How to Attract Millennial Employees

Millennials are hard-working, goal-oriented, and professional people. Having them as your employees can better your business in many ways. Millennials are creative, original, and fearless. They bring the biggest changes to any workplace. What’s so great about them is that all of these changes are positive. With such a revolutionary attitude towards work, millennials are slowly erasing the line between work and fun. Once you realise how important millennials are for any business, you’ll definitely want them to work at your company as well. Here are listed some ways that will help you achieve that.

Offer flexible working hours 

The traditional working schedule doesn’t work for the millennials. If you want more millennials working for you, it’s time you forgot about the 9-to-5 schedule. One thing particular for this generation is that they like to decide when it’s time for them to come and leave.

They like freedom and flexibility. They value quality and if you let them play by their own rules, they are bound to be successful. This may all seem strange, but it works perfectly for millennials. When you think about it, it’s pretty logical. By offering flexible working hours, you prove that you’re not interested in their schedule but solely on the work they are doing. 

Use social media 

There is no better way to attract millennials than to use social media to do so. In the digital age, looking for employees on the Internet is one of the smartest things to do. To be more specific, social media is the place to do so. People use social media more and more. They use it for entertainment, but they use it for business too.

Because of that, your presence online is essential. You want potential millennial employees to notice you and your business when they’re scrolling on their smartphones. The social media reviews are even more important when it comes to attracting millennial employees. They will always trust their peers and colleagues, and if these leave their positive impressions online, you’ll be bound to get some new employees.

Use the websites as well 

Even though millennials use social media mostly, they also use other websites. They are the generation that has been growing with unlimited access to the Internet and they know how to use it. If you want to attract some serious candidates, you need to step up your virtual game.

Millennial employees are professionals with values that will fit your job. If you want to find them and hire them, you should adapt the game to their rules. They really spend a lot of their time online and you can easily make that an advantage for you. You should show what working for you would look like on websites often visited by millennials. Little research will suffice for you to learn where to advertise your company and your work process.  

Practise diversity 

Millennials value uniqueness. They aren’t in favour of clones or any other way of putting everyone in the same basket. They value differences among people and they celebrate them. Diversity in terms of gender, sexuality, nationality, age, the race always matters to them.

If you want more millennials on your team, don’t forget to include people with all sorts of backgrounds as well. By promoting diversity, you are promoting basic human rights and that can’t pass unnoticed among millennials besides valuing quality, they also value people and their rights. Due to this reason, once your workplace becomes diverse, you’ll have no trouble hiring millennials.

Offer remote work 

The Internet has made people’s lives easier in many ways. One such way is working from home. Thanks to technological advances, people can work from the commodity of their homes easily. People don’t even need to work from their homes, they can also work form coffee shops or any other place in the world. If they have access to the Internet, they can even work from a meadow.

Working in a space that people like can bring a lot of benefits. It actually benefits both parties. You won’t have to spend resources on commuting and your employees can work in an atmosphere that suits them. When they have the ability to choose the space in which they work, people tend to do a high-quality job. If they can choose both the time and space, you let them reach their creative peak. If your millennial employees have other obligations too, if they are parents, for instance, they’ll appreciate the opportunity to work from home and have a more flexible schedule.  

Foster the best working environment

A good working environment is the one that is safe and collaborative. A safe working environment is the one where no human rights of your employees are endangered. That means that you should do your best to prevent any toxic activity at the workplace. Millennials are well aware of their rights and they won’t let anyone disrespect them. Because of that, harassment, discrimination, or retaliation should be prohibited in your company. 

A collaborative environment is always better than a competitive one. A little bit of competition can serve as motivation. However, that can also backfire and create an unfriendly working environment. An unfriendly atmosphere at work can create a very unenjoyable environment and that can lead to lower quality at work. On the other hand, an environment where collaboration, teamwork, and friendship are valued can lead to better results and stronger binds at work.

Have a break room 

Not everyone will be able to work from home. Because of that, your office should have everything that makes the work enjoyable. Besides friendly people and flexible working hours, a good investment would be a break room. Millennials want to have a chance to relax. A good break room could really be the ideal addition to their office. 

A break room where they can relax, socialise and get a snack can make your company attract millennial employees rather quickly. You can fill the break room with lunch tables, game consoles, and the most important feature – a good coffee machine. With a space like this, your employees will have an opportunity to stop for a moment, recharge their batteries, and keep working more motivated and productive. For all these reasons, millennials will be immediately attracted to your company, once you equip the break room properly. 

Offer meaningful work 

Over anything else, millennials value purpose. They want to do things they value and believe in. they want to know what their exact job is and they want to know why they’re doing it. A purpose is even more important than the money for them. They don’t like to waste their time and they definitely won’t do it for some meaningless project.

They also like having the opportunity to make progress. Another thing you should do is show your potential employees that you are very interested in their well-being and that you’re there to help them pursue the career they want to have. For instance, you can offer some free training or mentoring. They look forward to learning and once they see that you’ll help them do so, they will instantly become interested in your job offer.

Offer good salaries right away 

Even though money isn’t the primary motivation of the millennials, they still want to survive. Without a good salary, you can’t do much. If you consider the background of many millennials, you’ll see that they usually watched their parents struggle with the finances. If they’ve learned anything, it’s that they don’t want to do the same. 

If you do consider their backgrounds, you’ll also see that they have mostly invested a lot in their education. Years and years of education have probably left them in high debt. That is also the reason why they’re looking for high-paying jobs. They know the struggle and they want to avoid it as much as possible. Even if they do agree to a low salary, you can’t expect them to stick around too long. They know their value and their knowledge is high. They won’t settle for less than they deserve and that’s also what makes them so special.

Don’t be a boss, be a mentor 

By creating the workplace more a fun space rather than a strict and cold space, you win over millennials’ hearts. They don’t like to be told what to do and just follow the orders blindly. As mentioned before, they like to know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. They especially dislike orders with no explanation provided.

Instead of being their boss, you’ll want to be their mentor. You want to be the person guiding them through their career instead of someone just giving orders and being angry if they come in late. You shouldn’t give orders, you should give advice. Your motivation shouldn’t be just to make more money; it should be to have capable, independent workers. With such an attitude, millennials will adore working for you. 

Show them that you appreciate them 

Finally, you should make sure that your employees always feel appreciated. Millennials have a lot to say and they deserve to be heard. By allowing them to speak freely, you can show your appreciation for their hard work. On the other hand, if there is a lack of acknowledgement, attrition will be the final result. You can show your appreciation publically or you can award your employees each time they deserve it.

You can also promote work-life balance. Millennials work to have decent lives. They don’t want to dedicate all their time to work only. If they do so, they can’t lead a meaningful life which goes against their beliefs. You can offer a ton of creative perks that will prove that you value your employees’ time as well. For instance, a free gym membership or on-site daycare are pretty good ideas to do so. Flexible hours and remote working are also instances of this, as well as continuous education and mentorship programs.

Conclusion 

Millennials are important parts of any company. With their uniqueness, their revolutionary ideas, and their limitless creativity, they can make any business better. If you’re aware of all of their qualities, but you don’t know how to attract millennials, don’t worry. With these tips, you’ll do it quicker than you were hoping.