How do I impact millennial turnover in my workforce?
My name is Katie Stewart with Tandem HR. Welcome to “Ask An HR Expert” where we answer all of your HR questions. Today’s question is – How do I impact millennial turnover in my organization?
https://youtu.be/HiEroJ0yfjI
I heard a presentation today that really hit home on 4 things that organizations are focusing on too much and also discussed 4 things that are truly impactful for our millennials workforce. But not just for the millennial workforce. These four things are relevant, motivating and engaging to help with retention for anyone of any generation.
The four things that organizations are focusing too much time, energy and money on include:
- Perks: organizations are spending too much time instituting perks like the ping pong table, free drinks or meals, napping rooms, and others and still seeing millennials leave their organization.
- Money: no organization can throw enough money at an individual to make them stay. If they’re not connected in other ways to the work that they do and the organization, money isn’t going to make a difference. They can always leave and make more money elsewhere.
- Flex time: Although flex time is very important to all generations in the workforce, organizations should look at the purpose of their flex time policy. What was the original purpose when it was created? Are those still the goals today? Is the policy achieving it?
- High potential programs: High performing or high potential individuals are trained for the next role. You can put a lot of time, energy and training into individuals but, at the end of the day, if your organization, structure or leadership changes, then the positions promised to individuals may also change.
These four things are not bad in and of themselves. We simply need to be mindful that we should be focusing more time and energy on these 4 things:
- Live feedback: Give direct, in-person feedback to individuals. Don’t send an email with the feedback. Don’t wait 2 weeks to give the feedback. Give it all the time and in the moment.
- Share your company’s ‘why’: Millennials especially want to know the purpose of the organization, the purpose of their role within the organization and how they tie together.
- Stay interviews: Hold stay interviews and ask “What skills would you like to acquire?” and “How can I help you acquire those skills?” Don’t ask the questions, if you don’t plan on doing anything about the answer.
- Cultivate leaders: Give coaching skills to managers to turn them into leaders. Ensure they focus on outcomes and not tasks. Managers manage tasks whereas leaders manage outcomes.