Hey Managers! Want Your Millennial Employees To Stick Around?

One of the biggest complaints about Millennials in the workforce is that they are “job hoppy” and leave their first job very quickly to move on to bigger and better things. I’m here to tell you, it’s not entirely their fault. In fact, you may be to blame. A recent Accenture study found that recent grads — and Millennials in general — actually plan to stay in their first position for a long time, with 22% responding they expect to stay 10+ years, 21% responding five years, and 18% and 17% responding with two and three years, respectively. The problem that Accenture found was that, while the young employees want to have longevity in their careers, their employers are expecting too much out of an entry level hire and are not providing any training or opportunity to learn new skills. Yes, you need employees who can do the job — and yes, that is what you hired them for —  but new grads are new to the workforce and will most likely need training to be able to accomplish what is expected of them. They also will need certain things from you in order to stick around and provide your company with the return on investment that you are looking for from employees. After all, no company wants to be the town’s “best training facility” for other companies to pull from.

3 Tips to Boost Your Millennial Employee Retention Rate

1) Train Them!

Train them on systems, train them on day-to-day responsibilities, there is no such thing as too much training (even if the employee may think there is). My first job stuck me in a conference room for a full week before letting me into the meat of the job; and that was for recruiting. Seasoned professionals will not (well, should not) need much training, but recent grads do!

2) Be Clear with Expectations

Especially at first, make everything as clear as possible until they get into the swing of things —deadlines, desired outcomes, everything. Clarity will lead to a job well done, while ambiguity will lead to a lot of questions. Millennials aren’t stupid, but they also haven’t been working with you for years to know how you like things. Provide them clarity and watch them amaze you.

3) Nurture Growth Potential

Employees new and old all want growth potential, but Millennials and younger employees especially are looking to build a career. They don’t want to be in an entry level position forever — if they think they will be, they will leave. Provide them with growth potential and more responsibilities, opportunity for additional trainings, etc. They will stick around. This was proven by the story of Hill Holiday’s new CEO, who started there in 1982 as a receptionist. She was provided room for growth and now she is running the company.

Bottom Line: Millennials Want to Succeed with You — Empower Them and They Will

Millennials want to stick around. No one likes the stress of finding a new job. They want to be with a company that will foster their growth and value their contribution. They also want to be with a company that will provide them with the tools to succeed. Do this and you will have employees that stick around and provide a huge return on your investment. Do you have any recent challenges/successes managing Millennials? I would love to hear about them!