Generation Y or “Millennials” are the future of your workplace. You may already manage Gen Y employees and know that their expectations differ from previous generations.
When managing and hiring a new generation of young professionals, it’s essential to know the main reasons why they might leave your organization and how to keep them around for longer. Here are eight reasons, including practical solutions for retainment:
1. Lack of advancement options. Millennials are typically well-educated and tech-savvy. They expect the opportunity to advance at your organization in exchange for working hard and sharing their knowledge. How to keep them: Develop advancement paths for your young professionals. Once they’ve proven themselves at their first position, consider how you can promote them, offer higher pay or different benefits to keep them around.
2. Not enough feedback or rewards. Gen Y has received constant feedback throughout their school careers, so they expect to know how they’re doing on projects and assignments right away. How to keep them: If your organization only does “the annual review,” consider giving feedback more often to keep your young professionals interested in their work. All it takes is a simple, “Great work!” (or other feedback) e-mail to let them know what you thought.
3. Poor relationship with upper management or mentor. Maybe your organization doesn’t have a mentorship program yet, or maybe upper management doesn’t quite understand how to communicate with Millennials. Either way, this is an important aspect of why many Gen Y employees leave their jobs. How to keep them: As number 2 said, feedback is a great way to keep Gen Y employees interested and on-task. It’s also a way to constantly communicate with them. Another thing to be careful of with young pros is talking down to them. Gen Y does not appreciate this and will likely want to leave if it happens too often.
4. Salary/benefits not up-to-par. This generation knows what they’re worth. They’ve spent years in college, years gaining experience and done their research about other’s compensation before interviewing with you. How to keep them: Be transparent about their pay and benefits and encourage discussion with young professionals. If they can advance quickly, let them know how their pay or benefits can change once they’ve been with your organization for a period of time.
5. Poor relationship with co-workers. As with any generation, some Millennials will leave their job because they don’t get along with their co-workers. They, too, find it hard to stay in an environment that doesn’t seem right for them. How to keep them: Encourage communication and collaboration between co-workers by assigning team projects. Many Millennials are used to this dynamic from school.
6. Work is not stimulating or meaningful. Gen Y expects to work for an organization or company they believe in. They also hope to do work that is stimulating and challenging. How to keep them: Keep Gen Y workers challenged by switching up their tasks from time-to-time and asking them for ideas. Give them the lead role on a project or task.
7. They feel like they’re not being listened to. If you have a large company, this can be tricky. It’s hard to listen to every employee’s ideas, but many Millennials have great insights into new technologies to save the company money/time or new ways of running processes. How to keep them: Encourage them to share ideas via a company internal network. Develop a specific page for ideas and be sure to look it over often. If you spot any idea that could work, praise them for their feedback and discuss how it might be implemented.
8. Poor fit with the organization, culture or position. This is an important aspect of the interview — you don’t want to hire a young professional for their talent along without considering their fit with your organization, culture and position. How to keep them: Discuss ways to help with the situation if they’re already working for you. If you’re still in the interview process — don’t hire someone you know won’t be a good fit.
