Motivating Millennials: How to Get These Employees Fired Up

Motivating Millennials: How to Get These Employees Fired Up

Too often, the Millennial generation is called “lazy” and “entitled.” This generation is known for being slightly averse to working. Perhaps this is because Millennials are more likely to be living with their parents than with a spouse or in their own home. Or, perhaps it’s because more people are changing jobs four times before they’re 32 years old.

No matter the reason, one thing is certain – Millennials make up the majority of the workforce, which means employers need to learn how to motivate this demographic. Here are our favorite tips.

Give Every Position Meaning

During your onboarding process, be sure to explain your company’s vision statement. Have this statement hanging on the walls of your office so your team sees it every day. The goal is to show your Millennial employees how their daily tasks impact the company as a whole.

Millennials are more motivated when they understand how their work affects the greater good. They don’t want to feel like a cog. Instead, they want to feel like their work matters. By outlining the vision statement, you can help the person connect the dots between their daily to-do list and the big picture.

Be Socially Responsible

Being socially responsible as a firm is smart for a lot of reasons. It helps the community around you. It gives your business positive publicity. And, it motivates your Millennial team players.

Pew Research Center found that Millennials would rather help people in need than have a high paying job. That means, Millennials will feel better about their work when they’re working at a company that gives back to those in need.

Make Stepping Stones a Little Smaller

We live in an instant gratification world. Older generations were more patient when it came to career progression. Millennials are not.

Millennials like to feel as if they’re progressing in their career quickly. By bringing stepping stones to get to the next step in your company a little closer, you keep your team motivated to want to work hard to advance. If the next promotion is years away, your Millennial employees are likely to go job hunting before they advance.

Be Flexible

Balance in the workplace is more important than ever before. With technology allowing people to access work anywhere, anytime, there is less of an excuse to demand someone be in the office.

To the extent you can, give your team members access to your workplace anywhere, anytime. This can be as simple as having an online scheduling app to manage their own schedule, or as advanced as letting the employee work from anywhere. The more flexibility you can give, the happier your employees will be.

Takeaways

Your Millennial employees are not lazy. They’re just motivated in different ways than past generations. By keeping the big picture in mind, being socially responsible, offering career advancement opportunities more regularly and providing flexibility, you will be better able to hold onto your Millennial employees.

Author Profile Jon Forknell is the Vice President and General Manager of Atlas Business Solutions, Inc., a software marketing company specializing in employee scheduling software, including ScheduleBase employee scheduling software, and other business software solutions. In the past, Jon has been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Atlas Business Solutions was named as one of Software Magazine’s Top 500 Software Companies in 2004 through 2007 and again in 2010, 2013 and 2014.