"Born between 1982 and 1993, there are over 80 million of them, which is larger than any other generation . . . one in every three employees in the U.S. will be a millennial by next year, and by 2025 they will become 75 percent of the global workforce." (Forbes)
The topic of Millennials in the workplace dominates the internet. Everyone is writing about it, and everyone has an opinion about it. Some embrace the shift in the workforce, and others are a little more hesitant.
Whether your company falls in the former or the latter, it is important to understand some of the information behind Millennials and what exactly makes them tick. The more educated you are about the future leaders of your company, the smoother the transition will be from Boomer-heavy companies to Millennial-heavy companies.
So what is some of this "pertinent" information we're referring to?
As referenced in this infographic by JB Training Solutions, below are 8 statistics about Millennials and what you can do to accommodate the characteristics associated with this generation:
1. 91% of Millennials expect to stay in a job for less than 3 years (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: Millennials are antsy. They have trouble committing themselves to one place for a long time, which is quite the opposite tendency of your Baby-boomers. In order to compensate for this, keep your Millennials on their toes. Make sure you are engaging them at work and holding them accountable. The more responsibility they take in the work they are producing, the better results you will get and the more satisfaction they will have. The more ownership they feel in their position, the more likely they will be to stay long-term.
2.The average tenure for employees between the ages of 20-34 is just 2.3 years (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: Find ways to boost that retention rate! Investigate the tactics other companies are trying and see if they will work for your company as well. There are ways to keep your Millennials around for longer, it just takes a little innovation and creativity. The things that appealed to your Baby-boomers might not appeal to your Millennials, so make sure you are taking that into account when evaluating retention and churn rates. Customize, customize, customize!
The only comfort in all of this is that most of us are in the same boat - every company is undergoing a major generational change in regards to those in positions of leadership, so at least we can learn from one another to help make the transition a little more seamless.
3. 57% of Millennials would consider an offer from another company (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: Check in with your Millennials often (this shouldn't be too difficult, which is evident in the next statistic). See if they are getting what they need from you and if they are happy with their current position. You can do this both personally and company-wide.
Take your employee out for lunch and ask them questions about how they are feeling. The one-on-one time will not only make them feel respected, but heard. On a more company-wide level, you can implement a survey process (such as TINYpulse) that anonymously asks your employees questions about their general happiness. This can help give you a sense of where your company could use improvement and where people's pain points are.
4. 60% of Millennials want to hear from their boss at least once a day (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: This one is pretty simple. Just make sure you keep in contact with your Millennials. They are a generation that especially likes to be evaluated often and told how well they are doing or where they could use improvement.
This isn't to say that you need to check in on your employees every hour, on the hour, but see what works best for them. Maybe it's a standing meeting for 30 minutes once a week. Maybe it's for 15 minutes at the beginning or end of each day. Maybe it's for 1 hour every other week. If you have a bigger team, you of course can't accommodate everyone, but try to meet in the middle somewhere. If you know you have an employee that requires a little more feedback, shoot them a quick email once in a while. It doesn't have to be a 3 hour affair!
5. 66% of Millennials would like to shift their work hours - only 1/3 expect "regular" office hours (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: Give your benefits package a face lift! Offering flex-time or the option to work from home one day a week could make a huge difference to your Millennials. If that doesn't work for your company, there are a lot of variations you can try with this. Perhaps you can offer summer hours, or maybe you can give them a little more vacation time.
As long as you make sure your Millennials are putting in the same amount of hours as everyone else, being flexible with their work times in the office will make them extremely happy.
6. 51% of Millennials are not engaged at work (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: Figure out what gets their gears turning. Most of the time, if Millennials (or anyone, for that matter) is working on a project they truly want to be a part of and take interest in, they are going to put a lot more effort into it.
This all comes back to what we have already discussed - checking in on them. Make sure they aren't hitting any road blocks with their projects that they need your help removing. The more relevant work you can give your Millennials, with a lot room for recognition and results that will make a difference to the future of the company, the better your outcome is going to be with them.
7. New employee hiring and training can cost up to 25% - 200% of annual salary (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: It's no surprise that onboarding is expensive - that's why we focus so heavily on retention rates. Not many companies can afford to keep shelling out money to onboard new employees only the have them leave in 16 months. Simply following a few of the tips in this blog can help reduce your churn rate.
No one has a perfect retention rate, but the more focus your company puts on it, no matter which way you choose to do so, will help give that number a boost.
8. 41% of Millennials prefer to be rewarded for their work on a monthly basis (click to tweet this stat!)
What you can do about it: This doesn't have to come in the form of a big, grand outing - rewarding your employees shouldn't be viewed as something that breaks the bank. The nice thing about Millennials is they find joy in the little things. Even just showing that you appreciate them in smaller ways - a lunch on you, a nice note, or an afternoon off, they will see that you value them and the work they are doing for your company.
Perhaps your company can have an outing once a quarter or once a year that is a little more larger-scale, but this isn't the only way you can show appreciation.
Thinking about all the Millennials your company stands to lose is probably something that many of us don't even want to think about. While there isn't much you can do to ensure all of your Millennials stay with you for the long-term, there are a lot of policies and strategies you can implement in order to reduce that churn rate.
Learn about all of the different strategies and science behind them from UrbanBound Co-Founder Jeff Ellman and Founder of JB Training Solutions Brad Karsh in our event this July (and for those of you not in Chicago, stay posted for the recording!)
*Added Bonus: This will count for 1 hour of general HRCI recertification credit*
