The Ultimate Guide to Recruiting and Retaining Millennials

 

There are currently 80 million Millennials in the United States, and soon they will make up the majority of the employee population. Why? For one, Baby Boomers, which make up 40 percent of today’s U.S. workforce, will be leaving the workforce in the next decade. Secondly, this year the Millennial generation (born between 1981-2001) is projected to surpass the Baby Boomer generation as the nation’s largest living generation. That said, it’s crucial for your organization to know how to recruit and retain Millennials.

TINYpulse has put together a fantastic guidebook on this very topic called, The Ultimate Guide to Recruiting and Retaining Millennials. Not only is it chock-full of helpful insights and information, it’s also engaging and well written. I am proud to say that I am quoted in the guide.

The Ultimate Guide to Recruiting and Retaining Millennials* covers topics such as creating a transparent culture, embracing social responsibility, living your company values, supporting career development, creating an effective onboarding plan, and more. I am quoted in chapter 15, which talks about opening a virtual suggestion box.

Opening Up a Virtual Suggestion Box

The good news is, our days of traditional (awkward) suggestion boxes have come to an end. Technology has come to the rescue with simple online surveys and web platforms that offer more anonymity to employees who would like to share their ideas and solutions. That is what a virtual suggestion box is.

This is a great idea for the Millennial generation, also known as Generation Y. Why? Because it is very important to them to have a voice in their community, and community is a core element in the lives of this generation.

Also, Gen Y was born with a mouse in its hand. Consequently, they are tech-savvy and expect information to be “downloaded” immediately, including their ideas and suggestions.

They were the first generation to have family meetings and safety laws enforced with bike helmets, car seats, and seat belt laws. The message from this was “You are special. We value you.” Consequently, this generation values connections and wants to be part of a community at home, work, and play. They will work with their friends at the same company if they feel it’ll allow them more time with their community. Having a voice in their community is important to Gen Y. They have the confidence to articulate their vision and the tech skills to create their vision. Now they need you to support them in listening to their vision.

If only we could jump 50 years ahead– just for a day– to see how this generation will have transformed the workplace. Preparing your organization to successfully recruit and retain the Millennial generation is not only imperative, it’s exciting.

Let’s have a little fun. Pretend you have a virtual suggestion box where you can leave an idea or suggestion for every organization in the country. What is one idea and/or suggestion that all U.S. organizations need to hear? I can’t wait to read.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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Workforce Trends: The Importance of Diversity–The Old Minority Will Become the New Majority

 

There are several major demographic trends in today’s workplace, such as Baby Boomer retirement, companies losing female talent and the increasing need for workplace flexibility.

Perhaps the most profound trend, however, is the fact that the United States is transitioning from a nation whose majority population is white to a nation in which the majority of the population will soon be people of color.

 

So-called minorities accounted for 92 percent of the nation’s population growth in the last decade. They are now the majority of residents in four states, 348 counties, the District of Columbia, and a growing number of major metropolitan areas like New York, Las Vegas, and Memphis.

 

And, in case you think this is just a blip on the screen, you should know that, as of July 2011, the majority of new babies born in this country are now children of color.

 

That is only going to increase, because Latinos, on average, are in their prime childbearing years, while the average white woman, at 42, is probably done having children.

In fact, because the majority of older people are white, and the majority of younger people are not, we’re looking at a very new kind of divide that’s both racial and generational.

 

And here’s another issue: Right now, Hispanic and black youth are graduating from college at far lower rates than their white peers: 13% and 18%, versus 31% for whites.

That’s why I said that this is the most profound of the three demographic trends. Because if the majority of young Americans are not educated and prepared to take their place in the workforce of tomorrow, that will be a true disaster for your organizations and our economy.

 

Solution

You hear so much about how manufacturing has left the U.S.  But what you don’t hear is that the manufacturing jobs we still have can be hard to fill, because young workers aren’t really interested.

 

And it’s not just that Gen Y doesn’t want to work an assembly line.  They also don’t want to be manufacturing executives.  They’d rather work for a tech start-up. So what do you do if you’re a manufacturing company that has to replace its retiring workers with a diverse workforce?

 

I’m helping this client create a Strategic Workforce Planning Tool that will help my client track birth and education rates, education rates, and other key data on a country-by-county basis, so that they’ll know where to expand, consolidate, or even close a plant.

 

Ideally, you want to be proactive, and educate new workers.  But the first step in that process is knowing where you’re most at risk, and that’s what my client is focused on right now, in order to increase diversity.

Note: Many of the statistics presented in this blog series have been pulled from Deloitte’s Human Capital consulting resources and The Gender Dividend report. 

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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