If you work in human resources, you likely know that many Millennials are dissatisfied in, unhappy with, or underwhelmed by their jobs. What you may not know is where this stems from (spoiler: It’s not an early overload on TV show Dawson’s Creek) and, more important, how you can turn your unmotivated Millennial employees into champions for your company.
Network for Good’s new guide, Engaging Millennial Employees: Recruit and Retain Top Talent with Cause, explores generational trends and provides tips on how to use charity to bolster your workforce engagement.
One example looks at Millennial aspirations. While everyone may have their share of boring day-to-day work, menial tasks, and tedious reporting, most Millennials share similar professional goals:
1. Have careers, not jobs
2. Search for constant stimulation
3. Desire to derive meaning from their work
Here’s how you can turn these realities into engagement strategies:
1) Make a career out of a job. While Millennials recognize that it has become increasingly important to get any job that will pay the bills and get us out of our families’ homes, expectations can fall flat upon landing that gig. Why? They want careers, not jobs. A key factor in turning a job into a career is via room for growth.
Give Millennials examples of room for growth and provide them with opportunities to hone and expand their skillsets. Understand that giving Millennials agency will yield your company high returns in the form of retention, brand advocates, and motivation.
2) Engage employees with feedback. Through their tech savvy, Millennials are able to engage with people all over the world on any topic one can imagine. They feel connected to a global community. If they go to work and feel no connection with real people in an office environment, they’re unhappy.
Whether they’re receiving accolades or constructive criticism, Millennials are seeking to do better at their jobs—so help them help you. Engagement is a key factor in turning an apathetic Millennial employee into an active, excited one. Bonus: An increased level of happiness for everyone involved.
3) Connect their work to a cause. If Millennials have a career that provides them with an image of the places they can go and makes them feel engaged in their day-to-day work, then the secret sauce to their happiness lies in connecting their work to cause.
Explain how their job relates to your larger corporate social responsibility goals. Give them opportunities to connect to their own cause through peer-to-peer fundraising, volunteering, or matching grants. Extra credit for companies already perceived as responsible—Millennials will be much more likely to join your team.
Download the full Network for Good guide, Engaging Millennial Employees: Recruit and Retain Top Talent with Cause, for more tips and tricks.
Allison McGuire, a Millennial, works in communications and business development for Network for Good’s corporate team. Follow her @CaliMcG.
Photo courtesy of itupictures on Flickr.
