As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, Creating D.R.E.A.M. Jobs for Employees, one of my lifelong commitments is to change the way the world works…literally. The reason is that we spend more time in our jobs than we will asleep or with our significant other. So if we change the way we work, we can change our lives. At the end of the day, it’s impossible to trade off 5 days of unhappiness during the week for 2 days of happiness on the weekend and expect to be happy overall.
Our parents generation let what they do define who they are, but Generation Y lets who they are define what they do. Generation Y is all about why—they want to know:
»Why are things the way they are?
»Why this company really exist and who it’s really here to serve?
»Why they are being asked to do a particular task?
»Why do I have to come to the office?
»Why does everyone wear this outfit?
»Why is he the CEO? Why is he the manager?
»Why that certain traditions in company still exist?
The companies that can answer these questions and are willing to challenge some of their existing assumptions about the way value is created and work gets done will be the most attractive to Generation Y’s best talent. Millennials want to create value, feel valued, and do work that is alignment with their values. When I surveyed millennials recently about their top value, this is what emerged:
1. Education
2. Work-life balance
3. High responsibility (even if pay doesn’t match)
4. Social impact
5. Creativity, and
6. Entrepreneurship
Any work environment that can offer these 6 things in one place will attract and retain the best talent. Below are some topics and insights that will help a company or a millennials create a better work environment.
Personal & Professional Development
Millennials are the most educated generation ever. They love to learn. There are tons of skill sets that you can teach them in-house that will improve their on the job performance. Amway, Pre-Paid Legal and other MLMs have wrapped personal and professional development into their business models. They know that when their greatest asset—their people—are at their personal best, the company will be at it’s best. In regards to personal growth, millennials want a collegial environment that allows them to form groups around their passions (i.e. sports, yoga, crafts, chess, 17th century world history, children, etc) and use some of the company’s existing resources (i.e. office space) to gather.
Successaholism & Game Mechanics
Millennials are successaholics. They are the trophy kids that got a trophy even if they placed 11th just so they could feel successful. Success is an addition that they need to feel like they are becoming more successful with time. Millennials are also the same kids that use beat their parents at video games at the age of 5. On Nintendo, Sega, and Playstation age didn’t matter. Millennial still live their lives like a game. They want a level playing field where the only thing that matters is what happens. They want to know the score and their score in comparison to others. And they want to feel like they are making progress and gaining more responsibility as the game goes along. Millennials want to know how their success is going to be measured up front just like they want to know how their grades and G.P.A. is going to be calculated at the end of the semester. Oftentimes, organizational cultures have a hidden game regarding career advancement, but the more explicit an organization is, the more aligned an individual’s behavior and performance will be. Some companies have implemented my 30 Day Do It group methodology within teams for work related goal to created a game out of everyday projects. Another way to create a game is to simply break existing career paths into small pieces (i.e. Associate 1, Associate 2, Associate 3). Simply dividing up the existing ladder to create more rungs can help a millennial feel like they are making progress.
Framily (=Friends + Family)
Millennials want to form strong bonds with their colleagues that last beyond the work place. As necessary as they were, the passage of child labor laws marked the official separation of work and family. Millennials don’t want to make that tradeoff and they define family differently. Millennials no only want to do what they love, but they also want to do it with people they love (genuinely, not necessarily romantically, but sometimes). The more collegial an environment the better. In many cases this happens organically, but a company also create a friendly environment through it physical and organizational design. Give employees bonuses for nominating great people who end up getting hired is a great way to build the framily.
Off-Boarding Presentations
Most organizations only engage employees in an on-boarding process, but off-boarding can be equally powerful. If an employee knows that they will have to publicly demonstrate the value they created whenever they decide to leave, they will likely direct their energy at value creating activities during their employment. It’s also a great way for an individual to showcase the value they created during their time there as well as a chance for the company to celebrate the individual’s next phase of life. Millennials share great experiences and keeping strong relationships with millennial employees will only lead to more talent and business referrals going forward.
Legacy Employees vs. Lifetime Employees
What if you were known as the company that helped its employees (not just customers) achieve their D.R.E.A.M.s? What if your focus wasn’t on keeping talent, but instead it was on unleashing talent…even if it didn’t mean working for you in the long-run? What kind of talent do you think you would attract if that was your focus? In your attempt to help your employees achieve their D.R.E.A.M.s, you would make them better as well as the company. Some people may realize that this is their D.R.E.A.M. and others may realize that this isn’t—which means they need to get off the bus anyway. But rather than pushing them off the bus because of bad performance, you helped them find the bus that was meant for them while they performed well for you along the way. What % of your workforce is checked out and thinking about leaving? They definitely aren’t performing at their optimal level. The number of lifetime employes you have isn’t the metric of success. Legacy employees impact the organization even if their stay is short while most lifetime employees are just holding on until the end. If you know the average length of employment for entry-level employees is only 3-5 years, they help them become their best and get to where they are going faster. Ultimately, you become a pipeline like a highly sought after business school for the world’s best talent.
Work When You Want
Millennials don’t like structure, especially when it’s imposed by others and doesn’t align with the best of of who they are. They want autonomy and a great place to give that to them is in how they spend their time. Let’s say someone is a morning person and wants to work from 6am-3pm. By starting the work day 2 hours ahead of your competition, employees can get 2 hours of uninterrupted (no email) work done. There is still ample time for meetings between 8am and 3pm. Flex time works as long as the work gets done. This allows millennials who are parents to be part of their kids’ lives.
Ageism in the Workplace
With so many young CEOs millennials don’t believe in waiting their turn—the corporate ladder is not their path. Part of this is their impatience and part of it is the fact that age is just a number. Age doesn’t determine who is more qualified to lead a team or a task. Millennials want a self-paced career based on their performance, not seniority. Responsibility is not directly correlated with proximity to retirement.
Non-profit vs For-profit
Millennials want to make meaning and money on a daily basis and they are realizing that more and more for-profit companies have a mission that transcends their bottom line. As a result, the non-profit sector will not be the default for a career of meaning and social entrepreneurship is serving as a middle ground between the two. The companies that can reconnect with their original purpose or tell a bigger story about their existence beyond just their bottom line will be able to attract talent who feels their inner purpose is aligned with the company’s larger purpose.
Intrapreneurs vs. Entrepreneurs
Millennial have a creative spirit and they want to the freedom to create. As a result, some pursue entrepreneurship because they don’t believe that they will have that creative freedom within the context of a company. They don’t want to be bogged down by corroding culture and told what they can’t do. Most millennials think they want to be entrepreneurs, but they aren’t as big of risk takers they think. Therefore, the perfect balance between their creative spirit and some security would be intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship would mean being able to come into a company and identify a problem I observe facing customers, colleagues, or the company at large and having the freedom and resources to devote my time to solving that problem in order to help the company achieve its mission.
Final Takeaways
» Money is not the only motivator. Financial incentives don’t motivate the 80% that are average. They go to the great.
» Knowing why an employee chose to join you is extremely important so that you can meet their expectations (but few companies ask any questions after the interview process).
» Millennials are successaholics and every incentive must have a disincentive so that it feels like a game and people have to choose to move.
» When things are going wrong outside of work, it significantly affects productivity at work.
Proven Strategies
Tuition Reimbursement
Google: We’ll help you pursue further education that’s relevant to what you do. You must receive grades of “B” or better. Why a “B” or better? Because we said so. Tuition reimbursement is $12,000 per calendar year.
20-Percent Time
Google: We offer our engineers “20-percent time” so that they’re free to work on what they’re really passionate about. Google Suggest, AdSense for Content and Orkut are among the many products of this perk.
Adoption Assistance
Google: We assist our employees by offering financial assistance in the adoption of a child. We’ll reimburse you up to $5000 to use towards legal expenses, adoption agencies or other adoption professional fees. Parental leave and take-out benefit also apply.
Free Food
Google: Hungry? Check out our free lunch and dinner – our gourmet chefs create a wide variety of healthy and delicious meals every day. Got the munchies? Google also offers snacks to help satisfy you in between meals.
On-site Doctor
Google: At our headquarters in Mountain View, California you have the convenience of seeing a doctor on-site.
Shuttle Service
Google: We provide Mountain View employees with free shuttles to several San Francisco, East Bay and South Bay locations.
Financial Planning Classes
Google: Provides objective and conflict-free financial education classes. The courses are comprehensive and cover a variety of financial topics.
Other On-Site Services
Google: At our headquarters in Mountain View, there’s on-site oil change, car wash, dry cleaning, massage therapy, gym, hair stylist, fitness classes and bike repair.
Other Great Benefits
Google: Halloween & holiday party, health fair, credit union, sauna, roller hockey, outdoor volleyball court, discounts for products and local attractions.
@Zappos
Social Outings
Zappos: We encourage managers to spend 20% of their time go on social outings with employees to build strong bonds
$2000 To Quit
Zappos: We will pay an employee $2,000 to quit at the end of training. They would rather you quit now if you’re just in it for the money than cost the company later.
5-Weeks of Culture Shock
Zappos: We have 5-weeks of culture, core values, customer service, and warehouse training for every employee.
No Call Scripts
Zappos: We believe that the telephone is one of the world’s best branding devices. Therefore, they don’t have call scripts and allow employees to be themselves. There are also no call-times or sale-based performance goals for reps.
@Southwest
Flexible Job Descriptions
Southwest: We have successfully negotiated flexible job descriptions in all of its union contracts. Every job description ends with this statement: Whatever it takes to get the plane out.
Player Coaches
Southwest: We have more supervisors per frontline employee than any other airline in the country. They are “player coaches” having managerial authority but also performing the work of frontline workers. The supervisors spend more time than their counterparts engaged in coaching in the form of problem solving and advising the frontline employees.
All Business Is A People’s Business
Southwest: We place a great deal of importance on hiring people with the right attitude–people with relational competence–you can’t be an elitist. Through training and “job exchange or “Walk a Mile” employees become familiar with other aspects of the work process or jobs they aspire to move into.
Culture Committees
Southwest: Employees are encouraged to be themselves at work and to openly recognize major events in the lives of employees and their families. Each individual station has a Culture Committee to maintain and strengthen Southwest’s culture and to plan social and charitable events. The Ronald McDonald House, a residence provided to families while their children are undergoing treatment for cancer, is supported by each of the local Culture Committees.
Profit-Sharing
Southwest: More than other airlines, Southwest compensates its workers in ways other than base pay. It contributes 15% of its pre-tax income to a profit-sharing plan. The flight attendants’ base pay of $23 an hour for a six-year veteran trails the pay at other carriers by as much as $15.
@Virgin
Employees First
“Convention dictates that a company looks after its shareholders first, its customers next, and last of all worries about its employees. Virgin does the opposite.” – Sir Richard Bronson of Virgin
@Johnson & Johnson
The Credo
The Johnson & Johnson Credo of 1943
