Generation Y, or millennials as we tend to call them, were born between 1982 and 2000. Today, they make up around 75 per cent of the global workforce, according to a recent report by Deloitte and by mid-decade, they will account for nearly all employees.
Millennials are, without doubt, ambitious. And while they can show ambivalence towards traditional respect for job titles, once you show yourself to be credible and competent as a senior manager, you will gain their good opinion, trust and respect.
What Do Millennials Offer?
Millennials bring a breath of fresh air into your finance business, with innovative viewpoints and suggestions, dynamic energy and a tendency to challenge the status quo.
Because of this vitality, they offer the opportunity for you and your finance team to embrace new ideas and concepts that can lead to improved work practices and procedures as well as creating a diverse yet cohesive finance team who work collaboratively towards the same goals.
If you are thinking of hiring, inevitably you will have millennials applying for roles more and more. By understanding what their drivers are, you can ensure you attract– and keep – the talent you want in your finance team.
As a specialist finance recruiter, I often have candidates tell me exactly what they are looking for in their job search – and in today’s article, I’d like to share the secrets to successful millennial recruitment and management with you.
Let’s start with hiring the right people onto your finance team.
Recruiting Millennials
Millennials, according to the Deloitte 2018 Millennial Survey, have a very different approach to work from that of their older colleagues. Fifty per cent consider flexibility very important, and 43 per cent plan to leave their jobs for pastures new within the next two years. There’s no holding this generation down if they believe it’s time to move on. So, here are five strategies you need to ensure are part of your recruitment package.
- Flexibility
Employees today – and especially millennial employees who now make up the majority of workplaces – want schedules that are flexible to their personal needs. So, employers need to take a more agile approach when it comes to engaging new finance talent.
- Lifelong Learning
A recent study on millennials in the workplace found that the number one factor that they consider before taking a new job is if they will be trained and developed in their role. Do you offer relevant learning opportunities?
- Clear Career Path
Linked to training and learning options, Millennials are looking for a clear career development pathway. Younger workers often feel a sense of frustration over limited promotion opportunities, so offering prospects to Millennial employees is a reliable way to attract them to your finance team.
- Benefits
From flexitime to compressed working weeks, Millennials are looking for more than just excellent remuneration. Unlike their predecessors, they want to operate their work around their lives. For example, a half-day finish when they have an appointment, making the time up somewhere else, or the ability to come in later on days when they have to take their child to playgroup when their partner is busy.
Additionally, benefits such as being able to purchase extra holiday allowance, enjoy social events – think team breakfasts and lunches – on-site facilities and an excellent pension scheme are high on their agenda.
- Inclusivity and Company Culture
Millennials want to be treated as equals in their workplace. Research by Accenture has shown that workplaces that favour an ‘equal’ system that embraces all employee’s contribution and places value on individual worth have six times the level of innovation mindset as a traditional hierarchical organisation.
Additionally, creating an inclusive culture for your finance team, where individuals feel a sense of ‘belonging’ and are happy to volunteer new ideas and suggestions, are overwhelmingly higher–performing overall. So, while it may all seem a little ‘new-age’ to the older generations, it works.
Managing Millennials
Once you have your millennial talent on board, remember that ongoing investment is crucial to keep them engaged. If you don’t listen to them or they get bored – they will soon feel unfulfilled and switch jobs.
The following five strategies will help you manage them successfully and encourage them to stay and grow with your finance team.
- Development and Feedback
Regular training will help your millennials achieve the rapid rise on the career ladder that they crave. They thrive on continuous feedback and therefore expect a responsive managerial style.
As I mentioned earlier, failure to provide that ongoing relationship could result in them looking for another role. Although their need for consistent development means you have to schedule some additional diary-time, the benefits are that by engaging them now you will develop them into tomorrow’s finance leaders.
- Communication
Alongside feedback, your millennial employees want open and honest communication. This helps to foster an environment where they can be honest, discuss mistakes and how to improve performance, and consequently experience higher productivity rates.
Forty per cent of millennials believe that their older colleagues are more guarded and don’t fully understand how people communicate today. By encouraging regular, two-way conversations between your multigenerational employees, you can engage fully with your millennial staff and create a more cohesive finance team.
- Invest in Technology
To attract and retain your millennial employees, it’s crucial to invest in technologies that focus on people. In other words, those advances that help your employees grow and develop, rather than new technology that focuses on transactional systems such as payroll and time management.
Developing a focus on technologies such as Zoom or GoToMeeting can help your finance team make the most of their skills, time, performance – and ultimately, the company’s bottom line.
Also, emphasising your employees and those technological advances that will help to prepare for a digitally–focused future will keep them engaged and provide them with a sense of value.
- Mental Health
Mental health continues to become a growing concern, with Business Insider reporting that half of the millennials say they have left a job due to mental health concerns.
The UK is leading the way in supporting good mental health at work, and with this being a critical factor for millennials, supporting it within your finance company will help keep your workforce happy and productive. For example, Goldman Sachs has trained dozens of its UK staff to be mental health first aiders who can spot colleagues who are suffering and offer them help.
- Provide Purpose
With 86 per cent of millennials saying they would leave an employer whose values no longer matched their own, it’s crucial to offer meaning in your millennial team’s work.
Your millennial finance team will accomplish much more if their work has a purpose.
Purpose is the meaningful condition that enables us to love what we do and feel aligned with the results and achievements. What matters to millennials is your company’s work culture, involvement with causes, office environment and culture. They want to know and believe in the company mission and goals.
By creating their preferred conditions, and shifting to a more transactional approach in your relationship with your finance team, you can establish an environment of mutual support and respect, where millennial employees are empowered and dedicated to the organisation.
Thanks,
Rachel
P.S. If you’re looking to scale your finance team, or are currently seeking your ideal finance role, contact Rebus Financial Recruitment or call us on 01282 930930 and let’s have a conversation to explore your options. With our help, you can achieve great things.
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, which historically range from a wide variety of organisations including SME’s to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs; and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly. To find out more, get in contact with one of our team today, or you can call us on 01282 930930.
