Millennials - Using Rewards as an Employee Engagement Tool

With the millennial generation now entering their thirties, they are beginning to focus more on career development and ensuring they have loyalty within their current position and the company they work for. So as an employer what can you be doing to reflect that?

There are many recognition programs floating about, many of which just consist of choosing a favourite gift card or which small appliance you would like from the catalogue. As handy as this may be, there are far more effective incentive programs employers could implement to motivate and engage your millennial employees.

Millennials are dominating the workforce

Millennials are now the largest age group at work; one in every three employees, in fact. Therefore, it is vital that employers start thinking about how they can secure these employees, especially as this generation is so diverse in its talents and interests.

With millennials now dominating the workforce, retaining them will be beneficial for everyone. To do this, employers should consider the most effective incentive program, with the most popular being:

• flexible working hours
• promotions
• giving back to the community

Removing the 9-5 schedule

Traditional working hours, typically 9-5, are what box employees in, with some not being able to make it home before dinner. However, with the growth of technology, these traditional working hours are not essential.

We know how important it is to ensure all deadlines within traditional business hours are met, however, why shouldn’t employees be given the opportunity to come in before or past nine o’clock, as long as these deadlines are met and the work is done?

As well as this, millennials are the first generation to fully understand and grow up within the technological age. This not only gives them flexibility at their fingertips, but it also makes them want to use it as they are aware of the stresses a fixed schedule can bring. Therefore, they are demanding more room for flexibility in the workplace in order to achieve an improved work-life balance and lower the stress of confined hours.

How to implement this effectively

There are many ways companies could implement flexible working hours, the most efficient would be to gradually build flexibility into the workplace and state that a certain amount of working hours per week must take place, where the hours each day can vary. With this in mind, employers must think realistically about how many hours employees physically have to be in the office or at their desk and if some tasks can be carried out remotely.

This flexibility will prove to be effective, especially for the early birds who would like to kick-start their day with a gym session before an intense deadline or the night owls who tend to come in a few minutes late but showcase a high quality of work. Parents will highly benefit from this flexibility too as they can pick their children up from school or take a remote working day if their child is unwell, without having to go through a long, drawn-out absence process.

And of course one of the key benefits of this flexible working reward is the low cost to the employer.

Promotions

Millennials aren’t driven by slaving over their desk for another decade in hopes of gaining a promotion, instead, they thrive on support and recognition. Therefore, employers mustn't say that promotions come with time and, instead, they must show their millennial employees the support they need now.

Employers can also show millennials that they are climbing up the career ladder in real time through timely promotions that involve a slight change in salary and title to demonstrate their growth.

Giving back to the community

As well as flexibility and promotions, millennial employees are eager to see their employers giving back to the community, as it comes naturally to them. While the world draws its attention to sustainability, for example, so should their employers and company, along with any other global targets.

In fact, previous studies have shown that over 40% of millennials volunteer in their own time for a non-profit cause and over 90% stated that they want to use their skills to benefit a worthy cause.

The millennial generation is the future of the workforce so it is important that employers do what they can to show their contributions are being recognised.

Wright Solutions have over twenty years experience in the HR sector and work personally to provide high-calibre candidates for specialist executive roles in human resources and learning and development.

Please feel free to call us on 0121 222 5599 for an informal discussion or send us an email to info@wrightsolutionsltd.com.