For many years, employers have been aware of employee engagement and retention issues in the workplace. The public and nonprofits organizations have been using employee engagement policies that focus on a particular group. Still, it is now critical to ensure differentiation in the workplace to accommodate the workforce from different generations. As the millennial generation enters into the workforce, baby boomers are retiring. Human resource managers and professionals need to develop new engagement models that consider the generation difference between millennials and baby boomers. The primary aim of this paper is to find out how public and nonprofit organizations should approach the hiring and retention of members of the millennial generation.
Compared to millennials, baby boomers identify their strengths as organizational memory, optimism, and willingness to work long hours. Millennials have a completely different outlook on what they expect from their employment experience. The workforce from the millennial generation has plenty of energy, is highly educated, skilled in technology, able to multitask, and possesses high self-confidence (Bartczak & Szymankowska, 2020). They also have high expectations amongst themselves and prefer working in teams rather than individuals. Millennials seek challenges, but the most important thing for them is to balance life and work simultaneously. In the workplace, millennials seem to make improvements based on the weakness exhibited by baby boomers. For instance, the millennials enhance social interactions, immediate results in their work, and desire for speedy advancements to improve the workplace experience. In the next 20 years, millennials will take over the workplaces, and human resource managers need to make appropriate adjustments to their engagement models. The process of hiring, motivating, and engaging employees will never cease to be managerial priorities; however, organizations need to consider strategies to cultivate and retain a valuable millennial workforce.
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The first and most important thing that human resource managers in public and nonprofit organizations need to do is cultivate a millennial-friendly workplace. The employees from the millennial generation are easy to hire and retain when the workplace culture is attractive and friendly (Canedo et al., 2017). Another critical thing strategy is to find out what the millennial workforce needs in the organization and workplace. Identifying and incorporating philosophies and ideas in the workplace that motivates, stimulates and engages millennials to perform at their peak are essential consideration that human resource managers need to embrace in their workplaces. Creating a collaborative working environment will play a critical role in attracting millennials making their hiring easy and flexible. Public and nonprofit organizations need to embrace open and flexible workplaces and create areas in the office where employees can come together and work as a team to accomplish projects. Furthermore, the organization needs to promote health, wellness, enhance community outreach, and embrace technology to attract the millennial workforce and simplify hiring.
When offering a millennial job opportunity, the company needs to focus on various benefits because, to them, salary is not the most important factor when looking for an employer. Human resource managers need to highlight monetary benefits such as health insurance and retirement funds and non-monetary benefits such as job flexibility and vacations when looking for millennial employees (Morrell & Abston, 2018). Ensuring that the organization shows the millennial career path is critical when hiring and retaining them. When choosing an employer, millennials want to know the availability of opportunities and room to grow their careers. When the workforce understands the time it will take them to advance, they can stick around and work towards achieving the set career goals, enhancing the organization's ability to retain its workforce. When advertising a vacancy, the public and nonprofit organizations need to highlight their training programs and opportunities to improve the workers' skills, which can play a critical role in motivating the millennial workforce towards accepting employment.
Embracing equality of all kinds in the workplace is another important strategy that organizations should have to attract and retain employees from the millennial generation. Millennials support equality, and the public and nonprofit organizations need to avoid prejudices towards a person or groups. Millennials expect their leaders to have a genuine concern for equal rights and ensure equality in the workplace regardless of gender, race, qualifications, and ethnic background (Ruspini, 2019). The leaders in the organization need to ensure clear communication to millennials concerning their expectations to avoid grey areas on success, deliverables, and bottom-line results. The management in the organization is another fundamental factor that determines the turnover rate of the employees. Having managers coach the workforce can build good relations and understanding that attract new employees and retain them.
Providing a sense of purpose in the organization is essential for retaining the millennial generation workforce in an organization. Studies suggest that most millennials prefer purpose-driven work where the primary aim of the job is to produce both internal and external meaningful results for the organization. Human resource managers in public and nonprofit firms should harness and satisfy this need by providing clear career paths and development and social give-back programs such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and volunteerism. Showing the employees their work matters and impacting people's lives inside and outside the organization plays a critical role in enhancing their performance and longer stay in the firm.
Fostering an organizational culture that resonates with the values and needs of millennials is critical in establishing a good workplace that reduces employee turnover rates. A friendly workplace to millennial employees provides vital opportunities that enable them to grow, take charge, and feel independent. Organizations need to have a culture that aligns themselves with missions and visions that resonates with the millennial workforce, enabling them to retain most of their employees. Creating an open feedback system in the organization is another important way of maintaining most of the millennial workforce in an organization (Rue, 2020). Studies indicate that millennials are open to feedback and like exchanging information and ideas, including management. The organization that wishes to hire and retain the millennial workforce should adapt to giving and receiving feedback from the employees to improve their teamwork and productivity.
When engaging the millennial workforce in defining the work environment, policies and values is essential because today, employees want to feel purposeful in their workplaces. Giving every employee a voice to create what they are part of is one of the best ways to define their work environment. Showing them how they can make a difference in the organization is important in enhancing the performance and job satisfaction among the millennial workforce. Since they are societal-based, the company needs to ensure that its millennial workforce understands how it contributes to society. Allowing them to know their contribution in making a difference and giving them opportunities to lead projects enables them to have a personal feeling of value they provide to society (Larasati & Hasanati, 2019). The process of engaging them in matters workplace and company enhances the satisfaction of the millennial workforce in the process enabling the firm to retain them.
As the millennial takes a stronger grip on the workplace, organizations need to organize and adapt to their expectations. The company should help demonstrate the value of employees and accommodate the new generation and their desire for a productivity-based environment that promotes flexibility and efficiency. Recognizing and providing reward programs is essential towards retaining the millennial workforce (Thibault et al., 2017). The group is used to receiving recognition and expects to continue with the same trend after being hired. The programs can be as simple as badges earned for skills or competencies or meets team goals. The strategy of rewarding the workforce improves their morale and job satisfaction, thus reducing their turnover rate. Embracing Tiger Teams to give voice to the workforce is vital because the preparation of programs and policies involves every stakeholder. Tiger Teams can play a critical role in representing diverse groups of experts to solve problems and recommend appropriate practices promoting the workplace environment.
Soon, millennials are poised to become the largest employable population in society. Public and nonprofit companies need to realize that the millennial generation does not have the same mindset compared to baby boomers. If they are interested in hiring Gen-Y, they need to have an organizational culture that promotes strong value-proposition. Millennials have plenty of energy, skills, and high self-confidence, and they prefer working in teamwork. Cultivating a millennial-friendly workplace environment is essential towards attracting and retaining the workforce from Gen-Y. Ensuring that the organization embrace equality of all kinds is an integral approach towards winning the Gen-Y workforce because individuals from this generation support equality in workplaces. Establishing an organizational culture that resonates with the values and needs of millennials is a critical consideration when attracting them for employment and retaining them in the firm. Empowering the employees to make working decisions that are right for personal needs and priorities enables public and nonprofit organizations to keep most of the millennial workforce.
References
Bartczak, M., & Szymankowska, A. (2020). Self-Assessment of the Usefulness for Work of Young People from Generation Z and Their Opinion on the Expectations of Employers. Human Resource Management, 136(5) .
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Larasati, D. P., & Hasanati, N. (2019). The Effects of Work-Life Balance towards Employee Engagement in Millennial Generation. Psychology, Counselling, and Humanities , 390-394.
Morrell, D. L., & Abston, K. A. (2018). Millennial motivation issues related to compensation and benefits: Suggestions for improved retention. Compensation & Benefits Review, 50(2) , 107-113.
Rue, N. (2020). Grow more socially responsible Millennials. HR Future, 2020(9) , 34-35.
Ruspini, E. (2019). Millennial Men, Gender equality and Care: the dawn of a revolution? Teorija in Praksa, 56(4) , 985-1000.
Thibault Landry, A., Schweyer, A., & Whillans, A. (2017). Winning the war for talent: Modern motivational methods for attracting and retaining employees. Compensation & Benefits Review, 49(4) , 230-246.
