How to effectively manage millenials in your organization.

 

In a recent CEB* webinar on the Millenial Myth a clear burning platform was created relative to the millennial workforce. Millennials (also known as Generation Y) are people born between 1980s and early 2000s and CEB’s research shows that there are a lot of mixed messages about this group in today’s media. What are the common assumptions that are true or not true? Even more importantly how can we better manage this critical part of our workforce in our organizations, especially in light of our global aging workforces, and how can we learn from them.

 

So what is all the fuss about?

Millennials themselves might not be so different from other people, but the change (and pace of change) they represent is significant. Millennials are an anchor for this change. Millennials have shaped and consumed innovations and they will soon be the most dominant generation in the workforce. This ongoing exposure to change, innovation and new boundaries also has triggered high expectations. CEB’s recent research shows that have higher expectations on both remuneration and promotion – interesting fact is that Millenials seem to be expecting double the salary increase vis a vis any other generation. Further, and this is no surprise, millenials generally seem to leave quicker for another job or organization, for a wide range of potential reasons,  so life time employments is seen as cursing in the church! 

 

Having said all of the above, how should organizations anticipate on these changes?

 

1.       Focus on life phases rather than generations.

Approaching a group only by a certain age can be misleading. Ultimately it is behavior and thinking that determines what “generation” you are. It’s not the years, it’s the mileage that counts!

 We are getting older, we live longer and thus we work longer. Oxford research shows that the older we are, the more we value work/life balance, which increasingly means choices in how and where we work. Offering this flexibility to the workforce is a huge differentiator to attract and retain talent.

2.       Have your workforce reflect your customer base

Today we have five generations in our workforce. As we innovate faster, we change faster, so we will encounter more (age) diversity in the workplace. The challenge is to have your workforce composition reflecting your customer base. This way you will better understand the actual need of your customers. If your customers are Millennials who travel with Uber and sleep with AirBnB, then what’s the point of having a director who likes to buy paper tickets?

 How can you go about this? By conducting Strategic Workforce Planning: look at the composition of your workforce today and in the far future.

 

3.       Gamification

Millennials have owned a playstation 1, 2, 3 and now a 4. They have lived to see Pac-man turn into GTA5 (Grand Theft Auto 5 is the most successful game, earning over 1 Billion US$ in 3 days). Trust us, gamification works! How can you bring that into practice?

·         Create challenges and rewards. See employees compete in “missions” for badges and points by viewing videos, completing quizzes, or uploading their own submissions, to qualify for prizes or gain time to work on innovative ideas.

·         Make rewards public (because Millennials like to see their performance relative to others).

·         Give immediate feedback and comparison (because Millennials like immediate feedback).

 

Gamification is not only bound to millennials. We believe the mechanics of challenges and rewards appeal to any generation. The millennials only grew up with games and are thus more connected to those mechanisms. Introducing more “gamification” will increase performance.

 

4.       Use technology! Always the latest and the greatest.

Millennials have seen the world transform from analogue to digital. They are the first generation of digital natives, and their affinity for technology helps shape how they consume. They are used to instant access to price comparisons, product information and peer reviews. Instant access to information is the standard.

 

5.       Offer more experiences!

Some people think Millennials are in the business of organization hopping. Look closer: they hop from experience to experience. Read more here. This makes it extremely important to look at your internal career maps. If you have a large organization, then turn that size into an advantage with rich internal career options. Your succession plans should encourage both vertical and horizontal options. And the culture should applaud horizontal moves. Break down silo’s that prevent people from sharing talent and keep track of your key talent! You have to offer a diversity of experiences. If you don’t, then job hopping is the only option left.

 

6.       Adjust learning and development to different generations

Change happens to us all, every generation. Not only Millennials. More change than ever, means more development needs than ever. And different generations need different approaches to learning. The multi-tasking Millennial has a decrease in attention spend and craves bite-sized learning, while a baby-boomer likes to read a book with paper pages. Be that as it may, every generation needs to keep up with the latest to stay relevant in the workplace and thus organizations have to think careful about the learning and development needs for various generations.

 

7.       Pay for meritocracy.

Paying for seniority is outdated, unless you are paying for seniority because they have more experience and thus more added value.

 

8.       Look ahead: iGeneration is coming

The difference between the iGeneration (Generation Z) and Millennials is bigger than any generation gap we’ve seen. While Millennials experiences the difference between an analogue world and a digital world including the transition from one to another, the iGeneration (or heads down generation) will not. They only know digital. They will try to swipe any graphic they see. They will not memorize anything that you can find with Google and some of them will not be able to use a pencil!

 

Conclusion

Millennials are living and breathing the change in our society. From analogue to digital; from local to global; the introduction of the sharing collaborative economy; dedicated to wellness and living longer. They embody our human evolution and are driving force of our economy. To be followed by the iGeneration who will pick up the baton and will - together with technology - redefine our way of living even more drastically. We can only embrace this ongoing evolution and suggest you get prepared!

 

This was the 1^st blog of the newly formed HR Executives Connected Digital Media Team, watch out for more to come and in the meanwhile please share your views on this topic online with us.

*Special credits to CEB for sharing their research and insights on Millenials. CEB is the world’s leading member-based advisory company with have a unique view into what matters—and what works—when capitalizing on drivers of business performance.