Keeping employees motivated and productive is one of the biggest challenges faced by companies, especially when considering the differences in each employee's profile. One particular group, with very distinct characteristics, is linked to the generation millennials – also known as Generation Y.
To deal with a multigenerational environment, leaders in companies from different segments need to develop new management skills. This is because Millennials have a different way of viewing work.
Who are the Millennials?
Also known as Generation Y, millennials represent a demographic segment of the world population. Although some scholars differ on the exact dates, it is estimated that this generation represents those born between the 1980s and the early 2000s.
Living in more urbanized environments, millennials (or Generation Y) have gone through one of humanity's greatest evolutionary milestones, the diffusion of the internet and globalization amplified by technology.
How to motivate and prepare the Millennial generation
Keeping them motivated and retaining the talents of this generation are not easy tasks. But, let's give some tips on how to face this challenge!
1- Give voice to the Millennial generation
Be a good listener and give them space to offer suggestions, but really listen! Of course, the manager won't implement all the proposed suggestions, but it's important to know how to differentiate the positive and negative aspects, and if a good idea arises, give it a feedback and integrate it into the company's daily operations.
2- Support personal projects
Understanding the importance of each person's causes enables workers to develop projects that they come to meet their personal aspirations and values is to give meaning to their performance in the company.
Giving autonomy is valuing the team, and from individual projects, the organization can find a great idea to apply in a general context.
3- Allow leadership actions
When choosing an employee to represent the company at an event and be the organization's spokesperson, include millennials. This recognition promotes employee engagement and thus increases their sense of belonging.
4- Promote challenges
This generation is driven by the will to overcome themselves. Encourage them to exercise their creativity and expose them to challenging problems.
This stimulus is excellent fuel to keep them going motivated, and increasingly committed to their work.
5- Promote career development
Millennials aren't just looking for a “good career plan.” They prefer companies that assist with professional and educational development.
Providing training in innovative areas and offering partnerships with language schools and higher education institutions for degree programs, for example, are factors that weigh in favor of the company.
Conclusion
It's necessary to adapt, because with the evolution of methods and tools in different sectors, millennials will be increasingly sought after and needed. Therefore, there will be no room for companies that do not adapt to the trends and behavioral patterns of this demographic.
A company that invests in the qualification of its employees manages to keep them more motivated, given the sense of recognition that this strategy conveys. With regard to the millennial generation, this has even more value, given the constant need for evolution that these professionals have.
