Managing and Retaining Millennials

In my previous blog post, I discussed some tips on attracting and hiring Millennials for expansion stage companies. But if Millennials already work for your company (and chances are, they do), how can you best manage and retain them?

According to Inc.com, in order to retain Millennials, it is important to show them that you care about their success and career development. A structured feedback process can help to provide the constant and immediate feedback and communication that this generation has become accustomed to. It is also best to approach projects and initiatives with detailed expectations, goals, and measurements so that Millennials can track their small wins and accomplishments along the way.

Since millennials have the majority interaction with their own peers, and utilize communication vehicles such as text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter, many lack the business mentors that were common to earlier generations.For this reason, their basic business skills may require training in areas such as business writing, etiquette, and professionalism.

This generation wants to feel connected to their team and their company, and they want to make an impact. Millennials thrive on programs that reward team and individual success, such as performance-based bonuses. It is already common to have an incentivized bonus structure for professionals providing sales support, and those providing marketing and recruiting support, for example, can also benefit from a this type of bonus structure.

According to Augustine, it is important for managers to accept that Millennials are different from the generations before them, and to appreciate the fact that this generation has the ability to help take your expansion stage company to the next level through their ability to multitask and adaptability to new technology.