Rules of Engagement
What makes millennials tick, and how can you motivate them? By Kelly Heinrich
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s an employer, how can you meaningfully connect with gen Y employees and motivate them to do their best?
Emphasize teamwork.
Studies show that millennials are great team players— credit early exposure to team sports growing up and emphasis on group work in school. So, employers should look for ways to include gen Y in group brainstorming sessions where they can contribute a fresh perspective to creative problem solving. Establishing a mentoring program that pairs younger workers with seasoned professionals is another constructive way to team up sets of employees and encourage learning, understanding, knowledge transfer and collaboration.
Give frequent feedback. Letting gen Y employees know if they’re on the right track is important to keep them motivated and focused. Millennials prefer more frequent performance feedback than older generations; they want to get feedback in real time, just like they get tweets from the people they follow. It’s the instant gratification and learning that pushes them to improve. Therefore, look for more immediate and informal opportunities—via email, text message or in-person— to give constructive direction or positive reinforcement. The report also indicates that the majority of gen Y employees prefer non-monetary performance rewards. Organizations should consider offering free personal days off, food, club memberships or even event tickets as a way to say, “Well done!”
Adopt new technology and social media practices. Gen Y is more productive when empowered to use technology. If upgrading or expanding your company’s technology is impossible, consider adopting a bringyour-own-device policy. Then, assuming that your organization has a social media policy, encourage your CEO and other leaders to use blogs, Twitter or corporate Facebook accounts to communicate company messages when appropriate. Leaders who regularly use mediums that resonate with younger generations will be more in-tune with their workforce, and a CEO who is active on social media can give millennials a positive example of a productive corporate social media conversation. While some firms may want to ban the use of all social media at work, millennials will find a way to get around the ban—so adoption, in tandem with a social media policy, makes more sense.
Promote work/life fit and encourage fun at work. Gen Y is comfortable with the fact that the ratio between work and life is rarely an even 50/50 split. They want their work to “fit” the situation they’re 24 The Alberta Broker September 2020
