Millenials In The Workplace

Despite being ambitious and working long hours Millennials are not motivated by climbing the corporate ladder to management and are more interested in developing the technical and personal skills necessary to ensure long-term career security, according to global research conducted by the workforce consultancy the ManpowerGroup.

According to the research Millennials prioritise pay and purpose and when asked about their career goals 28 per cent said making a positive contribution is a priority, 26 per cent said earning lots of money is important and 19 per cent said they wanted to work with great people.

The qualitative global study of 19,000 working Millennials and 1,500 hiring managers across 25 countries sought to learn what Millennials want now and in the future to help individuals and organisations success in the changing world of work.

The research showed that more than 50 per cent of Millennials expect to work past age 65, 27 per cent expect to work beyond age 70 and 12 per cent said they would work until they died.

Inherent in this plan is a strong focus on job security, which is critical for Millennials, but defined a little differently to how previous generations would have described job security. The research showed Millennials are more concerned about having in-demand skills, to ensure employability rather than a job for life.

Executive Vice President, Global Strategy and Talent at ManpowerGroup Mara Swan describes this as ‘A Career for Me’.

“Millennials want employment security and are pursuing a ‘Career for Me‘ to get it. They see traditional managerial paths as less appealing than learning technical and personal skills,” she said in a press release to launch the research.

“Loyalty is a two way street. To cultivate the next generation of leaders, employers need to show Millennials how taking on managerial roles aligns with their long-term career goals and will help make them more employable in the future,” she said.

According to ManpowerGroup it’s important for employers to look at their hiring practices in light of the motivations of Millennials to ensure they can attract and retain this important sector of the workforce.

Millennials are focused on developing their personal skill set which means employers must offer development opportunities and an upward path. ManpowerGroup offers six recommendations for employers wanting to harness the power of Millennial employees:

Offer career security
Demonstrate that staying with the company can lead to career enhancement. Share case studies of people who have progressed through training and on-the-job learning in your organisation. Appeal to the Millennial aspiration to be more employable over the long-term.

Focus on career variety and mobility
Create opportunities for Millennials to work on different projects with different teams to build experience and networks across the organisation. Satisfy their appetite for new opportunities without them having to go elsewhere. Highlight the value of progression and not just promotion to build a portfolio of skills and experience.

Have regular career conversations
Check in with Millennials regularly about their career path and development. Rather than annual reviews, focus on near-team objectives and implement plans to achieve them. Use these conversations to connect how their work today will enhance their career prospects and longer-term employability. The changing world of work requires a new type of social contract between employer and employee, one built around career development.

Appreciate your Millennials
Maintain a high-touch approach and offer frequent, face-to-face feedback, and yes, affirmation. Find new channels that encourage recognition and sharing from managers and peers. It does not cost anything and it is an effective way to engage people on their roles.

Be ready to ride the career waves and be flexible
Anticipate breaks for personal reasons and know they go beyond traditional births, honeymoons and even caring for relatives. Recognise that lengthy careers mean time to re-tool and refuel are essential. Ride the career waves and make breaks an acceptable part of the company culture. Be clear what flexibility you can offer and help people re-enter the workforce when they return.

Be open to alternative work models
Millennials tend to prefer full-time work, but many are also open to alternatives like part-time, freelance or portfolio work. Adopt some of the attractive aspects of these models—greater flexibility in where, when and how people work, and a great variety of projects – to better engage and retain Millennial workers.

For more information visit the website or read the full report.