Millennials are forming a majority of the workforce in any organization. In fact, they will make up to 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. About 40 percent of companies have 50 or more millennials in their workforce.
This means that companies will have a younger crowd who will have a different perspective and values when it comes to working. As a company, you need to understand what drives them to perform better. With strong employer branding, you can attract and retain millennials.
Let’s see how you can build a great company culture for millennials.
- Create your Narrative
What’s the story of your company? This is where company branding comes in. Think through how you want to project your company and how its reputation is communicated online. Get creative with what story you want to project and how you want to project it.
Share the story and branding across different platforms like blogs, websites, and social media. Bring in your marketing and writing team to develop your company story. Make it compelling and authentic.
The branding should outline the purpose of your organization. If you get it right, it will strike a chord with the millennials you are trying to attract, and they will be interested in working with you.
- Focus and Talk Highly About Your Values
Millennials want to make a difference through their work, and they want it to be meaningful. Outline how your company is impacting the world and communicate your company values clearly. In fact, highlight your company values for the millennials to know exactly what the company has to offer them.
Show them how your values align with their vision. You can do this by displaying your ‘positive work’ on social media platforms. For example, if your employees volunteer for a good cause, share it with the world. The more transparent your values are, the more millennials you will attract.
- Get Flexible
Most millennials don’t really like the idea of a traditional ‘9-to-5, sit in a cubicle’ work life. They prefer flexible working hours and the option of working remotely. So, it would be a good idea for your company to consider how you can offer them the flexibility they need.
Millennials attribute flexibility with greater productivity, better performance, and enhanced wellbeing and happiness.
As long as you give them a positive work environment, you can expect loyalty and hard work from your millennial employees.
- Make the Office Flexible
Not a fan of letting your employees work remotely and would rather have them come to the office? That shouldn’t be an issue if you give them the freedom and flexibility to move around the office.
That sounds like a weird suggestion, but the truth is that most millennials do not want to be stuck in a cubicle. Most don’t even want it. Rethink the design of your office to give them the ‘space’ they require. Think open office plan or lounge areas. You can even consider a co-working space if you have a small team.
- Focus on Results
Companies spend more time on drawing up policies and setting up office rules rather than focusing on the results. Don’t track how an employee is spending every minute in the office, put a ban on surfing certain websites, or defining the number of coffee breaks they can take. Do not measure their productivity based on such parameters.
Instead, focus on how much work they are getting done and the quality of work rather than how they got there.
Don’t associate just hard work with getting results. Understand how you can create an environment that helps in maximizing their performance rather than trying to limit them by the company rules.
Building the right company culture is critical. Don’t just say that your company culture is millennial-friendly. You need to walk-the-talk as well. Build a culture that will truly empower millennials.
Analyze your current company culture and update it accordingly. You don’t need to make massive changes. With just a few changes, you can keep your millennial employees happy.
