How to attract millennials to your business

After the Baby Boomers came Generation X, and now it’s the Millennials who will soon be making up at least half the workforce and are inevitably the future of employment.  With a wealth of talent and high education standards, how do you ensure you attract millennials to your business?

A Millennial is deemed to be roughly 20 – mid 30 years old (definitions tend to count birth years from early 1980’s, 1990’s and early 2000’s). This means they have been raised in a digital world which brings instant gratification and distraction, resulting in them being easily bored and impatient. That means they are gaining a reputation as being “job hoppers” as they are prepared to move on should they not feel they are getting what they need. The market is fluid, and the employee seems to now be in the position of power.

This leaves employers with two issues – how to attract the Millennials to their business and how to retain the talent once they have employed them.

5 influencing factors to improve your attractiveness to Millennials

1. Money – as with any generation, money is attractive. However, this time around the availability of information and social media means that there is more awareness of self-worth and what is available out there. They are clued up on market value and competitors’ pay structures. Millennials are looking for a pay structure that is related to the impact they have on the business and bonus structures and activity rewards are favoured.
2. Value and Purpose – Millennials are interested in the greater good. How will their contribution to your organisation impact on society? This means that money is no longer enough by itself. The individual needs to feel valued and that their work has a purpose.  This may be providing a match funding programme for local charities, supporting environmental schemes or being clear in your mission statement as to how your organisation’s work benefits others/society.
3. Development – you must keep Millennials interested and challenged if you are to retain them in your organisation. A successful way to do that is through a training and development programme. At the interview, if you can discuss your mentoring system, the training programme and learning sponsorship opportunities, your Millennial is going to feel valued and confident that they can grow and evolve in your organisation. Being on a promise of some development at some stage will not be enough – they will want a documented and clear path to their development and growth.
4. Flexible – the Millennials have grown up with parents working long hours and being absent from home and they want more from life. Being technically astute, they want gadgets to assist their time management and workload, a decent work-life balance and flexibility. This may mean working from home or having annualised, monthly, or termly contracts or the ability to work their commitment during a core hour structure. For example, some organisations now offer a working day of 7 am – 9 pm, in which employees are requested to be in the office for 7 hours, instead of the traditional 9 am – 5 pm. There are many ways in which employers can offer the needed flexibility without hindering the business or client service.
5. Culture – a culture which encourages empowerment will not only attract Millennials but help retain them. (click here to read more about how to retain talent)  A strong team ethic and sense of responsibility are key. Whilst job hopping means there is always talent available to entice into your organisation, retaining that talent can be a challenge and culture plays an important role. Read our top tips on creating and maintaining a great company culture.

If you would like help and support in attracting Millennials to your organisation,  or with any of the issues raised in this article, we would love to hear from you. We provide outsourced HR expert advice and training, either on-line or face to face.  We’re a friendly bunch and are driven by having a positive impact on your business by finding a solution that works for you, so call us on 01473 360160 or arrange a free one-hour consultation.