How to attract, retain and develop Millennials

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In Shifting Demographics
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How to attract, retain and develop Millennials
Technology is disrupting the global workforce, altering the employer-employee relationship as we know it.

At the same time, Manpower’s 2016-2017 Talent Shortage Survey found that 40% of employers are struggling to fill jobs, with organisations reporting the biggest tech talent shortage in a decade. With 12% of Millennials believing that it’s unlikely that they will ever retire, the responsibility sits with employers to attract, retain and develop these people.

As this generation is set to make up 35% of the global workforce by 2020, organisations need to be clear on what these individuals are looking for from an employer.

Employees tend to leave businesses for two main reasons: insufficient career development and training; and a lack of variety in their daily responsibilities. To retain top talent, employers should aim to put the following processes in place:

1. Offer career security

With the rapid rate of change currently taking place in markets at home and abroad, it’s important to hire people who have high levels of learnability and are therefore more able to adapt to changing conditions.

In order to help these people keep up with the changes in your business, you’ll then need to make sure that you provide a supportive training and development programme that allows these employees to grow their skill sets.

Increase awareness internally by sharing examples of success to highlight what is possible.

2. Focus on variety and mobility

The Millennial workforce widely reports a need for variety in their role to keep them motivated. By allowing individuals to get involved with projects that employ different skill sets, levels of motivation are likely to increase.

Enabling them to work with a variety of teams (a key driver for Millennials) will also broaden their experience – which should in turn have a positive impact for the business.

3. Have regular career conversations

Instead of the traditional annual review, managers should aim to discuss shorter term objectives and implementation plans with employees. This can be as simple as holding weekly meetings where individuals have the opportunity to discuss their main priorities, challenges and goals. Reviewing relevant industry news and developments that the business should address will also allow for any issues to be addressed in the early stages, rather than allowing them to develop. It also gives the manager the opportunity to show the employee that their insights are valued.

4. Be open to flexible working

Increasingly, Millennials value roles that offer more flexibility over where, when and how they work – and this approach shouldn’t just be applied to working remotely. With each employee looking for different kinds of training to suit their learning styles, it’s vital to adopt a multi-channel approach to development and provide easy-to-access training and tools to allow them to learn on the job.

Find out more about what makes Millennials tick in our Millennial Careers: 2020 Vision report.