November 13, 2018 Retaining Millennials

Turnover: The most challenging issue companies are facing right now.

November 8, 2018

By Stephan Schiffman and Gary M. Krebs

I don’t mean to frighten you, but I am about to alert you to a dire circumstance many companies are dealing with right now: turnover.

Today’s generation does not have the same long-term commitment to the company as past employees did. They are impatient with achieving career goals and are cavalier about job-hopping. According to Gallup, one fifth of employees born between 1980 and 1996 changes jobs each year, which is three times greater than other age groups. Six out of every ten people in this same age group are actively looking to change jobs.[1] This probably means that on your team, you have maybe one or two people at most who aren’t thinking about leaving or actively trying to do so.

Holy Moses—that’s a lot of hours you’ve wasted on-boarding, training, coaching, and mentoring these folks. Gallup estimates the cost of all this turnover is in the neighborhood of $30.5 billion each year![2]

Who are these job-hopping young professionals? They are—dare I use the dirty word—Millennials. And with that moniker comes a host of issues you were never trained or prepared for as a manager.

Millennials are people born between the years 1982 and 1993. There are over 80 million of them in the workplace, which means that as long ago as 2015 they succeeded the Gen-Xers as the largest percentage of the workforce. This means that, if you manage people, you’d better figure out how to lead and motivate these individuals—fast.

The worst thing to do is write them all off as lazy, spoiled, and spoon-fed. But is this perception myth or fact? The answer is somewhere in the middle. Supervisors and managers are frustrated because they don’t understand that Millennials view the world—especially work—differently. In particular, managers accustomed to “old-school” approaches need to understand the unique perspectives of Millennials and adapt to them with a whole new style guide.

In order to help you create a Millennial-friendly environment to help retention, here are five tips:

1. Collaboration. Wherever possible, enable your team members to work as a group on projects and brainstorm with other departments. One word of caution: Don’t let them go overboard trying to get involved in activities outside their job descriptions. Stretch goals and department interactions should be encouraged, but if employees do too much they’ll get distracted and won’t accomplish their own annual goals.
2. Feedback. Millennials crave feedback. Saying “Great job!” won’t cut it, even if that is the case. If you aren’t giving them specific guidance each week on every project, they will either think you don’t care or feel under-confident they are doing the job right.
3. Training. Millennials thrive on training sessions. If you have money in your budget and they have time in their schedules, try to accommodate their needs. But make sure all training feeds the company’s bottom line, as well as the employees’ growth and development.
4. Respect work/life balance. Millennials need “flex time.” Again, it may seem lazy—but it isn’t. Young professionals have difficulty separating work and play. Although they may want to start the workday later, they feel that checking work texts and emails at 3:00 AM is still considered “work.”
5. Create a “meaningful” environment. You are probably wondering: Isn’t getting the job done and earning a paycheck enough “meaning”? Nope. Millennials want to be part of a company that is doing something important for your customers and the community. In order to accomplish this, always state the value and benefits your product or service offers customers and where the employees fit into this equation.

Here is a bonus reward for you: a sixth tip.

6. Always provide opportunities and challenges for talented employees. You never want to bore a Millennial, so make certain you are giving them assignments that enable them to learn something new or push a skill to the next level.

Above all, strive to lead, inspire, and earn the trust of the Millennials on your team. If you do, you will reap the rewards of all the great things they have to offer—and they will stand by your side for years to come.

Stephan Schiffman

Gary Krebs

STEPHAN SCHIFFMAN, author of Creating Sales Stars with GARY M. KREBS, has trained more than half a million salespeople at a wide range of international corporations, such as IBM, AT&T, Motorola, Sprint, and Cigna. A popular speaker, he has authored numerous bestselling books, including Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!) and The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople. Schiffman was also rated the Number One Sales Expert in Prospecting by Selling Power magazine.

[1] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231587/millennials-job-hopping-generation.aspx

[2] Ibid.

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