Entitlement, laziness and a lack of loyalty. These are just three of the accusations levelled at Millennials in the workplace.
These stereotypes are born out of the necessity for businesses to help understand and redefine the needs of a changing workforce. Far from being entitled and lazy, Millennials simply have different values and different expectations. For businesses, understanding these values and delivering on the expectations of a changing workforce is an essential ingredient for success.
Why? Because a happy workforce is a successful workforce. Our mission to create a smiling workforce stems from the fact that we know, when employees are happier, business are more successful, with high rates of customer satisfaction and loyalty leading to increased profit.
According to a study from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), by 2020 millennials will form more than 50% of the workforce, bringing with them new attitudes towards work, innate knowledge of new technologies and a realigned set of career aspirations.
The Workforce Revolution has begun, and businesses who embrace the future today will be the ones who reap the most success tomorrow.
We work with businesses across a range of sectors, from restaurants and hotels through to retailers and airports. These 7 tips are what we’ve learnt from our experience and the best place to start for creating engaging with your Millennial workforce.
1. Have a purpose.
Start with your why. It’s one of the most popular TED Talks for a reason. What makes you tick? What’s your mission? Why do you do what you do? By defining your purpose you make it easy for your employees to understand the role they play in achieving that purpose. 74% of Millennials want a job where they feel like their work matters. Inspire your employees and they will be more productive and more loyal.
2. Communication is king.
Millennials have grown up with a multitude of ways to communicate at their fingertips. They expect communication to be fast, fluid and effective. It’s for this very reason we adopt a mobile-first approach at Quinyx. We empower businesses to communicate with employees through our app and, with the average person picking up their phone more than 200 times, it’s the best way for employers to be where their employees are.
3. Build a great culture
Culture, and keeping a great culture, is everything in fast moving companies. A successful company will create a culture where there's room for ideas and more importantly where ideas are acted upon. They’ll always include their employees and make sure they feel they can speak freely.
4. Preach patience
Millennials aren’t renowned for their patience but this is, in a large part, not completely their fault, as Simon Sinek explains in this video. Success rarely happens overnight. Help Millennials in the workplace by practicing patience while at the same time giving them a clear outline of how they can progress.
5. Build personal connections.
A recent study carried out in the UK found that 80% of people would turn down a big salary increase if it meant working with people they didn’t like and in a negative environment. This proves the importance of establishing a strong team dynamic where employees feel like an individual rather than a cog in the machine. Another way of achieving this is by investing in mentoring opportunities. These kind of connections not only attract the best people, but also make sure the best people stay with you.
6. Be flexible.
The 9 to 5 office is swiftly being swept away into the history books. We all work in an increasingly global setting where the standard 9 to 5 working simply doesn’t work. Millennials (and other generational groups for that matter) want to be able to choose when and how they work. Whether it’s early starts, late finishes or home working, successful organisations will be those who embrace flexibility.
7. Stay ahead of the game.
We now live in a world where we use different technology on a daily basis to run our lives. Whether it’s voice assistants or Uber, we’re quickly reaching the point where our tech will know what we want before we know we want it. This is why we’re developing Quinyx to do exactly the same thing for businesses. By embracing technology and staying ahead of the game, you give your employees what they’ve come to expect, and gain a competitive edge.
In short, by creating an environment where Millennials can thrive, you’ll end up having a better product, a better level of service and a more successful business.