Millennials are different, especially when it comes to the workplace. They have different expectations, motivations, and engagement drivers than the generations before them.
It's time for employers to evolve—and it starts with your employee engagement survey. Ask millennials for feedback. Address their wants and needs.Take it from a millennial and include these questions in your next survey. They'll help you better understand what drives your millennial employees and how you can max out their engagement.
Professional growth and career development opportunities is the number one engagement driver for millennial employees, according to the Employee Engagement Trends Report.
When millennials are satisfied with their professional growth and career development opportunities, they are more likely to be engaged and less likely to job hop. Millennials prefer growth opportunities to a promotion, a cash bonus, additional time off, and even workplace flexibility.
How to Take Action: If your millennial employees disagree with the above statement on your employee engagement survey, your organization is at risk of being another stepping-stone on a career-seeking millennial’s path to success.
Retain your millennials by communicating—help them see what their professional growth at your organization will look like. Discuss their professional growth and career development opportunities upon hire, during monthly manager-employee one-on-one meetings, and at end-of-year reviews.
Almost half of millennials favor workplace flexibility over pay. From telecommuting and crowdsourcing to reliance on the gig economy and freelancing, the traditional workplace is changing—with millennials leading the movement.
How to Take Action: When you ask an open-ended question about employees’ work-life balance on an employee engagement survey, you get more than just a snapshot of their satisfaction—you get qualitative data on how to take action.
While it may not be plausible to implement all employee suggestions, try to meet them halfway. Let them know you’ve heard their feedback by conducting employee focus groups to determine reasonable and engaging solutions.
According to NetworkforGood’s ebook, Engaging Millennial Employees, millennials really care about the community. The ebook references a Cone study that found that millennials aspire to support local and global causes, including education, poverty, the environment, and health and disease.
They believe in and engage with companies that are aligned with charity. 83 percent of millennials trust socially responsible companies, and 74 percent are more likely to pay attention to that company’s messaging because of its deep cause commitment.
How to Take Action: If community involvement and supporting local causes is important to your employees, your organization needs to address it. Include this item on your next employee engagement survey to show employees what matters to them matters to the organization.
If your employees select anything from somewhat disagree to strongly disagree, include an automatic drop down comment box asking for suggestions on how your organization can improve on the item.
Honesty is the best policy—especially when it comes to managing and leading millennials. According to a Millennial Branding research study, more than half of millennials surveyed said that honesty was the most important quality of being a good leader. When it comes to engaging and retaining millennials, open and honest communication between them and their managers is a must.
How to Take Action: You’ve already taken the first step to foster open and honest communication with your millennial employees by asking them for honest feedback. Once you review the responses, communicate with your employees by sharing the results and any action steps you plan to take.
The lines between work life and personal life are becoming blurred—and millennials like it. 93 percent of millennials want a job where they can be themselves at work. Most millennials leave a company because they don’t consider it a good culture fit. Employees of all ages need an environment in which they can thrive—both personally and professionally.
How to Take Action: Finding and attracting employees that fit into your company culture is extremely important during the hiring process—but it doesn’t stop there. Employees, and the cultures they thrive in, are ever-changing. Use your employee engagement survey to ask for individual feedback on how employees think they fit within your company’s culture.
When red flags arise, address them immediately by scheduling manager-employee meetings, conducting employee focus groups, or organizing an employee culture committee.
Looking for more tips on how to lead the next generation. Download our ebook below for 7 research-based best practices on managing millennials.
Published March 23, 2018 | Written By Natalie Wickham
