The majority of workplaces are no stranger to millennials, as they hold one in every three jobs in the U.S. It makes sense why. Many tout recent educations that provide more technological expertise than the average worker, while the prospect of recruiting a promising young employee who may positively impact a business for decades seems promising. Plus, less work experience means businesses don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to hire them.
Millennials offer a plethora of skills suitable for today’s fast-paced and tech-savvy work environment. When properly trained, millennials can be a tremendous asset to any company. However, if they feel out of place or are trained improperly for the job, they typically won’t have an issue quitting and finding another job. After all, 75 percent of millennial employees anticipate they’ll have two to five employees during their lifetime, so changing jobs isn’t an absurd notion for that generation.
High turnover is not what any business wants, so it’s important to avoid the mistakes below when training millennials.
Not Involving Technology
Let’s face it, a business owner who detests technological innovation likely won’t get far. Millennials are very likely to be turned off by a workplace or supervisor who shows utter disregard for technological purposes that can make tasks easier and more automated. Exuding a “the old way is fine” attitude toward millennials is not advised; this is a generation that excels at using technology to find better solutions. Depriving them of that developed ability is one way to sap their work motivation.
Neglecting Feedback
Millennials are used to response, especially in the era of social media, where a post or tweet can solicit dozens of instantaneous reactions. A supervisor who is vague in their evaluations is not recommended for hiring millennials. “[Millennials] want to know what the roadmap is and get feedback,” said Paul DePalma, CEO of Adept Performance Systems. “Research shows that millennials want more feedback than other generations.”
Vague Training Practicality
Millennials dislike tasks that have no impact on the end result. Living in a fast-paced society makes mundanity and uselessness a point of hesitation for this age group, so not having knowledge of how their training applies to their actual job tasks may cause confusion or deflation. To avoid this, supervisors should aim to connect every aspect of the employee’s training to legitimate job tasks. This will fully prepare them for the upcoming job, as well as make it so that training isn’t just some useless protocol – which millennials loathe.
Lack of Coaching and Mentorship
True, millennials are very independent, but that doesn’t mean they don’t take well to a guiding hand. In fact, according to DePalma, millennials have “a certain extent of desire to be the best and anything that falls short of that is a huge failure.” It’s likely a byproduct of a competitive environment, where they’re accustomed to seeing the most glowing accomplishments of their peers daily on social media. The resulting, “What about me?” response can inspire motivation and hard work.
Coaching and mentorship from a supervisor will often be welcomed, as the motivation to do well will likely trump any concerns or insecurities. It also makes them feel worthwhile, without the stress of whether or not they’re doing something precisely as intended.
Millennials prefer autonomy to micromanagement, but that doesn’t mean hands-on management is looked down upon. In fact, the businesses who tread strategically between hands-off and hands-on will provide the best work environment for millennials who want to succeed on their own merits, but also don’t want to feel completely lost.
No Impact on Digital Representation
Case studies continuously show that millennial job skills very often include online marketing and social media abilities, which is natural considering that’s what many millennials grew up on. Since it’s mandatory today for every company to have a social media presence and some degree of online marketing, it’s neglectful to not seek the insight of millennial co-workers in this regard. Their natural assimilation with the social media environment makes their skillset valuable and one that should be regarded by higher-ups, who may have more work experience, but lack the social media insight millennials have.
