If you don’t believe that Millennials will extremely affect the work environment, you’ve been living under a rock the past few years. I’ve heard now several times that within the next 5 to 10 years they will set to make up almost 75% of the working force. Consequently, today’s managers and team leaders must address the issues of the generation gap within their organizations. This blog post will investigate further into the topic of how you as a manger or team leader can establish a work environment suitable for the Millennial generation.
Rethink your Fringe Benefits
Nor ping pong tables, nor bean bags will get you as a desirable employer going. These things might attract some of them, but certainly will not keep them. They will leave soon again if this is the only thing you can offer. Millennials are seeking for a work environment that provides them opportunities for growth and personal development. You as a manager or team leader must establish a constructive feedback culture that is executed on a continuous basis. I know it is time-consuming but there is no easy way out for nowadays leaders anymore. Otherwise, you are sitting in a chair you don’t belong to.
Release yourself from Prejudices
You too have heard of all the prejudices against Millennials? Great, reject them – immediately! Instead, start thinking about why Millennials are so stigmatized in the media compared to your or older generations. Millennials question more and no longer simply accept things as they seem to be. This does not fit many people from previous generations and therefore they fire shots against them. But actually one can also say that employees, who want to fully understand something and not just simply accept facts are inconspicuously valuable. So my dear managers and team leaders, give employees from the Millennial generation enough room to question old patterns and let us initiate together new ways of thinking and new working procedures.
Give Millennials a Mentor
Starting a career or changing jobs is difficult for everyone – including employees from the Millennial generation. Clearly defined introduction processes and induction trainings in the first couple of weeks are still suitable means for a structured entry into a new environment. But what about an on-going mentoring program? Millennials attach great importance to establishing deep and meaningful relationships with other people in their professional lives. They want to have a mentor, who can help them find their way of working and answer them questions about the company and its internal processes. Because this younger generation wants to contribute to the success of an organization as well! And no, the mentor should not be the department head or the CEO himself. Give them a mentor, who is on about the same hierarchical level as they are and and as a result they will be much more willing to ask honest questions and learn from the answers.
Give them continuous Feedback
As mentioned earlier, it is very important for Millennials to build deep and meaningful relationships in the workplace and work together towards pre-defined goals. Self-assessments and continuous feedback by their colleagues help them to keep up with their goals and enable managers and team leaders to solve problems as they arise. But again, it is important to understand: Continuity is required! Instead of having an annual employee feedback interview lasting several hours, you would rather take 5 minutes once a week for having a coffee break or going for lunch together. As a result, Millennials can see that an organization is investing time and resources in them, and consequently they will be much more motivated to contribute to the organization’s success.
Conclusion
The social and interpersonal responsibility of organizations towards their employees is one of the most important criteria for the Millennial generation. Only companies that take on this task and embed this responsibility deeply in their corporate culture will be able to win over the workforce of tomorrow.
Fat bonuses and free coffee are a thing of the past. The interpersonal aspect must be at the centre of attention and thus pave the way for a long-lasting team culture. But it is not the Millennials that can trigger this change and the awareness of interpersonal responsibility. It is today’s managers and team leaders who must get the ball rolling. But one thing is certain: when the ball rolls, it will also roll for generations to come.
Sources
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2018/07/29/how-to-make-your-workplace-millennial-friendly/#600669de409d
- https://www.cbre.com/configuration/global%20shared/content/articles/agile-real-estate/what-millennials-really-want-in-the-workplace
- https://www.facebook.com/workplace/blog/millennials-in-the-workplace
- https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/research-confirms-what-we-all-suspected-millennials-in-workplace-are-not-that-different-from-other-generations.html
- https://recruiterbox.com/blog/the-ideal-millennial-work-environment
- https://medium.com/tunapanda-institute/millennials-in-the-workplace-d77bb260d7dc
You too have heard of all the prejudices against Millennials?