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He shouted over the crowd, “Millennials suck!” and sat back with a smile of satisfaction.
One of the things I enjoy most about professional speaking is the often-unfiltered feedback I receive on the real-life obstacles keeping organizations from success.
I received some of this unfiltered feedback while recently facilitating a sales and marketing workshop for a group successful insurance agencies, titled “How to Sell Insurance to Millennials.” The room was filled with men and women, all leaders of their respective organizations ranging in age from late 40s to early 60s, all of who were eagerly waiting for the secret to the millennial issue.
As the conversation progressed into staffing, one particularly frustrated agency owner shouted his glib opinion on hiring millennials over the top of the group:
“Millennials suck!”
I have to hand it to the guy—his timing was perfect and entire room started laughing (even the few millennials in attendance, myself included). However, as ignorant and offensive as his comment was, I didn’t admonish him. I didn’t call him out or try to make him feel bad about it.
These types of belligerent outbursts are often born out of fear. And from the resounding response of the audience, I’d say the entire room was scared stiff of millennials. We had to solve this problem before we could move on, so I asked the commenter to unpack exactly why “millennials suck.” Here are the five reasons he shared:
They want to be involved in every decision.
They’re not loyal (think job hoppers).
They don’t want to pay their dues.
They only care about themselves.
They don’t appreciate working hard.
But in order for business leaders to recruit the star employees of tomorrow, they need to hire millennials. According to Pew Research, in 2015 more than one in three American workers were millennials, making them the largest generation in the United States workforce.
Millennials aren’t going away. We can’t stick our head in the sand and wait for the millennial storm to pass. As business leaders, it’s time to look in the mirror and hold ourselves accountable for our inability to inspire millennial employees.
According to a 2016 Gallup study, 60 percent of millennials are “open to new job opportunities.” In the same study, Gallup reported that 21 percent of millennials had left their jobs in the past year to pursue something else. That number is three times higher than non-millennials who report the same move.
Digging deeper into the Gallup study, only 29 percent of millennials are engaged at their job, another 16 percent of millennials are actively disengaged, meaning their presence causing more damage than good. In total, more than 55 percent of millennials are not engaged at work to some degree—the highest percentage of any generation, by far.
It would be easy, (and ignorant), to assume these numbers paint a singular depiction of the millennial employee. As leaders, we must ask ourselves, “Are we giving millennial employees a compelling reason to stay?”
One conclusion we can make from the Gallup study is that a paycheck alone is not enough motivation to ignore leadership, culture and purpose deficiencies. According to the Harvard Business Review, when baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials were asked what factors were “extremely important” when looking for a job, millennials ranked “Opportunities to learn and grow” first. Overall compensation was ranked sixth out of nine total choices.
These findings shed light on a clear motivational differentiator between millennials and their baby boomer and Gen X peers, who ranked “Opportunities to grow and learn” fifth and fourth respectively.
We must understand and appreciate the generational differences in motivation between our employees and sculpt an organizational environment that inspires each, respectively.
The following are five typical ways that today’s business leaders are failing their millennial employees, along with tips on how to inspire them to thrive in the workplace.
No one wants to be micro-managed. Why do we assume that millennials enjoy constant oversight and micromanagement?
Yes, millennials represent the younger and less experienced portion of your workforce. You will absolutely have to spend more time training and supporting the work of less experienced team members, but it has nothing to do with being a millennial.
Remember, a leadership position shouldn’t mean more control but more responsibility. Knowing that millennials rank the ability to grow and learn as extremely important, leaders must empower their millennial employees to experience success and failure in the course of their work.
How to Inspire: Show trust in your millennial employees before you ask for trust in return. Empower less experienced staff to make autonomous decisions on non-mission critical business operations.
Some managers think they can just buy a foosball table and offer free craft beer to appeal to millennials, then pound them over the head with corporate metrics. No one shows up to work to increase the corporate ROI. Instead, your organization must have a “Noble Purpose.”
While perks are appreciated, they do not create organizational culture or drive job satisfaction. Millennial employees want what everyone else wants: to find meaning in their jobs and enjoy going to work every day. They want to feel like a contributor and have a purpose (beyond a paycheck) for investing their time in the business.
How to Inspire: Create a culture that transcends executive KPIs and engages millennials’ desire for purpose.
Leaders must understand the environmental factors impacting millennial workplace disposition.
Millennials are the most educated generation in history—and also the worst paid. Summed up in this New York Times article, 27 percent of millennials have a bachelor’s degree or higher, yet their median annual earnings are about $2,000 less than their counterparts in 1980. While at the same time, millennials are faced with more student debt than any generation in history.
How to Inspire: Have open discussions with millennial employees around their concerns about working in corporate organizations, then work to address them in your organization’s day-to-day structure.
How good of a leader are you? Do people want to work for you? Or do you just provide people looking for a job a way to make money? It’s your company—how can you expect millennials to care if they don’t get the feeling you do?
Forbes contributor George Bradt recommends the BRAVE Leadership methodology when working with millennial employees, which focuses on “Behaviors, Relationships, Attitudes, Values and the Environment, building those from the outside in through context, purpose, strategy, message, and implementation.” Seems like a good place to start.
How to Inspire: If you want to inspire millennials, you need to be a better leader. It’s that simple. Now go work on it.
The truth is, millennials do suck. Millennials suck because they hold us accountable for the work experience we create as leaders. It’s time for the perception of millennials as self-indulgent, selfie-obsessed, job hoppers with no appreciation for hard work or “paying your dues” to die.
As Ben Casselman of FiveThirtyEight explains, “The myth of the job-hopping millennial is just that—a myth.” Examining data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of workers aged 22-29 who changed jobs in a given month has actually decreased since 1996.
To attract, retain and inspire millennial employees, a Harvard Business Review article cites the work of Ira Kay, in his book “The Human Capital Edge.” As business leaders, regardless of generation, we must be able to answer these four questions:
● Is this a winning organization I can be proud of?
● Can I maximize my performance on the job?
● Are people treated well economically and interpersonally?
● Is the work itself fulfilling and enjoyable?
Millennials largely want the same things from their employers as every other generation. They look for growth opportunities, great managers and jobs that are well-suited for their talents and interests. Couple this with inspirational leadership, and organizations need no longer worry about their millennial employees. You’ll have built a young, energetic army of believers ready to drive your business into the future.
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Ryan Hanley is the Vice President of Marketing at TrustedChoice.com and the Managing Editor of Agency Nation. He is also a speaker, podcaster and author of the Amazon bestseller, "Content Warfare." Ryan has over 12 years of experience in the insurance marketing and technology space.
