With workplace demographics shifting and millennials set to make up nearly 75 per cent of the workforce as soon as 2025, it is essential that employers are proactive in order to ensure that they can attract this generation of workers into their companies. As the generations that make up the workforce change, workplace culture is highly likely to shift in turn.

Bringing millennials into your place of work can provide a range of advantages, such as greater knowledge of technologies, higher levels of educational qualifications as well as different views regarding the purpose of business, as demonstrated in Deloittes report. For example, according to Deloitte, 27 per cent of millennials believe that businesses should strive to improve and protect the environment, whereas only 12 per cent believe they actually achieve this, additionally 32 per cent argue that business should try to improve society whilst only 16 per cent believe they do this. With views such as these, it is likely that the millennial generation will encourage companies to focus increasingly on corporate responsibility initiatives in the coming decades, indeed the millennial generation at large is also likely to hold business to higher ethical standards than they have been used to in the past.

According to the eighth annual millennial survey by Deloitte, millennials are expressing increased levels of uneasiness and pessimism about their careers and the wider world around them. Furthermore, the Deloitte report indicates that a staggering 49 per cent of millennials would, if they had the choice, quit their current jobs within the next two years.¹ This figure suggests that employers should endeavour to improve employee satisfaction and retention within the millennial generation, based upon their current disillusion in the work environment.

Considering this research, Accentuate HR has compiled a short list of tips for business owners who wish to attract, retain and further develop their millennial workforce.

• Company Culture – The right company culture is key to employee happiness, regardless of generation. Indeed, since it is much simpler to keep employees happy rather than replace them, with the average cost of replacing an employee for an SME totalling around £12,000, employee retention should be a key focus for business owners.² Some methods to increase employee retention could include further investment in training and career development for employees to ensure they are enhancing their skillset and expanding their circle of knowledge on a regular basis.
• Corporate Responsibility – Millennial confidence in business continues to spiral downward, with 55 per cent currently stating that business has a positive impact on society, down from 61 per cent in 2018.³ With this in mind, businesses would be wise to focus their corporate social responsibility in order to help win over a generation that has become increasingly mistrusting of business. Focusing on corporate social responsibility can not only increase employee engagement, but it can help to boost customer engagement too.
• Regular Feedback – According to a report by recruitment specialist Robert Walters, 38 per cent of millennials have stated that they only receive formal feedback from their manager once per year, this is despite 91 per cent expressing a desire for formal feedback at least every six months. Regular, honest and constructive feedback is of importance as it can help to maintain and improve an individual’s work performance and morale. Additionally, by consistently holding meetings with their colleagues, line managers can spot any decrease in employee satisfaction that may be occurring earlier and then take the appropriate measures swiftly in order to help the relevant member of staff increase their confidence at work.
• Offer Competitive Benefits – To attract and retain the best workers, ensuring that your company offers a competitive salary and benefits package is key. At Accentuate HR we would advise that you benchmark your salaries against your competitors as well as regularly scanning the marketplace to see if you are continuing to offer a market leading benefits package in order to attract the best employees. Many companies offer perks such as gym memberships, annual bonuses and season ticket loans. However, if many of these benefits are too expensive or impractical, other more affordable perks could be implemented. For instance, these could include things such as free breakfasts or flexible working hours.