If you are looking to fill positions in your business, chances are many of the resumes you receive will be from Millennials. Millennials have now surpassed Generation X to become the largest generation in the American workforce. If you feel like rolling your eyes: don’t! Many millennials have the drive, skills and ideas you’re looking for when building a productive team of employees—but this generation has a different set of work values and attitudes. What’s surprising is that the changes millennials are pushing for in the workplace are things that are desired by most employees, regardless of age.
Collaboration.
Collaboration shouldn’t be limited to team work and meetings. This new generation of workers wants to use technology to connect with the world and their peers in ways that allow them to have deeper and more globalized connections.
Outline a path for growth and development:
Millennials are all about knowing where they stand and how they can improve. Without a roadmap for success, you’ll be frustrated by a lack of results and they’ll be frustrated by a lack of vision.
Understand both their professional goals and their personal goals:
Work and life are now integrated in so many ways that millennials (and frankly all your workers) want not only to contribute and be better at work, but also to grow as human beings.
Provide flexibility:
Millennials want to have the option to work from home and maintain flexible schedules. If employees are doing the same amount of work at the same level of quality in the same amount of time, why does it matter where they’re getting it done? This millennial work style has had the most radical impact on companies in recent years, and it shows no sign of reversing.
Embrace cognitive diversity:
Millennials are attuned to diversity of every sort, and cognitive diversity is no different. Having people come together to challenge ideas, innovate and collaborate is energizing to this group.
Feedback:
Millennials want feedback—they’ve been raised in an era driven by metrics and effectiveness. Everyone is driven by goals, but the millennial workforce believes (correctly) that this can happen in many arenas, from company goals to collaboration to job satisfaction and engagement. When an employee does good work, don’t wait to hand out the praise, they’ll feel appreciated and want to work even harder.
Purpose:
A recent study found that 80 percent of millennials ranked purpose and meaning in their day-to-day work as the most important thing. That mindset also carries over to millennial consumers, who prefer to support brands that care about the greater good instead of just their bottom line. Millennials expect constant feedback, learning opportunities, and most of all, the chance to meaningfully contribute to society through their work.
For help on hiring and inspiring a team of effective employees for your business, contact the Economic Development Collaborative-Ventura County. Conveniently located in Camarillo, California, we’re here to help.
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