How to Engage Millennials at Work [2024 Ed.]

Millennials are rapidly becoming the driving force in many of our workplaces. The trend will continue for at least ten years until the younger generations enter the job market and previous generations retire. According to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data conducted by the Pew Research Center, Millennials constitute the largest segment of the American labor force, comprising over one-third, or 35% of participants.

In addition, The Census Bureau also forecasts that the millennial population is anticipated to reach its zenith at 75 million. Achieving a labor force of 66 million at this juncture would necessitate elevating the labor force participation rate and active engagement.

With millennials’ work practices impacting the job market, the managerial board has to rethink how they interact with their employees. The upcoming generation desires greater flexibility and remote working options and wants to work in a job where they feel empowered. Such elements have become necessary to heighten the engagement rate.

According to Gallup's research, 29% of millennials exhibit workplace engagement. In short, only three of ten millennials are emotionally connected to their respective jobs and companies.

The same study showed that 16% of millennials demonstrate active disengagement. Notably, most millennials, constituting 55%, fall into the category of non-engaged individuals, surpassing other generations in this aspect of workforce engagement. This necessitates incorporating strategic methods to engage the millennial workforce, which makes up one-third of the workforce.

This blog will share a few tips concerning how to drive engagement among millennials thoroughly.

Tip to engage millennials at work

There will be huge productivity loss when millennial employees get disengaged.

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As per Gallup, the US lost between $450 billion and $550 due to disengaged employees. That’s not all. When they get bored with their work, the millennial employees start searching for jobs elsewhere leading to high attrition rates.

The need of the hour is – Engage the millennial employees with the work that infuses passion in their minds. The lack of constant engagement is one of the many reasons millennial employees get bored at work.

This is the first thing that must be understood and fixed. Motivating this valuable workforce will make all the difference to your company, but it isn’t always easy to get it right. That’s where this article comes in. Here are a few of the most effective ways to motivate millennial employees.

Young talent is great to work with but hard to recruit and retain. If you try following these steps, you’ll be off to a good start when retaining your most valuable staff members.

1. Provide encouragement, guidance, and feedback

Millennial employees are more likely to stay loyal to jobs with development opportunities. Providing ongoing mentorship, guidance, and feedback is the best way to enable it. It’s a win/win situation because providing this feedback helps them get better – and ultimately adds more value to your company.

[Tired of using the old methods to engage employees? Check out our guide on Employee Engagement to motivate and engage your millennials at work.]

2. Give them the tools they need-

You wouldn’t ask a lumberjack to cut down trees without an axe or a chainsaw, yet we expect employees to make miracles happen without the required tools. That’s why you shouldn’t be afraid to approve budget requests and allow people to use tools- if these can help them do their jobs to the best of their ability.

3. Promote them internally-

As part of their determination to grow, millennials like to receive promotions and even help shape their departments. That’s why it’s a good idea to promote internally where possible and create new job roles and titles with specific employees in mind.

Millennials won’t wait around if they see no opportunities for progression, and you’ll quickly find yourself hemorrhaging talent to your competitors.

4. Improve the work environment

Improving the working environment is a surefire way to increase employee retention and encourage millennial employees to stick around. You can improve the work environment by increasing pay scales, promoting from within, helping them achieve a work/life balance, providing competitive benefits, encouraging friendly employee relationships, and trusting your employees with responsibility.

5. Offer flexibility

One study found that a good work/life balance is the number one priority for millennials. On top of this, they also appreciate that the stereotypical 9-5 no longer exists. They’re willing to work overtime and weekends, but only if you offer the same flexibility regarding holidays, afternoons off, and more.

6. Give out rewards

Rewarding millennial employees when they’ve done a good job helps to encourage them to be enthusiastic about their work. It can even help to cre a spirit of friendly competition between different departments and help to increase overall job satisfaction. Use tools like enterprise to make the process of reward very smooth.

7. Let them have a side-hustle

Many companies still use generic terms and conditions that prevent employees from working on a side-hustle. However, that’s starting to change as companies like Google, Atlassian, LinkedIn, and Apple give employees freer reign to work on passion projects.

It’s understandable because you don’t want your employees to go freelance and to take your clients with them, but at the same time, it’s important to support people and to help them grow. After all, as a general rule, the most talented copywriters, designers, and filmmakers are working on novels, art, and movies in their own time.

The least your company can do is offer support where possible to help foster their long-term career.

8. Ask for feedback

Millennials won’t hesitate to tell you if they think something is wrong, so be sure to listen to the gossip around the water cooler and ask people what they think. Don’t just save it for annual reviews. Instead, make it an ongoing thing and a part of your company’s culture. Then, once you’ve received feedback, take action.

9. Be transparent

Transparency has been a big buzzword over the last few years, thanks to the rise of social networking, making it almost impossible for companies to lie or bend the truth without someone calling them out. Millennials are the first generation to grow up alongside social networking. They expect the same transparency, authenticity, and trust from the companies they work for as they do from the companies they buy from.

10. Recognize long service

Surveys show that a third of new hires quit their jobs within six months of starting. That’s why you should go out of your way to recognize those employees who stick around for the long haul. This signals to other employees that you value their contributions to the company and can help encourage your millennials to stay with you for longer.

11. Provide them more learning opportunities

Updating one's skills is not just the order but the need of the day. The reason is changing quite often and throwing multiple challenges to millennial employees. If they don’t update their skills, they will become obsolete and remain unwanted in the companies. To make them not become obsolete, provide them with enough learning opportunities.

There is a paradigm shift in how people learn skills these days. With the availability of new-age training platforms such as Udemy and Coursera, anything can be learned at any time and place.

In the end, be considerate, listen to them, and make them feel like vital cogs of the organization.

Suppose you want your employees to be motivated and dedicated to what they’re doing. In that case, you need to learn everything you can about their background, goals, and their demands, both as individuals and as a generation. You can only leverage what you know to create a motivated and productive office environment. We hope that the tips in this article help out.

Good luck!