5 Ways To Drive High Engagement In a Millennial Workforce
AUG 18, 2020 by KIARA MILLER
The dynamics of the contemporary business world are continuously evolving and employers are shifting their main focus toward taking care of their employees. Moreover, keeping in mind that by 2025, 75% of the workforce will consist of millennials, employers are ready to go out of their way to keep their millennial employees engaged.
However, as the ball is in the court of millennials, their demands are also high. In order to keep them engaged, you have to take care of their preferences. That being the case, this blog will effectively highlight the essential strategies that will assist you in keeping your millennial workforce engaged.
Let’s dive right into the blog to see how exactly you can drive higher engagement in your most demanded workforce, millennials.
5 Effective Ways To Engage Millennials In The Workforce
1. Cultivate greater flexibility in the workplace
We all can agree with Forbes stating that flexibility has become the new currency for employees. As per millennials, flexibility should not only be limited to relaxation in the work timings and places.
They want the flexibility to openly express their innovative ideas and the freedom of experimenting with various ideas that can assist in enhancing their personal and company’s overall growth.
It is essential for you to offer more flexibility in your working structure in order to retain millennials. Moreover, it will not only reflect your trust in your team but will also assist them in maintaining their work-life balance.
To substantiate, according to the survey, 67% of millennials feel that flexible remote working assists them in maintaining a healthy work-life balance. You can use various tools for time tracking of employees to keep a record of their productivity and efficiency.
2. Create a positive company culture
Everybody knows that millennials are meticulous about the environment they want to work in. In fact, as per statistics, millennials are ready to give up their $7,600 salary per year to work for an organization that provides a better work environment.
It is very clear that money will definitely not cover up if you have a negative work culture. Hence, it is essential for you to create a culture where employees feel positive and enthusiastic about working and putting their all into the growth of the company.
One of the best ways to create a positive company culture is to enhance the diversity and inclusion of employees. When millennials from various parts of society feel included and valued, it will enhance their positivity and will contribute to creating a positive working culture.
In fact, according to the statistics, when companies create an inclusive work environment, 83% of millennials are found to be actively engaged in their work. Isn’t that what you want?
3. Foster open communication
Millennials want everything straight and transparent. Right from the beginning of their onboarding process, they want their managers to be transparent and honest about their performance and efficiency in the workplace. To substantiate, as per statistics, out of all other generations millennials want 50% more feedback from employees on their job performance.
To engage millennials effectively, it is essential to build a culture of open communication. The major reason behind millennials seeking feedback is that they believe that feedback will only encourage them to become a better version of themselves.
While building the culture of open communication, it is essential for you to know to build a two-way feedback mechanism. For effective and smooth communication between you and your employees, you can take the help of the 7Cs of communication.
To elaborate, you should be open enough to take and give feedback from and to employees in the most transparent way. This will assist in engaging and retaining them along with highlighting the key area where your employees and you might need improvisations to enhance the overall efficiency of the company.
4. Offer great opportunities for growth
As per the report, 87% of millennials rated professional growth as the top priority. We believe that this stat is clear enough to shed light on what millennials expect the most from their employers.
Giving the employees growth opportunities not only enhances their productivity and efficiency but also increases the overall growth and profitability of the company. Hence, it should not be an issue for employers to provide growth opportunities to the most demanded workforce all across the globe.
Giving growth and development opportunities will assist in keeping them engaged. And everyone knows that organizations with engaged employees are 21% more profitable, and giving growth opportunities to the millennials have more benefits to you as an employer than to them as employees.
In order to successfully attain the same, you can conduct various upskilling and reskilling sessions for the employees to effectively add satisfaction to their need of high growth opportunities.
5. Be purpose driven
Now days millennials want to work for something more than money. This tech-savvy generation believes in working for purposes. And this need of bringing change highlights our last but not the least engagement strategy for millennials.
To engage millennials, you need to think out of the box and beyond profits to emerge as a purpose-driven company.
When you emerge as a purpose-driven company, it will contribute to your employer's brand and will deliver the message that your company is not solely focused on generating profits.
This will attract more and more millennials to work with you and will also assist in engaging them for the future. In a recent survey, 63% of millennials said the primary purpose of businesses should be “improving society” instead of “generating profit."
To encapsulate, whether we accept it or not, millennials are the future of the enterprise world. It is essential to start implementing the latest strategies to keep this most demanded generation engaged. That being the case, the above-given strategies will effectively assist you in enhancing the engagement of your millennial team members.
Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life." Wayne Dyer's thoughts are well suited to Kiara Miller. She has been working as a content marketing professional at 'The Speakingnerd’. Her passion for writing is also visible in the innovative joys of material she provides to her readers.