IES Blog

Forget What You Know About Employee Engagement When It Comes to Keeping Millennials Engaged

Posted on May 19th, 2016 Read time: 2 minutes

Motivating, engaging and retaining millennials poses many challenges for small business owners. Learn how you can adapt your business structure to fit millennials’ needs and improve your bottom line. 

  • Immediate Action

Because millennials grew up with technology, information has always been available instantly. As a group, they want to utilize their expertise and creativity to solve challenging problems and see their jobs change quickly. Develop incremental career steps and titles so your employees see rapid career growth while being trained and gaining experience for later professional opportunities.

  • Communication

Short-burst communication styles are more widely used than longer ones. Social engagement is extremely important to this generation that grew up with smartphones, texting and social media. Although millennials care about company operations, they also want to speak their minds and be heard. As their employer, it’s important you listen to them and balance their needs with your company’s needs. Your employees will be more engaged in their work and can provide you with more ideas for improving your company’s performance and increasing your bottom line.

  • Feedback

Specific, immediate and regular feedback is desired to ensure millennials are performing at their best. They want checklists, plenty of help, rewards for innovation and risk-taking, mentorship, written production goals and clear examples of how they can improve. Ensure communication is a two-way street and that you provide the necessary resources when resolving their issues. 

  • Work/Life Balance

Offering flexible work schedules, telecommuting and time off helps your business attract and retain millennials. Because of technology, employees aren’t stuck at their desks every day. The group would rather work remotely during the week than be stuck in an office for 40 hours or more.

  • Social Impact

Your company’s social impact is more important to millennials than earning a paycheck. They’re more likely to work for and stay loyal to you if you show a strong connection between employee values and the workplace. By providing opportunities for volunteering or donating to a worthy cause, you’ll keep millennials engaged in their work and loyal to your company longer.

Millennials have unique requirements for staying engaged in their work. For more help in this area, reach out to the experts at Innovative Employee Solutions today!

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