It was recently revealed that millennials will have on average 15-20 jobs in their lifetime. That is considerably more than the amount of jobs gen x or baby boomer workers will rack up in their lifetime – with these generations generally considered more loyal workers.
With it costing £18,000 to replace each millennial employee, the thought of a job-hopping young workforce is a frightening prospect for employers. However, there are positives to be taken from this news.
With millennials more ambitious and pro-active in the job hunt than generations before them, this means there is an incredible pool of young talent open to the right opportunity. In fact, one study found that 6 in 10 millennials are open to new jobs.
So once you’ve hired them, the question is how do you keep them? Contrary to popular opinion millennials are not simply flaky, disloyal employees – they simply have a clearer idea of the career progression and workplace goals they wish to achieve. If you can provide a millennial employee with the career they’re looking for they can indeed be one of the greatest assets to your workplace.
So, as we begin the New Year we have analysed an array of data sets and surveys to find out everything you need to know to successfully recruit and retain millennials in 2018. Have a look at our findings in the infographic, below.
Key Insights
From our analysis there were a number of recurring insights that stood out to us as key in successfully hiring and keeping millennial employees in 2018.
Ambition
One of the most important traits of millennial workers is that they are ambitious. Our research continually shows that career progression is important to millennials, with over half saying career progression is their top priority, while 87% say development is important in a job.
Ambition can certainly be the reason why many millennials are known for job-hopping, but ambition shouldn’t be a bad trait in an employee unless you’re unwilling to nurture it.
To keep new millennial employees invested in your company make sure to set a clear career path for them so they know what the next steps are and how they can progress within your company. Promotions and pay rises are likely not something that is always going to be possible in quick succession of an employee starting but taking small measures such as ensuring millennial employees’ opinions are heard and taken on board, allowing them the opportunity to run a meeting, or giving them a small project to lead on, can help ensure your millennial employees feel they are progressing within the company. It is also key to invest in ongoing training and development opportunities for your millennial employees.
Technology
Millennials have grown up with much of the technology which baby boomer and gen x employees have learned in the workplace. Therefore, it is interesting to note that millennial employees are the first generation to enter the workplace with a better grasp of key tools than more senior workers. More often than not millennials will pick up new technologies quicker and easier too.
It’s not surprising then that technology is important to millennial employees both during the recruitment process and in the workplace. If you’re looking to recruit millennials make sure to take your candidate search online.
Most successful recruiters are already aware of the importance of online recruitment with 98% of recruiters using LinkedIn as a sourcing tool. If you want to get ahead of the curve add Instagram and Snapchat to your candidate seeking social media tools. In 2017 there was a 3% rise in recruiters using Instagram and this is expected to increase further in 2018.
Once millennials are in the company, they expect technology to be a part of their work day – both for personal and professional use. Over half of millennials say they prefer to communicate electronically at work and this tech-savvy generation are already having an impact on workplace communications with live chat tools and collaboration boards starting to replace the traditional email in many workplaces.
You may wish to also review your policy on use of personal technology, as 56% of millennials say they wouldn’t accept a job from a company that bans social media. We have also been asked a lot by businesses with remote staff how to monitor computer usage of those staff so that they can see what they are doing and there are many good options available with the best being such activity monitoring software.
Relaxed Work Environment
Millennials expect a workplace far-removed from the traditional corporate office. For millennials a sociable and fun workplace is a high priority when looking for a job with 90% of millennials saying they expect their workplace to be social and fun, while 88% consider positive culture an important aspect of their dream job.
This can mean many things for millennials, from social events to open work spaces and flexible working hours. Millennials feel that hierarchies in the workplace are outdated and ineffective with 65% saying rigid hierarchies fail to get the most out of young workers.
With a growing number of millennials working freelance and as part of the gig economy, those who do work in an office environment expect flexibility with working hours and place high importance on maintaining a good work/life balance. In fact, 95% of millennials say work/life balance is important and 69% feel office attendance is unnecessary on a regular basis. If you want to keep your millennial staff in-house in 2018 you may wish to look at offering a flexible-hours policy rather than a standard 9-5 working day.
Keep an Open Mind
The key takeaway from our research is that millennial employees can often get bad press, but actually the facts shows that millennial employees could be one of the greatest assets for your business in modern times. The generation will make up 50% of the global workforce by 2020, so it’s time to start snapping the best ones up now.
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