Attracting and Retaining the Millennial Generation

In our latest blog post, Constança Santos (October 2013 Associate) explores the stereotype of the Millennial Generation and asks how organisations might need to adapt to attract and retain them.

Attracting

and Retaining the Millennial Generation

A few weeks ago I started line-managing an intern. We were having our first meeting to set up expectations and agree on working methods, and I suggested that we should have a feedback session once every two weeks (she will be working with me for eight weeks). As I said this, she asked, “could our feedback be more often, or even on-the-spot?” At that moment, I realised that this was also my preferred way of working — receiving regular and often immediate feedback — and wondered whether the reason that both of us had similar feelings on this subject was that we’re part of the Millennial Generation.

This incident reminded me of research that I completed prior to joining On Purpose. I tried to understand what defines the Millennial generation and the implications for companies recruiting these individuals in terms of company culture and HR policies. As I’m now in the social enterprise space, it got me thinking: what does all this mean for social enterprises?

Millennials are the generation born between the 1980s and 2000 and have been termed the “we want everything and we want it now” generation. Frenetic and energetic, they are characterized by always trying to learn new things, involvement in a wide range of activities and an extremely ambitious and purpose-driven approach to work. Known for believing they can achieve whatever they put their minds to, more than any other generation, Millennials are tech-savvy and hyper-connected.

Certain values seem to be particularly important to Millennials. Freedom is one of them — the desire to be the masters of their lives and in full control. Millennials deeply value transparency as they are used to accessing all sorts of information, anywhere, at anytime. Family is another important value — being keen to spend time with their families and less willing to sacrifice family time for the purpose of work.

Millennials appear to be profoundly influenced by who they are and what they value, affecting what they look for in the organisations where they work . One important aspect of this is fast-paced career progress — they may be less willing to wait several years to be promoted. As for social media, they might not expect restrictions to access at the workplace and are likely to want flexible work schedules and/or more personal time while at the office. They might also be more likely to expect not only to be involved in the strategic development of the organisation for which they work, as they like to see the ‘bigger picture’, but also to have the opportunity to share and discuss their ideas and
be heard no matter their seniority. Frequent recognition for their work as well as constant and on-time feedback is often also of great importance, as this will allow Millennials to improve faster. Finally, and perhaps more than generations before it, this one seems determined to strive for work-life balance.

The approach to managing Millennials may therefore need to be different from managing individuals from previous generations. Organisations should perhaps be asking themselves certain questions about their organisational culture, leadership and management styles, and HR processes:

Performance reviews — how should performance reviews be restructured for a generation that craves constant and on-the-spot feedback?

Coaching and mentoring — should it be available only for senior positions when Millennials are eager for on-going support in order to progress quickly?

Social media policies — what should the organisational policy be, in terms of access to social media, given that a study showed that 64% of Millennials ask for social media policies during job interviews?

Compensation & benefits — how should compensation and benefits policies be structured if money is no longer the single most important factor?

Career planning — how should career planning be designed in order to satisfy a generation that is looking for fast-paced career progress?

Work Environment– what’s the best way to create a work environment that provides the freedom and personal space this generation value, whilst fostering a responsibility to get the work done?

Organisations may have to adjust to be able to retain the Millennial generation and be able to create a company culture where different generations valuing different things will be able to work together and feel satisfied. Some organisations are already doing this, but many are yet to adapt.

What does that mean for social enterprises? Social enterprises are like any other organisation that employs talent and needs to retain it, but it’s interesting to consider the potential synergies that exist between the working requirements of the Millennial generation and the relatively new and rapidly growing social enterprise sector. Today, as well as offering purpose-driven work, most social enterprises are small organisations with few employees, which means that they have a huge opportunity. They can get their processes right from the beginning, and design work environments and career opportunities that will attract and retain individuals from the Millennial generation. This is true for any corporate start-up, but the opportunity is for the social enterprise space to get it right as a sector.

Large corporates that understand this need for change will succeed in attracting and retaining Millennials, but they will have to go through a change process. As with any process to deliver change in an organisation, time, human and financial resources will be required. This is not to say that it will be easy for social enterprises just because there are fewer change costs. There is still work to be done in finding the right organisational cultures, leadership and management styles, and HR processes to attract and retain this talent. “Copying and pasting” what has proven to work in other organisations in the past will most likely not work. Not only HR managers, but also CEOs, must have this top-of-mind as much as the management of the enterprise itself, especially when scaling up.