Millennials Know How to Treat Their Employees Right

In recent years, you’ve probably heard a lot about the younger generation in terms of what they can’t do. They can’t afford to buy homes or cars. 

They’re not interested in working as hard as their predecessors did. But there is one area where they shine: they know how to build and lead great companies. 

And the best part is that the principles behind these companies are easy for any business owner to understand and implement, regardless of age. 

Let me tell you why I think millennials have been so successful at building good businesses, plus some tips on how these practices can help all business owners and managers succeed in growing great teams.

Takeaways
Millennials prioritize employee well-being and work-life balance.
They value open communication and feedback in the workplace.
Recognition and appreciation are crucial for millennial employees.
Flexibility and remote work options are highly appreciated.
Millennials tend to align with organizations that have a purpose.

A More Inclusive Vision Of The Workforce

Millennials are more diverse than previous generations. In the U.S., millennial workers make up more than 40% of the workforce and account for almost half of all management positions in 2017, according to a study by McKinsey & Company. 

And they’re making a difference in how companies think about themselves and their employees, with one result being that millennials are driving inclusive thinking and practices throughout businesses today.

Millennials bring fresh ideas and ways of doing things to the workforce whether it’s through their approach to teamwork or their willingness to break free from traditional methods when necessary (think: flexible schedules or remote work arrangements). 

This is especially true when it comes to diversity issues; because millennials have grown up with an increased focus on equality and inclusion at home, they tend not just accept but expect it from employers as well.

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Increase Transparency

Transparency is a big part of your company’s culture. You believe that it’s important to be transparent with your employees, so you’re always open and honest when communicating with them.

When you have an open line of communication, it helps build trust between all parties involved: the company, its stakeholders and clients/customers alike. 

Trust is key in any relationship and every employee needs to trust that they’re working for a cause they believe in and are proud of supporting as part of their daily routine. 

This increased level of trust leads to more effective collaboration among team members.

Because people feel safe sharing their ideas without fear of judgment or criticism from others who may not agree with their point of view at first glance (which can happen when there isn’t enough transparency).

By being transparent about what goes on behind closed doors at work whether it’s constructive feedback from management or suggestions from employees themselves you create an environment where everyone has access to information needed to do their job effectively. 

Including an insight into any possible changes coming down the pipeline so no one feels blindsided by sudden shifts in direction like those seen when companies suddenly shut down.

Due to lack of funds/​interest after spending years developing something new without telling anyone until too late…

Encourage Innovation And Passion

If you’re going to encourage employees to be innovative and passionate about their work, your company environment must support such things. 

Provide opportunities for growth and exploration; give them the resources they need to succeed, and allow them the freedom to explore new ideas. It doesn’t matter if the idea flops; the point is that you value their creativity enough to let them try something outside of their day-to-day routine.

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Tap Into Social Networks

Social networks are a great way to find new talent. If your company is looking for interns or full-time workers, you should use social networks to find people who are interested in your company and its products or services. 

Remember: millennials love social media, so they can be found there often.

Build A True Meritocracy

Define what makes you different and better as a place to work. What’s your company culture? How do you treat your employees and customers? 

Are there perks or benefits that make your workplace unique? These questions are important because they help you understand where to start building a meritocracy (a system in which rewards are given based on merit).

How do I build a meritocracy? A true meritocracy is built on three things: transparency, accountability, and growth. If people aren’t held accountable for their actions, no one will trust that they can get ahead by working hard or being smart. 

Transparency helps keep everyone honest because it shows employees what’s expected of them and how they can improve their performance at work. 

Growth means giving people new challenges as they get better at the ones currently required of them so that everyone has opportunities for advancement without having to wait until someone leaves before getting promoted into their job title!

Leverage The Mobile Workforce

As millennials become the largest share of the workforce, it’s important to understand what they look for in a job. 

They want to work for companies that value them and give them opportunities to grow. You can do this by leveraging the mobile workforce and providing access to technology so your employees can be productive anywhere at any time.

Give Them A Sense Of Purpose

The most important thing you can do for your employee is to give them a sense of purpose. 

They need to feel as though they’re contributing something significant to the world and not just taking up space in it. If you don’t provide this, then an employee will feel unfulfilled, which can lead to them being less productive at work.

• Don’t just give them a job, give them a purpose
• Don’t just give them a paycheck, give them a sense of purpose
• Don’t just give them a boss, give them mentorship

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Define What Makes You Different And Better As A Place To Work

Having an employee handbook is not enough. You have to make sure your company’s values are clear and well-defined so that the employees know what they are getting themselves into when they join your team. 

This can be done through mission statements, vision statements, values statements, and strategies of the company.

This isn’t just for millennials; these things are important for all generations of employees who want to know what they’re working toward while working in such an environment!

Provide More Than Just Training; Give Them A Coach

In the workplace, a coach is someone who can help you with your career development. They can help you with your skills development, they can help you with career planning and they can even help you make a career change.

So what does it mean to have a coach? Let’s talk about the difference between training and coaching. 

Training is typically like a one-hour class or two-hour seminar where someone tells you how to do something but then at home, after the training ends, there’s no more interaction or follow-up. 

Coaching on the other hand involves having regular meetings with someone where they ask questions related to how well are things going in your business or job role.

So that they can give feedback based on what’s going on in real-time instead of just receiving information from an outside source like a book or video tutorial which may not be relevant anymore by then when applied in practice situations later down line.

Encourage Workers To Be Socially Responsible

Millennials are passionate about giving back to the community, so why not encourage them to volunteer at local schools and hospitals? Even better: give employees paid time off for volunteering during work hours. 

You’ll make your business look appealing to this demographic and it will also help you foster a more compassionate environment in the office!

Allow Freedom In The Office (And Allow Pets!)

If a company wants to attract and retain millennial talent, they need to create a culture that feels safe and comfortable. The best way to do this is by giving employees freedom in the office.

For example, if an employee has a pet at home that they miss dearly, allow them to bring their animal into the office! You may be surprised at how much this can improve morale. A little bit of freedom goes a long way towards making your employees feel like they belong there.

In addition to allowing pets into the workplace (and providing an extra-special place for them).

It’s important for management teams as well as senior leadership teams to allow their employees a say in how they work, what projects they’re on, and what kind of rewards or incentives are available within the organization itself

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Embrace Culture-Fit Hiring

When hiring, it’s more important to hire people who will fit into your company culture than those who have the right skills. 

It’s more important to hire someone with the right personality and background than to have a college education or previous experience in the field you’re hiring for. 

This is because a person’s experiences have no bearing on their ability to perform well at work they’re merely circumstantial evidence of their character traits. A person could be a great employee even if they didn’t go to college or never worked before!

Focus On Performance, Not Attendance

You might think you’re doing a good job by rewarding employees who show up every day and stay late, but that kind of policy can backfire in the long run. When they aren’t getting enough sleep and are stressed out from work, they’re not going to be as focused on their tasks. 

If you want your employees to be productive, you should reward them for how much they accomplish at work not how many hours they spend there.

Also, consider whether or not your company allows remote working or flexible scheduling (like working from home). 

Millennials are more likely than other generations to prefer working remotely once in a while, so if this is an option for your team, it’s worth allowing it now and then when possible but only if everyone knows about it ahead of time so no one feels left out!

Reward Risk-Taking And Failure, Not Just Success

As a leader, you need to reward risk-taking and failure. You shouldn’t reward success so much; instead, encourage your employees to go out on a limb and try new things. 

Failure is a part of life that we can overcome with learning experiences, but if you don’t allow your team members to experience failure (and learn from it), then there would be no innovation or improvement in their work performance.

Most importantly: people learn best by doing things on their own not when they’re being told what to do or how to do something. 

This is especially true for millennials who grew up during the digital age and thus have been exposed more than most generations before them (due mostly because they’re so tech-savvy). 

As such, millennials are naturally drawn toward learning by themselves through trial-and-error methods rather than following instructions blindly like many older generations tend to do.

Make Room For Side Projects

If you want to attract the best talent, you have to work with them. That means letting your employees do what they love and encouraging them to think of their side projects as a way to learn new skills even if they don’t generate revenue at first.

Millennials are eager to work on their side projects to improve their skills, so let them! If you’re lucky enough to hire millennials, give them space and resources for this kind of thing. 

Encourage your employees’ interests outside of work through flexible hours or remote working options and remember that it’s okay if their side projects take up some time during normal business hours.

Offer Benefits Beyond Salary And Vacation Time

As a job seeker, you want to know that your boss is willing to go the extra mile to keep you happy. While a competitive salary and flexible work hours are important factors, so are things like health insurance, retirement benefits, child care benefits, and family leaves policies. 

In an increasingly competitive job market with more candidates, than there are positions available, employers need to offer these perks to entice top talent away from competitors.

Find Ways For Employees To Connect Outside Of Work

Technology can be used to make your employees’ lives easier, but it can also connect them outside of work. 

Millennials grew up in an age where technology is part of everyday life. 37% of Millennials use their smartphone as a virtual assistant and 25% use it as a personal concierge. 

This means that millennials are used to having technology interact with them daily in all aspects of their lives not just in the workplace or during free time.

As such, companies need to be mindful of how they engage employees through technology if they want to attract and retain millennial talent. 

By providing ways for employees to connect outside of work, you will not only increase employee satisfaction but also improve productivity across the board (and reduce turnover).

Be Flexible In How You Recognize Employees’ Accomplishments

Recognizing your employees for their accomplishments, big or small, is an important part of creating a successful workplace. But you should be sure to do it in a way that’s both timely and appropriate. For example:

Recognition should be given promptly. A nice pat on the back is great when it happens after something has been accomplished; but if you wait too long to reward someone, they may start to feel like their work isn’t valued by you.

Recognition should be given based on what was accomplished not just who did it. 

It’s easy for managers and supervisors to get caught up in praising people above them on the organizational chart instead of those who performed the task at hand (and might need some recognition). 

This can lead them away from recognizing their team members’ contributions as much as possible which can have negative consequences down the line when those same people start looking elsewhere for jobs where they’ll feel valued more highly by their employers!

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Help Employees Grow By Giving Them Frequent Feedback

As an employee, you want to know how you’re doing. And as a manager, it’s your job to provide that information promptly so that employees can take actionable steps toward improving their performance. To do this effectively:

Make feedback frequent. You should be providing regular performance reviews to each of your employees, even if they don’t request them. 

They need to see how they’re doing on a monthly or quarterly basis so that they can make adjustments as necessary and receive credit for positive changes made throughout the year. Be specific with your feedback.

Don’t just tell someone “You’re doing great!” tell them specifically what their strengths are and where they need improvement. Provide constructive criticism rather than judgmental statements or negative feedback. 

Don’t criticize an employee simply because he or she makes mistakes or doesn’t do something perfectly every time; instead point out the root causes behind these issues so that he or she can learn from them and improve in future situations.

Make sure all of your feedback is timely enough for an employee to act upon it before moving on to other tasks (otherwise known as “processing” time).

Use Technology To Make Their Lives Easier

As the generation that grew up in a world of digital innovation, millennials know how to use technology for business and personal gain. They’re always looking for ways to make their lives easier and their employees’ lives too. To that end, they’ve implemented programs like:

Conclusion

I know you probably have a lot to think about from this post, but there’s no need to sweat it. The key takeaway here is that Millennials are not as bad as everyone makes them out to be. 

They’re just like the rest of us: they want their work life to feel fulfilling, they want their managers and coworkers to be fair, and they want opportunities for growth and personal development. 

So if you’re a Millennial yourself (or even if you aren’t), try adopting some of these approaches in your career! You’ll find that being surrounded by people who truly respect you will make all the difference.

Further Reading

Millennials in the Workplace: An insightful article exploring the impact of millennials on the modern workplace and how businesses can adapt to their preferences and needs.

Millennials in the Workplace: 11 Ways to Attract and Keep Them: Discover effective strategies for attracting and retaining millennial talent in your organization.

Managing Millennials: A comprehensive guide on understanding and effectively managing millennial employees to foster a productive and positive work environment.

FAQs

How are millennials influencing the workplace?

Millennials are influencing the workplace through their tech-savviness, preference for work-life balance, and emphasis on social responsibility. They are driving changes in communication styles and advocating for more flexible work arrangements.

What are some effective ways to attract and retain millennial employees?

To attract and retain millennial employees, businesses can offer flexible work options, provide opportunities for growth and development, create a positive work culture, and emphasize the organization’s mission and values.

How do millennial employees prefer to be managed?

Millennial employees generally appreciate regular feedback and recognition for their contributions. They respond well to a coaching and mentoring management style that encourages their professional growth.

How can businesses bridge the generation gap in the workplace?

Businesses can bridge the generation gap by fostering a culture of open communication, promoting teamwork and collaboration among employees of different generations, and implementing mentorship programs.

How can organizations leverage millennials’ unique skills and perspectives?

Organizations can leverage millennials’ skills and perspectives by encouraging innovation, embracing new technologies, and involving them in decision-making processes. Their fresh outlook can bring valuable insights to the table.