According to a recent Forbes study, 60 percent of millennial employees – those born after 1980 – leave their jobs within three years. And, it costs a company $15,000 to $20,000 or more to replace each one. How can you make the necessary changes to ensure your company is not only attracting millennials, but also showing them they’re valued, so they remain loyal to your business?
Coach – Don’t Manage
A coaching leadership style tends to work well with millennials. The most effective coaching occurs when you prioritize the employees’ curiosity over forcing them to follow strict instructions.
- Resist the urge to give advice. Listen, provide guidance and facilitation, and give in to asking more questions.
- Never micromanage. Micromanagement isn’t good for any employees and especially not for millennials. Allow more of a margin for people to fail in such a way that they’ll learn from their setbacks.
- Having access to the internet in the palm of their hand has enabled millennials to problem solve much differently than their predecessors. They turn to Google, You Tube or Alexa for answers before they turn to their supervisors. So your management team needs to adjust accordingly, serving as guides as they coach millennials through their self-directed learning process.
Increase Feedback Frequency
Millennials want feedback 50 percent more often than other employees, as reported by a Harvard Business Review survey of more than 1,400 workers.
- Most millennial employees need feedback once a month or more. What they want most is not more managerial direction, but rather, more help with their own personal development. As noted by one employee in the HBR study, “I would like to move ahead in my career. And to do that, it’s very important to be in touch with my manager, constantly getting coaching and feedback so I can be more efficient and proficient.”
Be Authentic
Millennials seek role models they can emulate. Telling stories of their own successes and failures makes managers more approachable. This is a great way to build lasting bonds with younger employees, which may help keep them at your company longer.
- Managers who are authentic coaches and good listeners build trust. According to author Tim Gallwey, “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn, rather than teaching them.” Trust forms a solid foundation to accomplish this every day.
Pay Competitively
Forbes reports that only 36 percent of millennials with college degrees earn more than $45,000 a year. And 47 percent of them spend half of every paycheck on student loan payments. This quickly becomes unsustainable.
- Pay millennials realistically and competitively – or they will go elsewhere. If you really can’t afford raises, find other ways to reward employees’ efforts, such as bonuses or growth opportunities into better-paying roles within your company.
Whether it’s managing millennials or growing your workforce with top performers across the demographic spectrum, PrideStaff Modesto can help you build your winning talent management strategy. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.
