In late 2020 the team at Foundational Business ran our Managing Millennials and GenZ online seminar, as part of our Foundational People Management Program. The day had a great line up of speakers covering all aspects of Attracting, Leading and Managing Younger generations in your business.
There was so much great content, that covered tactical and practical guidance and information for business owners and people managers, that we have turned these sessions into a series of videos. You can now access these though our new Foundational Business YouTube Channel for FREE. So even if you missed the conference or did attend and want to recap on all the great wisdom shared by the speakers you can listen at your leisure.
Access the Video Series – CLICK HERE
Before and after the conference we also quizzed our speakers on the things that they felt were important for people managers of Millennial (people aged 25-35) and GenZ (people aged 11-25) employees to embrace as part of their business culture.
We have captured those insights for Managing Millennials below to help you attract, lead, and manage younger generations in your business.
People first, not consumer first. Your people are your unique selling advantage so this order of priorities matters, says Karen Lawson (former MD of Spotify Australia & New Zealand). If we get the culture inside the business right, people feel valued and listened to and encouraged to contribute to the success of the business, then the customers will be taken care of by people who are invested in the business and want to meet the customer’s needs.
What can you do to ensure people are on board with your mission, vision, and values?
The goal is to connect employees with your businesses Moral Purpose.
A moral purpose is defined as “a value that, when articulated, appeals to the innate sense held by some individuals of what is right and what is worthwhile.” Increasingly for younger generations of people, it is essential to have a moral purpose in the workplace
Karen Lawson (former MD of Spotify Australia & New Zealand) shared some tips on how to do that in your business:
They’re solving problems you won’t solve. Many businesses don’t realise that your competition is the people who leave you. But if you’re staying close to the pulse of your business and its culture and employees you shouldn’t be blindsided when this occurs. Use regular feedback, data and reports to provide meaningful intelligence that allows you to learn and adapt to stop you missing great opportunities.
Both Rebecca Doherty (People & Culture Manager at Phocas Software) and Karen Lawson (former MD of Spotify Australia & New Zealand) shared in their Seminar Q&A sessions the common processes that they are using in smaller and larger businesses to help engage and retain young employees without promoting them and creating extra job hierarchy. You can use these too in your business:
Dominic Nair (Talent Multipliers) also suggests that when Managing Millennials you reward people over shorter periods of time. And that your business has a balanced approach to pay structures and personal and professional time. Not everyone is motivated by money, or only money. But some people maybe, so tailoring your rewards to the individual matters. Therefore, as you grow and when you’re managing lots of people, leave it to managers to move as they see fit within a high-level framework.
There is a big opportunity for upskill younger team members to assist growth through deliberately leveraging older workers as a knowledge base that can add value to multigenerational teams.
Rebecca Doherty (People & Culture Manager at Phocas Software) shared that in their business they work towards helping older workers becoming more open minded, and aware of the development opportunities (like those above) that they might not wish to partake in themselves, but their teams can take advantage of.
Robert Briffa (Synergy People) shared that most millennials have higher salary expectations than their value. The internet has helped them to be more aware of industry salaries but they are not considering that the higher rates are awarded to people who have a longer track record of applied experience, not just textbook knowledge. As a recruiter they have found that COVID has not had a significant impact on salary packages.
To young employees, the package is more than money. Businesses aren’t doing enough research on current ‘going rates’ and therefore, are often out of touch with marketplaces. Especially as they are basing their rate on what they currently pay existing employees.
What non-monetary things does your company offer to attract employees? (e.g. flexibility, social opportunities, advancement programs, training). Once you’ve defined these you need to work out how to embed these in your business practices, so they happen.
This was common question about Managing Millennials from our conference attendees that our team of speakers provided the following responses to.
Robert Briffa (Synergy People) says: “Humans are social. Hence, social engagement is necessary. However, it does not have to be at the bar. It can be as simple as having lunch or a coffee with staff or individuals. I find it best to talk about what is happening in their life outside of work. The more people know and Like you, the more they will be engaged with you.”
David Leahy (Great People Inside) says: “My view is the starting point is ensuring that as a manager/owner you are self-aware of which role you are in at work social events. What is the reason for the event, and what is your objective. For example, are you in the role of “friend” with the objective becoming closer with the employees on a personal level perhaps with the objective of retaining the employee. Or are you in the role of Manager/owner where the objective is to reward the employees for a job well done and to build the team spirit?
Social events are a great way to build relationships within teams. But they can be challenging to manage as the lines between work and play sometimes become blurred, unless the reason for the event has been clearly communicated in advance.”
This was another great question from one of our conference attendees that our team of speakers provided the following responses to.
Robert Briffa (Synergy People) says: “This depends on if you will be judging them on the ‘opportunity’ work and their ‘normal’ work. If they are only judged on the ‘normal’ work, then you are setting up competing activities. And only one is one the real score board.
We have a saying in our business; ”If you are asked to paint the fence and you tell me you have mown the lawn, you better have painted the fence first”.
This can be achieved, if you are not already doing so, by adding behavioural assessments to your recruitment process. Adopting this approach will ensure you have a robust process whereby you match the precise behavioural traits you are looking for with a benchmark that reflects the expectations you have for the role and the individual.
Not doing this tends to result in us learning 3- 6 months down that track that the person you hired doesn’t possess the traits needed to be successful in this role in your organisation.
For existing team members again, I would recommend conducting a behavioural assessment to learn why the behaviour you describe is happening. The same process of understanding fit and comparing their traits to your organisational benchmark will apply.
Once you have done this you will then understand why. And using a benchmarkable customisable tool, such as our GPI assessments, will provide you with clarity as to whether coaching the individual is an appropriate intervention or whether it is best to separate due to lack of fit.
Generally, people “fail” in a role not due to their technical skills, but because as we often hear ourselves saying “they just didn’t fit”. Which is reflective of their behaviours.
Approaching Managing Millennials or any people decision armed with little more than our gut feel is not good enough. We need to tilt the balance in our favour using validated objective data to make sure we give ourselves the best chance to make the right selection, re deployment or promotion decision.”
Rebecca Doherty (People & Culture Manager at Phocas Software) suggests considering the following ideas when Managing Millennials:
Rebecca Doherty (People & Culture Manager at Phocas Software) says there are lots of reasons people leave your business, many of them personal needs based. However common reasons Millennials and GenZ employees leave a business that are solvable include:
You can find lots more terrific insights from our panel of fabulous speakers through our conference videos HERE
Based on a 2019 Deloitte Report Millennials and Gen Z are no longer the ‘future’ workforce, they are the present, making up more than 40 percent of Australia’s working population.
The days of Command-and-Control leadership are over, Younger Generations of employees do not respect titles, when Managing Millennials you have to earn their respect. They expect collaboration and involvement in decision making as a day-to-day practice.
So how do you maintain control and give direction, and gain respect for your authority as a business owner or manager and tick these boxes as well?
Whilst our Gen Z and Millennials are often well-educated people, there is a lot of negative press about Millennials as difficult employees. However, there is very little practical information available to business owners and managers of growing companies that can assist them in getting the best out of their Millennial workforce.
Some companies are even avoiding hiring Millennials because it is “too Hard”.
Younger generations of workers value different things. Work differently and expect different outcomes from their careers and work environments. Different is not bad or better – different can be a huge advantage to your businesses growth strategy if you learn how to harness its power.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
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