One of today’s hot topics and key challenges for many Gen Xers and Boomers is: How Can I Attract, Motivate and Retain Millennial Workers? Millennials make up more than 33% of employed Americans making them the largest generation in the American workforce (source: U.S. Census Data) so figuring out how to get the very best they have to offer is critical for all organizations and leaders.
Based on hundreds of client and networking conversations and an extensive review of published articles and research there seems to be 2 key factors that Gen Xer’s and Boomers are not understanding when it comes to Millennials and it’s hindering them from successfully attracting, motivating and retaining this cohort group.
Factor 1:
Millennials have different core values, beliefs and attitudes causing them to view the world different. Let’s look at some examples:
- Respect is earned through competency not title
- People should be treated with respect even if they have less experience
- Feeling valued and appreciated at work is very important
- Contributions made at work should help improve the world
- Companies and bosses should want to learn about, engage in and help me fulfill my personal and professional goals
- Company cultures should be collaborative not competitive
- Hierarchical environments are not collaborative and therefore not effective
- I define my success, not society, the company I work for or my family
- Not all my time will be spent working – it will be spent with family and friends making the world a better place
If you thought to yourself these values, beliefs or attitudes are irrational, this isn’t how life in the real world works you’re not alone. However, realize that, at least to some degree, it’s this mindset that’s preventing you from attracting, motivating and retaining Millennials. I invite you to look at the world from this Millennial point of view and ask yourself: What if I didn’t judge their values, beliefs and attitudes as irrational or wrong? What if I accepted (not agreed with) their values, beliefs and attitudes, what might be different at my organization or with my own leadership style?
Factor 2:
Millennials have many of the same wants and desires as other generational cohorts, but they are not willing to tolerate their wants and desires not being met. A study by Harvard Business Review in 2016 showed the key things they want and desire at work include:
- To feel valued and appreciated
- To have the opportunity to learn and grow
- To be able to make a positive impact or difference on people, a group or the world
- To be mentored and coached not managed
- Strong leadership where leaders and bosses are empathetic, transparent and decisive
If you’re a Gen Xer or Boomer ask yourself, would I want this? As a Gen Xer I know I did and still do. However, as I reflect back on the past 20+ years of my career what I discovered was I was willing to tolerate work environments that lacked these things. The key thing here was I chose to accept and tolerate those environments – and this is what the Millennial generation is not willing to do.
So what can you do going forward – 2 things:
- Take a hard look at the core values, beliefs and attitudes held by Millennials in your organization and try viewing them from an objective (non-judgmental) perspective and look to see what opportunities might exist for motivating or retaining them
- Figure out how to accept that this generation is not tolerating their wants and desires not being met and once you accept it, look to see what opportunities might exist for attracting, motivating or retaining them