Millennials now comprise a significant portion of the workforce, and they walk to their own beat. They are revolutionizing work culture, and managers must acknowledge their workstyles, especially because by the year 2030, 75% of the workforce will be millennials.
Managers often struggle with millennials wanting flexible work schedules and work-life balance, and the fact that they are typically not easily engaged. If you Google “millennial,” you’ll find a flood of articles about how to manage them. However, despite their stereotypical bad rap, millennials want to connect with their organizations and do great things within them.
Here are a few suggestions to improve your millennial engagement and manage them at work.
Recognize Their Motivation
Millennials have different work desires from previous generations. They don’t want to work extra hours, but that’s not to be construed as lazy. Many studies highlight that millennials are driven by a desire to make a positive difference in the world.
That said, it might be difficult for a millennial employee to see the bigger picture, separating what they do on a day-to-day basis and making an impact. Companies can help resolve this issue with millennials by clearly outlining the purpose and impact of their job roles in relation to company values.
Here’s an example of a company driving employee engagement through the values of the organization.
Every year, my niece and nephew participate in a Thanksgiving Day card contest at the company where my husband works. The children of employees’ families take part in creating a Thanksgiving Day card by submitting holiday-related drawings. Each child gets a $10 gift card for their participation. The winning drawing is used as that year’s company holiday card, which is sent to all clients.
How can you practice this kind of engagement? Getting your company involved in charities can be an optional team activity. It gives back to the community while promoting teamwork within the company. Examples include a toy drive, volunteering at soup kitchens and building at Habitat for Humanity.
Create Opportunities For Growth
Millennials are known — rightly or wrongly — as job hoppers. But what they want and need from a job is an opportunity to connect and grow while feeling like an organic part of the company. This is a highly attractive quality that organizations can offer to attract and retain millennials.
Certainly, managers might misconstrue employees speaking up about not feeling motivated in the role they have. Knowing they are seen by some as a possible flight risk, these younger employees might not be transparent about how they are truly feeling. The best way to combat this is through communication and connection.
You can offer to help them identify and develop new skills linked to the mission of the company. What’s more, doing this while giving them autonomy — and monitoring the inherent risk from afar — will keep them stimulated, engaged and productive.
Be sure to also create development plans. Assess where employees would like to devote their time and energy, and build a growth strategy around that. Providing ongoing formal and informal feedback is the best way to teach accountability and measure success. And although you might feel that you provide feedback, it will be more constructive for millennials to receive it as mini-reviews throughout a project. Dump truck-style advice at the end of a long effort rarely sticks.
Along similar lines, connectedness is important in soliciting and giving feedback. One of our clients sent a simple “about you” questionnaire to her team for this purpose. This is an effective and fun way to get to know everyone on a personal level while working in a virtual world. It also helps with establishing meaningful, personalized rewards along the way. Sending a personalized gift or favorite kind of candy is a gesture of recognition the company can promote.
Promote Work-Life Balance
Millennials work differently from past generations. They don’t want to sit behind a desk for eight hours, forced to put in face time at the office. Rather, they prefer to work the hours they feel is needed to get their work completed.
As a result, remote work is becoming more common within organizations. How can a company have a connected workforce with engaged employees if some work from home?
Try offering some incentives. Set a budget for each remote worker to get supplies for a home office. Sitting in a coffee shop for a chunk of your day might not be the best productive space to accomplish tasks. Offering to augment a workspace could go a long way in showing them that you care for their mental health and success.
Another concern with remote workers is lack of communication and less accountability for work tasks. Using project management tools like Trello, Asana or Basecamp can help all employees see what everyone else is working on. They promote collaboration by helping team members communicate and share work while setting and tracking hard deadlines.
Managers can also consider getting the team together once a month for a team outing. Including remote workers in social activities promotes unity and personal value.
Go With The Wave Of Change
There are many things today that are changing the workforce, from the evolution of technology to the styles and attitudes of the people who use it. The older mentality must adapt to the new as it becomes the mainstream.
To create and maintain engagement from millennials, companies and their managers must rethink their people strategies, modifying the spirit of the workplace, initiating revolutionary development processes and building engagement models that are interactive, values-based and flexible.
This article originally appeared on Forbes Feb 13, 2020
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