Jacob The workforce of today isn’t like the traditional workforce of old. Office structures and full-time hours are now looked down upon. Workplaces that were homogenous are disappearing. In fact, employees are now shifting towards a work-life balance, a comfortable work environment, and priorities besides long corporate hours.
So what’s causing this change in work culture?
We think it comes down to the millennial generation. Millennials are those born between 1979 and 1997, putting them between 23 and 42 years of age. That’s quite young, and with that comes an energy that brings a lot of potential for change.
If you’re running a startup business (or even an established one), keeping track of that culture change is vital. It’ll help you setup a work environment that’s comfortable for your employees. With that in place, you’ll have a better employee retention rate, and much more productivity.
So how do you adapt to the millennials generation’s work mindset? We’ll discuss that below!
First – Be Accepting of Innovation and Diversity
Millennial employees need opportunities to share their ideas and be creative. They need to feel that they’re contributing more than a dull daily routine. Millennial employees need to feel like they’re actively contributing to the strategic growth of the business.
Fulfilling those needs starts with communication channels. Expanding horizontal communication channels is a necessity, where for example, a good manager will organize meetings with their teams to discuss their opinions of how the work environment is developing, and what needs to change.
Those communication channels can also be setup privately. They can be done through email, frequent questionnaires, or even private conversation. This sense of privacy will allow employees to feel safe expressing their opinions, eventually becoming a habit.
When providing feedback and teaching millennial trainees, a good rule to keep in-mind is the EPIC acronym. It describes the millennial mindset, and it stands for:
- Experiential
- Participatory
- Image-Rich
- Connected
Experiential traits involve hands-on practical work. Millennials don’t like too much theory that doesn’t promise a creative project. Participatory traits reflect millennials’ sense of inquisitiveness and desire for recognition. Image-rich focuses on millennials communicate less through text, and more using presentable examples, short and simplified symbols, and memes. Finally, there’s connection, especially on the social media level. Millennials enjoy keeping track of major changes in the world, and are often commenters on their ethics.
Second: Set in-Place Structures that Make You Adaptable
Now, the previous methods work well for startups. The reason being, startups operate with small employee counts and teams. So creating opportunities to encourage innovation and diversity are easy to provide. But, as that startup grows, it’ll need to structure itself to stay adaptable and open to millennial employees.
Structures that need to be changed include:
- Human Resources
- Information Technology
- Decentralization Strategies
- Delayering
Starting with Human Resources, HR practices should be changed to realign with the values of the modern workforce. One of the best ways to do so is to diversify HR employees, by including a large portion from a younger millennial age group. This’ll ensure a level of understanding between HR and the demands of those in other departments. Changing the hiring policy to focus on employee value is a good start. Instead of using a one-size-fits-all metric, a business should look for unique skills and experiences that they can reward.
Information technology comes next. Investing in IT should be done in a way to give employees mobility and space to do their work, without being restrained by location. An example of that would be the remote work options that many companies offer. Some companies allow employees to finish their work from home, reporting through online conferences, while showing up on occasion for major meetings.
One example is Amazon. The corporate giant plans to allow remote work for its employees (especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic). Another is Microsoft, which is slowly shifting to a remote work model, where most jobs are allowed to be remote for 50% of the time, through managerial approval.
With decentralization strategies, startups should focus less on creating large monolithic corporations, and more on self-governing teams that report to management per their assigned tasks. This measure allows upper management to delegate micro-management tasks to middle and lower managers. So with decentralization, upper management takes off the stress of evaluating weekly and monthly performances. This allows upper management to look at the bigger picture of the business, which will include the business’s changing work culture, and the measures needed to adapt.
Speaking of management structure, delayering can improve communication in a business. This involves reducing the levels of hierarchy in a business, making it easier for upper and lower management to communicate effectively.
#3 – Keep an Eye on What Millennials Value the Most
It’s hard changing an organization’s structure if you don’t understand the profile of your employees.
That’s right, similar to customers, employees have a profile you can track. Creating one is similar to creating a customer profile. Employee profiles keep a business’s eyes on what to aim for when changing policies.
As a rule, millennials value the following three things:
- Multitasking
- Work-Life Balance
- Concern for the Environment
Multitasking and a work-life balance might seem like contradictions, but in reality, they’re not. Multitasking is all about a stimulating work environment. Millennials want a sense of challenge forcing them to develop multiple skills all while benefiting the organization.
A work-life balance means that an employee’s work should not be their life. Millennials today love automation, which they express with the use of mobile apps and other high-tech equipment. It allows them better time management, and a better output of productivity.
Always Remember: Happy Employees Lead to a Successful Business
You might assume that the modern workforce is a little too stringent with its standards. But that’s not the case. Their standards aim for a healthier and happier work environment. With those set in-place, you’ll have more productive employees and high-quality output. Plus, your employees’ sense of happiness will reflect in their customer service, so you’ll inevitably improve your brand image!
