Employees born after 1980 change their job twice as frequent as Gen Xers and three times as fast as Baby Boomers, a Canadian study shows. They want freedom and fun, are thirsty for challenges and want to build a hero-like career, aiming to change the world. With such great expectations, often comes great discontent. Here are some tips to keep them engaged and to fuel their passion.
Brace yourself. Millennials have little in common with their parents if you look at their attitude towards work. 64 percent of them say it’s important to be recognized for their personal accomplishments, according to a recent Blackhawk Engagement Solutions study.
“Millennials are accustomed to attention and praise from their earliest days, and expect regular affirmation in the workplace,” said Rodney Mason, GVP of Marketing of this company aiming to help managers retain their people.
“Employers need to take particular steps to maintain Millennial engagement,” he added in a press release. Those born in the 1980 or after seek “immediate and consistent recognition for their professional”
Their research, Happy Millennials: An Employee Rewards & Recognition Study wanted to know what makes Millennials happy at the workplace. Researchers questioned 1,800 American employees of all ages to see how do rewards and recognition programs work for them.
“Thirst for Challenges and Hunger to Grow”
Millennial Shinjini Das wrote in a blog post on Huffington Post that people her age are eager to learn and to feel they make a contribution to this world.
Most of the studies carried out show that young people are more interested in standing out than in the money they get from working.
“Millennials really want to learn from the best of the best. We have a real desire to seek out mentors who will guide us to achieve our goals in the workplace,” she said. “There is something comforting about getting advice from someone who’s been there and done that, a sort of reassurance that comes with experience.”
She also wrote that her generation is “obsessed with becoming a hero”, that they need to make a “real and tangible difference” in this world. They want to be memorable. Including at work.
Job retention and the Millennials
Managers need to adjust in order to best accommodate their young team members. Some of the things that worked of the Gen Xers have little impact on the new generation. The Yers have to be pleased with what they do at the job and to feel that they are advancing in their career. Good news is that this fits well with the modern workplace priorities.
Both Gen Yers and companies can benefit from fostering a closer collaboration between them and senior employees. This can be achieved by building strong connections that link C-level executives and the new guys. Such a strategy helps Millennials benefit from the guidance of those better skilled, while they also feel their worked is of high value and are able to learn fast.
The very same game plan can also help your company discover and train the leaders of tomorrow.
“The quest to find the best mentors and to get the most honest feedback keeps us marching in line with our dreams,” the Huffington Post blogger wrote.
Collaboration is the essence of making everybody happy in a modern workplace where ideas collide at warp speed and companies feel the urge to hit the jackpot and join the giant’s club.
“Also unique to this generation is the desire to receive brutally honest feedback, and I mean brutally honest. No holds barred. After all, there is no better way to improve than to hear what we’re messing up big time on, right?”
Seems like Millennials know what they need and are more than happy to help you, as long as you feed them knowledge and ideas. And that’s what tools like Quandora are built for.
Happy Knowledge Sharing!
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