Losing Out? How to Keep Your Millennial Employees Invested

As a manager, one of your greatest challenges is finding ways to keep your Millennial employees invested in your company. According to a recent survey of 7,700 Millennials conducted by Deloitte, approximately two-thirds of Millennial employees plan to exit their current positions by 2020. At first glance, it is easy to label Millennials as disloyal to their employers. As you delve a little deeper into the issue, you will find other factors that cause Millennial dissatisfaction.

Your Millennial staff is important to the growth of your organization. By 2020, Millennials will make up one-half of the workforce. If you want to retain Millennial employees, you must develop a retention strategy. Here are a few best practices that will keep your Millennial employees invested in your company.

Create Leadership Opportunities

Millennials have been referred to as the “restless generation.” They are not willing to wait around for one company to provide opportunities for them. Millennials will take the proverbial bull by the horns and create their own opportunities.

One way to retain Millennial employees is to create leadership opportunities within your organization. Millennials want a position that increases their capacity for growth and leadership. They want to feel as if their skills are being fully utilized by their employers. Millennials who feel as if they are in dead-end jobs will get frustrated and look for greener pastures. By creating challenging leadership opportunities within your organization, Millennials will not have much time to become bored by their current positions.

Provide Mentor Opportunities

As Millennials set their sights on climbing the corporate ladder, they want to desire a clear plan that will serve as a road map for upward mobility. Mentor opportunities from senior employees are an ideal way to get Millennial employees engaged in your company. Mentors can help Millennial employees develop a vision for themselves within your company. As a result, they will work more fervently to help your company achieve its goals.

Create an Inclusive Workplace

Millennials are big fans of social media because they like to stay connected with the things and people that interest them. At work, they want to experience similar connections. To meet this need, you should create a workplace that is inclusive. This means that employees of all levels are regularly interacting with each other to meet company goals.

As Millennials change their views about their ideal workplace, employers must alter their structures to retain them. If you want to keep ahold of Millennial talent, you must be willing to compromise your existing structure a bit to maintain their loyalty.

Author: Emma Sturgis is a freelance writer living in Boston, MA. Information used in this article on the professional habits of Millennials was provided by a behavior analyst with an online master of science in applied psychology. Questions? Say hi on Twitter @EmmaSturgis2.