Managing Millennials
Managing Millennials
The workforce is changing. By 2025 it’s estimated that 75% of workers will be millennials and generation Z.
Is your company ready for the shift?
Use the following checklists as a guide to keep your business current and competitive when it comes to attracting and retaining millennial workers. Feel free to print this page and work through these checklists on your own (to print on windows hold control p, to print on Mac hold command p). This is a living document so check back for more information as the project progresses.
What Matters to Millennials
Millennials are looking for different things in a working environment than their parents. The crucial elements millennials care about are purpose, communication, work / life balance and technology.
This generation has seen their parents go through the 2008 crash, which has changed their perspective on what work should look like. They aren’t willing to give up their entire life for their work. We also need to understand that as digital natives they grew up in an era of rapidly changing technologies and quick connectivity, so they expect their worklife to mirror this. These shifts call for some managers to become inspirational, visionary leaders. This requires companies to identify their inspirational leaders vs their operational leaders. Operational leaders serve to focus on the processes and maintaining structure while inspirational leaders serve as the point of contact and development leader to millennial workers. This approach can benefit all generations of workers.
Millennials have different views on their needs than generations that came before them
Key Resources
Abacus Data https://abacusdata.ca/product/canadian-millennials-study/
The Millennial Whisperer https://www.themillennialwhisperer.com
Purpose
- Provide volunteer opportunities that encourage meaningful experiences
- Express how the millennial’s role effects the overall company
- Provide opportunities for professional development (ie. cross training, working on their own passion projects, learning new skills that they value)
- Create a diverse and inclusive work culture
- Provide autonomy within a framework (trust your employees)
- Have a clear company mission and values statement informed by employees that is an active part of company culture
- Express how your company is having a social impact
- Have inspirational management that is the first point of contact in the initial hiring process
- Encourage employees to develop their own purpose statement
- Develop different pathways for growth (not every millennial wants to be a leader, but they want to continuously learn)
Communication
- Give employees a seat at the table
- Sandwich negative feedback within two positive affirmations
- Create a positive culture of communication
- Make sure your open door policy is in action (ie. do you schedule time in your day to have
- Allow mistakes, admit your own and learn from them
- Understand employees will see if you walk the talk and how you interact with people
- Involve employees in recruitment process (peer to peer interviews)
- Develop mentorship with inspirational mentors
- Be someone your employees can count on and make sure they know you have their back
- Genuinely value their opinions
- Constant authentic feedback at all stages of employment (ie. recruitment, on boarding, day to day)
Work / Life Balance
- Create opportunities to work remotely
- Consider a freelance to hire model
- Understand what motivates your employee and gear your feedback and rewards to the individual (ie. time off over bonuses)
- Be cognizant of your employees life outside of their worklife (ie. consider the why of rotating shifts and how it could be done differently)
- Offer flexibility in scheduling and remove the bias in taking time off
- Focus on building relationships inside and outside of the organization
- Encourage your workforce to set boundaries and unplug (employees do not need to be available 24/7)
Technology
- Make sure your work environment is using and allowing modern technology
- Connect to your employees/potential candidates through social media to create a digital relationship
- Use technology to measure your Human Resources metrics (ie. turnover cost)
- Look for tasks that can be automated to free up your employees for more meaningful work (ie. robotics, AI)
- Have a presence on social media beyond the consumer
- Be considerate of the role of cell phones in millennials’ lives
- Consider utilizing a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) to help streamline communication, manage records and free up data management
- Move towards portable technology (ie. tablets over desktops)
- Use modern assessment tools to help understand your employees’ drivers and motivations, emotional intelligence and employee engagement
Resources
https://www.themillennialwhisperer.com
https://tulip.co/blog/skills-gap/manufacturing-skills-gap-millennials/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/millennial-gen-z-talent-workplace-leadership/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/heres-why-businesses-cant-hold-onto-millennials
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/want-to-attract-millennials-to-your-company-heres-how-you-can
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/heres-how-to-manage-millennial-workers
https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/recruitment-and-staffing/getting-to-know-generation-z/299486
Who We Are
We are an Employment Ontario funded project designed to bring together job seekers, incumbent workers, employers, and community partners to develop and improve Human Resources and recruitment practices in Lanark and Renfrew Counties.