Each generation has its own trials and tribulations that shape how it views the world, interacts with people, and copes with new developments. While Gen X is characterised by high levels of scepticism, millennials are known to be tech savvy and largely immune to traditional methods of marketing or sales motivation.
In terms of your workforce, this can make ambition, loyalty, and engagement a little harder to cultivate. Employee development methods that speak to the millennial mindset and align with their behaviours should be integrated. These small changes will help to re-energise their commitment to your organisation and its key objectives. Below are five simple strategies to do just that.
Get to Know Your Team
Regardless of generation, it is good practice to get to know your team on both a personal and professional level. If you understand how they think and what motivates and worries them, you are in a much better position to provide what they need to become more dedicated to the business.
According to Deloitte’s research, millennials are ‘pro-business’ and see your company as a possible force for positive change. By talking with them, you can begin to understand how that can happen. It allows you to tap into their creativity and gather insights on how your company could have a positive impact on the world while increasing its bottom line.
Know What to Expect
A basic understanding and synchronisation of expectations helps in any relationship, and it’s no different when it comes to millennials in the workplace. It’s important to use straight talk. This lets your team know what they can expect from you and your company in terms of opportunities, rewards, and promotions is beneficial. It also makes it clear as to what they need to deliver in order to receive these perks.
Flexibility and Stability
Multi-tasking is second nature to millennials and to enable it, flexibility in the workplace is a must. Providing flexible hours allows them to pursue volunteer positions and develop new skills with classes. In turn, they will reward you with improved organizational performance and loyalty.
Millennials count scheduling flexibility as a top priority when looking for work. The good news is that this isn’t too hard for employers to provide, thanks to the today’s technology.
Millennials are less defined by their work than previous generations and therefore are likely to have multiple commitments they need to balance with work. Whether it’s working from home a few days a week, allowing surf mornings to be offset with later evenings, or remote facilities to support volunteering commitments, you’ll find millennials work better when they have more control over their time.
Let’s Talk
Older generations may think that millennials are inclined to communicate via text or email, but they’d be wrong. The need for validation, clear direction, and praise drive their preference to talk in person. According to Bentley University’s research, 51% of millennials would rather communicate with colleagues face-to-face.
Having grown up in environments that encourage teamwork, it should come as no surprise that millennials recognise the importance of in-person communication. It helps to create a sense of unity, aids collaboration, and also builds solid support networks that help them achieve goals.
Reward and Recognition
In the eyes of millennials, traditional pay raises and promotions aren’t the best ways to recognise and reward their hard work. Health care benefits and opportunities to further develop and build skills are their top priorities when it comes to workplace bonuses.
This should be great news: your millennial employees are just as motivated as you, if not more so, to become better in their field. This can translate to big rewards for your business.
Millennials have been mislabeled as having a poor work ethic. With just a few tweaks to how you interact and engage with the younger members of your workforce, you can tap into their creativity, encourage their loyalty, and help them grow with your business. This all combines to further strengthen the company and your teams emotional investment in their work.