How to Retain Job Hopping Millennials

Executives ask me all the time why millennials job hop. Here’s what I tell them. Because they can. Being able to leave your job because you feel you can is actually a good thing. Here’s why. The millennials who choose to stay with your firm do so because they want to. Not because they have to. That makes a huge difference in terms of employee engagement, productivity, customer service and profitability. The real question executives should be asking is how do I create an organization where employees love to work and customers love to do business. Here’s how: Provide Millennials with autonomy Imagine having a job where you feel fully in control of your work and your future. If you are fortunate enough to have a position like this, you probably act as if you are the owner of the business, which means it would take a lot more than a bad day to make you quit. Autonomy and independence rank up at the top of the list of factors that lead to job satisfaction, according to a recent report on employee satisfaction and engagement conducted by SHRM. The ability to control one’s environment is possible when you have leaders who provide clear direction and give their employees room to operate. Are your leaders encouraging their staff to stretch their boundaries or are they closely monitoring their every move to ensure no one steps out of line? If it’s the latter, then you have some work to do, which may include changing out members of your leadership team. Focus on purpose Millennials, in particular, are interested in making their mark on the world and working for companies that have a clear sense of purpose. The problem is that the purpose of most companies is to make money. Money is not a purpose. It’s what happens as a result of properly aligning your organization with the purpose (true mission) of the organization. Assuming that people will automatically know how their work contributes to the purpose of an organization is not a strategy that I would recommend. Companies looking to attract and retain Millennials must help employees connect the dots so they have a clear line of sight regarding how their work directly connects with the purpose of the organization. Provide continuous feedback Millennials often seek green pastures because they don’t feel valued. Many are being supervised by leaders who haven’t a clue as to the importance of providing workers with specific feedback. If you want to keep millennials engaged and in your employ, then I suggest you work closely with your management team to ensure they are providing daily feedback. Anything less than that may result in more departures to the competition than you anticipated. Help Millennials connect Remember a time when your work life and your social life were one and the same? Most likely this occurred earlier on in your career. Younger workers have a strong need to feel connected at their workplace. Companies that wish to retain these workers must create a workplace that encourages, rather than discourages, social interaction. You don’t need to create a play space the size of McDonalds in order to make this happen. You can set up your office space to include a lounge or two where employees can congregate during the work day to collaborate, as well as at the end of the day to celebrate successes of the day.