As the baby boomer generation continues to edge closer to retirement, winning the hearts and minds of the millennials in line to take their place has become the holy grail for company hiring efforts. Especially given the rate at which new technology is being not only developed, but integrated into the workplace across nearly every sector, the latent knowledge brought to the table by digital natives is particularly appealing for businesses.
One of the key obstacles standing in the way of companies and a brand-new workforce staffed with the best and brightest millennials is a difficulty understanding how to appeal to this younger generation. Organizations are quickly learning that today’s young professionals have different motivations, habits and quirks than their predecessors. Here are some of the ways companies have tried to woo the upcoming generation.
A values game
Despite a more culturally diverse population and an in-grown attachment to all things technological, one of the most significant hallmarks of the millennial generation is an increased level of social awareness. More than those who came before them, today’s youth want to be informed, not just of what’s going on in their community, but how their organizations, businesses and employers fit into the overall picture.
One way to tap into this is to focus on developing your company’s social and community-based profile. By making your organization an active player in its community, it will shine a spotlight on your office as a place for the socially minded to work.
Structural overhaul
The traditional 9-to-5 workday is all but dead in today’s workforce. What millennials are after is flexibility in terms of both working hours and location. Telecommuting is a fast-growing phenomenon, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Similarly, millennials are attracted to certain structural differences while at the office. The Star Tribune cited feedback as one of the most important things this generation seeks out, so it could be beneficial to work with HR services to overhaul evaluation methods.
The old-fashioned way
Of course, you always have the option to lure in new workers using the one thing almost everyone responds to – money. While most small businesses don’t have the resources to offer higher salaries, many companies have been taking a shorter-term approach by offering signing bonuses to recent graduates. In fact, a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers revealed that 51 percent of companies expressed an intention to offer a signing bonus to graduates of the class of 2015.