to be rewarded by achieving results rather than the number of hours or where they get it done. Millennials want to work when they are most productive and they expect to produce more work in a shorter period of time.
The Opportunity
Continuous development
Millennials expect to keep learning after they enter the workforce and are attracted to employers that offer excellent training opportunities. With their “use of technology” as the defining factor that sets them apart, they respond well with digital learning modules where snappy and meaningful content is delivered through short bursts.
Cater to their Inner Entrepreneurs
Millennials feel restricted by traditional work practices. Set clear instructions & targets, provide constructive feedback and offer greater autonomy over when, where and how work is done. Many would like to have support on personal development, with a preference to learn by doing rather than being told what to do.
3. ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSPARENCY
The need to be in the loop and updated: information overload is okay.
“Fluid communications and transparency at every level
of an organization is crucial for employee engagement.”
Almost anything you want answered, simply use search engines like Google and you get the answer within seconds. The digital tsunami has made the world flat and it is not about not having the answer but not knowing yet.
What are they looking for?
Being raised using technology and mass media, Millennials are all about sharing information, streamlining communication and are programed to seek out answers. Organizations need to quench this thirst for information by keeping them in the loop. Having access to information not only creates a more engaged environment, it also implies trust and generates loyalty.
This, however, does not apply solely for Millennials. Transparency and timely communication are equally important for Generation X and Baby Boomers. The only difference lies in that Millennials have voiced it out loud.
The Opportunity:
Make the business visible
In order to make intelligible decisions that align with company values, keep employees updated on ongoing organizational developments. Insufficient information is dangerous as employees cannot accurately evaluate the market, make better decisions and be motivated to work. The more insights provided, the more engaged they will be.
Explain their part in the overall mission
Communicate specifically how the tasks they’re doing are contributing every step of the way: the team, the department, the organization and overall, how it helps the customers and the world. Connecting the dots and making them see how it fits into the bigger picture tells them that eventually- what they do, matters.
So what and who are Millennials?
They are a technologically savvy generation, that is creative, innovative, independent and if accommodated the right way, they can be the greatest agents of change that will substantially drive your business forward.
So let’s loop back to the challenge we started with:
How to Build a Millennial Workforce that “Likes” You.
Make sure you are listening. If you don’t start offering key elements that Millennials look for, somebody else will. If they don’t go and work for your competitors, they will set up their own businesses. I kid you not.
Andrie Steliou
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