MANAGING MILLENNIAL TALENT
Millennials are a prominent presence in today’s workforce. They have different preferences, working styles, and ideas than their Gen X or baby boomer counterparts. In general, millennials value efficiency, strong communication, and flexible work environments. With that in mind, here are five tips for managing and motivating your millennial talent.
- Flexibility
Millennials appreciate a flexible work environment. This includes their schedule and where they do their work. For instance, allowing employees to work from home at times and letting them choose their start and end times for their workday gives them the flexibility they desire. They’ll do their work and put in their time but they want to do it on their schedule and in a way that fits their lives.
- Frequent Feedback
Millennials crave information – especially when it comes to their performance. They want ongoing feedback instead of the traditional annual performance review. Carve out time on your calendar to sit down with your employee and provide them with feedback on how they’re doing. A good time to meet with them is at the close of every project they work on. You can highlight what they did well and what they can work on moving forward.
- Acknowledge Good Work
On the topic of feedback, it’s important to acknowledge and recognize a job well done. When an employee does well, let them know. A hand-written note or public call-out to the employee’s good work in a meeting is great but even a simple email letting them know they did a good job will do.
- Do it Digital
It’s no surprise that millennials love all things digital – they’ve had more screen time than any other generation in today’s workforce. They value both efficiency and immediacy and they don’t like using paper. Try to keep everything electronic whenever possible and make access to files and programs easy from any location.
- Ideas and Innovation
Millennials love to be creative and they enjoy solving problems. They tend to find new ways of doing things and they often have ideas on how to improve a company practice or process. Provide your employees with opportunities to share their ideas and suggestions. If you have an employee committee, make sure a few of your millennial employees are invited to be members – their ideas could help shape the future of your organization.
