The Millennial Workforce

“Millennials, minorities, women- until we can connect with those populations, we’re going to have some difficulties electorally”

said Mitt Romney, an American politician, businessman, and former presidential candidate.

Mitt’s quote remains a take away for the 21st-century managers who mainly deal with the millennial workforce. One can never master the art of effectively managing the millennial workforce until you can connect with their thoughts, values, and morals. We  are a company with more than 95% of the workforce comprising millennials and I would like to share our experiences in building our team of millenials.  

It is a fact that many changes took place in the workplace after the advent of the millennials. They grew up in an age of technological boom and disruptions which obviously evolved into their unique characteristic of switching frequently . Though the majority of millennials would love to stay in a company for 3 or more years; data clearly shows that their turnover rate is very high. This leaves managers with questions on how to improve their retention and motivation. In spite of the majority of the generational studies being focused on the millennial generation, and work cultures and policies being framed exclusively for them, their turnover remains high. This means we need more in-depth studies and bespoke strategies to engage, motivate, and retain them because they are the ones the organization will need, to learn and grow. 

According to a recent study by Bentley University,  25 percent of managers rate millennials with the worst work ethic compared to the previous generation, while 89 percent of millennials rated themselves high in work ethic. Why this contradiction? This is because every millennial would love to stay in their current company for more than a couple of years but not at the cost of their personal values more than group values. .As per surveys, a workplace is not just a place to earn a living for them. In fact, they expect meaningfulness from anything that they associate with. If directed in the right path, they could become the most productive out of all generations. We address this thought by aligning individual professional goals with organizational goals and make them understand how their personal values are satisfied by sticking to them.

Millennials also believe in the dream big concept, they are the most tech-savvy generation so far, they have a high social conscience which makes them want to do more than work which means contributing to society. By participating in CSR activities, we relate our workforce to social needs and make their contributions to the society visible.

There’s no doubt that this generation wants to be highly compensated, but money is not the only thing that matters to them. The Intelligence Group carried out a study in which they found that 64 percent of Millennials would rather earn $40,000 a year at a job they love than $100,000 a year at a job they find unfulfilling. This proves the importance of employee engagement at the workplace since a happy workplace is the best retention strategy for the millennials. By providing flexibility and building a fun work environment, we help our team to enjoy their life with their career growth.

The next important retention strategy for millenials is recognition. It is not about the periodical recognitions but continuous celebrations of their successes in career. If you could have a glimpse of SayOne’s social media pages you will come across posters saying ‘rockstar of the month’, ‘spot award’, and so on. We make them realise their value in our organization by celebrating these small successes.

Last but not least they are the tech-savvy beasts. It is observed through many studies that millennials would not survive in highly traditional (that use primitive technologies) work culture. They are the ones who grew up and always stay at par with the latest trends and similarly they would love an organization that would push them towards the edge.Our USP is that we focus on the latest technology making the right fit for the tech savvy millennials who want to be recognized as the trend setters. We give opportunity to work on challenging projects and trending technologies which makes us a very good career destination.

To conclude, managing millennials is not as complex as it sounds; millennials want clarity, meaning, and recognition. Just like Mitt Romney said, let's put ourselves in their shoes and view the state of things. This would enable managers to better retention, motivation, and engagement of this generation even during these tough times when a world pandemic has separated us from each other. Clarity of communication is one big thing and a greatest challenge of these times. But it can be overcome if we adopt the millennial way; i.e., adapting to the new trends and dreaming big.