According to the Washington post, Millennials became the
largest population in the US as of 2019 (Searing, 2019). That means that if you
are a leader, it is highly likely you have a millennial in your team who joined
you with this being one of their goals in mind, learn, grow, and move on!
Known as the “disruptive generation” if you have employees
born between 1981-1996 and you are interested in retaining your best asset, you
are going to want to hang around a bit! Now, if you want to know why employee
retention is important, I invite you to read my article on Employee
Retention first.
Before I even begin let me explain why it is important that
you strategize ways to maintain those millennials engaged. By 2025 the Millennials
will represent 75% of the workforce (Eddington, 2019). They also differ very
much from their predecessors, the Baby Boomers and even those younger than them.
Let us review the differences between these two generations.
|
Key components of their life |
Baby boomers |
Millennials |
|
Loyalty |
They are very
loyal to their employers, often remaining despite the unhealthy environment. |
They are
loyal to their goals. If an organization no longer suits their aspirations,
they are moving on. |
|
Company culture |
They would
work through some of the most unhealthy and abusive of cultures. |
They need to
be part of a culture that appreciates them and provides positivity to their
lives. |
|
Trust |
They know
they should not trust anyone, although expect leaders to remain true to their
word. |
They must be
able to trust their leader. If trust is lacking in the superior/direct report
relationship, they will move on. |
|
Honesty |
It is a very
valued aspect of their relationships. |
It will be the
foundation to trust their leaders. |
|
Transparency |
Not a
critical aspect of the relationship between the supervisor and delegate, as
they understand somethings will need to remain private. |
If they feel
someone is hiding something, somewhere, they will lose trust. |
|
Advancement
opportunities |
They could
remain at the same position for years, even decades. |
They will not
remain at the same position for long, especially if they find they are no
longer being challenged. |
|
Work-life
balance |
For this generation,
work was a priority, often over anything else in their lives. |
They need to
be able to feel like they can handle it all, or they will move on. |
Let us dive deeper
into every unique quality of the Millennials.
Healthy company culture – the millennials will work
for an organization that will foster an environment that shows appreciation for
their efforts and talents, as well as has their best interest in mind. This is
important not just in the physical aspect of their health, but also their
mental and psychological health as well. For more on Employee
Wellness check this article out!
Trust – many experts in relationships will talk about
trust being a key component of any relationship. This is not different in the
work setting. To trust someone, you need to find them to be honest. By
the way, part of being honest, means being transparent. Ever heard
someone say, omission is a form of lying? To a millennial if you are
hiding something, you are not being honest. As a leader, even if you are unable
to provide the information requested, be truthful in saying that, but do not try
to hide it or distort it.
This one next, is one of the two most important ways you
will retain a Millennial. Advancement opportunities! As the disruptive
generation, millennials are on a constant desire to change. To change
responsibilities, to change hobbies, to change the duties..etc. In changing,
what they are really looking for is a challenge that can help them grow! They operate
under this motto, learn, grow, and move on! They want to learn, and they do so
to become more marketable. Once they have learned, they want to grow. Help them
reach their potential and advance and you will have a long-standing millennial
in your team! However, they also want to move on. Once they have learned all
they can and have grown as much as they are able to, they will move on. A few
days ago, I was joking with someone, saying “while baby boomers were married to
their jobs, millennials have to interest in spending decades doing the same
thing in the same place.” Trust me, this is true! Now, it is important that if
you advertise yourself as providing with advancement opportunities that you
have a clear path for them to follow to move up the career ladder. The minute
they start working for you and find out that the so called “advancement
opportunities” are plagued with favoritism, politics, or any other non-sense,
guess what? They will move on!
Finally, work-life balance! If you can get the millennials
in your team to not just work, but also have fun and stay healthy while at
work, you will have yourself a long-standing member of your team! In addition,
they will need the flexibility to manage their other responsibilities. Notice
how I do not just state, “family affairs.” That is because back in the baby
boomer era, an average of 4.24 million babies were born every year.
Whereas this number dropped in the next generation to closer to 3 million
babies. Some attribute this difference to the fact that a lot more female baby
boomers were at home raising children for most of their adulthood, while a lot
more millennial women have dedicated themselves to education and career goals. Some
of these last ones opting for not having children at all. This, however, does
not mean that the millennials are not looking for the proper balance in life, to
the contrary millennials seek that balance more than the previous generation
did. In fact, recently millennials are seeking jobs that allow them to
integrate some of their hobbies and other duties such as, family
responsibilities, community engagement or pursuing high education degrees.
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