Who are GEN Y?

What Millennials want...

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are defined as the generation born between early 1980s until early 2000s.This generation are driving unprecedented change in both business and society as technology, globalization and new communications have become an integral part of their lives. They are used to living a fast-paced, technology driven and autonomous lifestyle.

Like every new generation, Millennials are often misunderstood. This leads to myths about this generation. Most commonly that they are unpredictable, aggressively ambitious and impatient for promotion and are not prepared to put in the effort to achieve success in their careers.

According to research conducted by Gallup’s report “How Millennials Want to Work and Live” they are the generation most likely to look for and change jobs. This has given them a reputation as being job hoppers. Through their research Gallup found that 21% of Millennial workers had left their job in the last year to do something else. This represents is over three times higher than that of non-Millennials. The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey Research suggests that 66% of Millennials expect to leave their current employers by 2020. This poses a serious challenge to any business employing a significant number of Millennials and suggests a growing myth around Millennials that they are not brand loyal. This is referred to as the ‘loyalty challenge’ in the Deloitte survey. Millennials are currently the largest generation in the US.

So, what exactly are Millennials looking for in a job and in a company?

In general, Millennials mostly want the same things from their employers as other generations such as great managers, development opportunities and a role that is suited to their strengths, values and interests. In fact a growing body of evidence suggests that employees of all ages are much more alike than different in their attitudes and values at work. All employees seek the opportunity to learn and grow, the opportunity for career development and for a manager who supports and invest in them. The difference with Millennials is that they place a greater emphasis on these opportunities to learn and grow and on opportunities for advancement. In addition, they want a clear purpose, clear KPI’s, a clear link between the work they are doing and the company vision.

Once Millennials have clear understanding of their purpose they then want autonomy to get the job done but on the way to delivering they want regular feedback and mentoring. They want to make a difference, they want to see the impact of their efforts and they want to be praised for the results they achieve. It seems they are clear on what they want so why are employers not listening? Why do they not recognise this? The reality is that companies are struggling to cope up with Millennials needs as traditional business methods seem insufficient.

By 2025 75% of the workforce will be Millennials so it’s time to embrace this new generation as they are the business leaders of tomorrow. As they now move into management positions companies cannot afford to ignore their needs any longer. Working out what they want is important to employers with the key question being how to secure their loyalty?

On the flip side, Millennials’ willingness to switch jobs and companies presents a substantial attraction opportunity for organizations. Ultimately, Millennials are consumers of the workplace. They shop around for the jobs that best align with their needs and life goals. More than ever, employers need to know and act on the factors that make their company appealing to these candidates. They have to make it easy for prospects to choose them over their competition.

Although income is not among Millennials’ top five factors when applying for jobs, it still matters to them when looking for a job, as it does to all employees. The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey found that when money is removed from the equation, work/life balance and opportunities to progress or take on leadership roles stand out for Millennials. Flexible working arrangements, getting a sense of meaning, and training programmes that support professional development are all factors this generation consider attractive from an employer perspective.

If your company wants to do a focus on addressing the ‘loyalty challenge’ it’s important to understand what motivates Millennials, what doesn’t, and the delicate balance between the two.

If you want to find out more about how FUTURENEERZ can support you in building your future business leaders Contact Us TODAY!

The Strengths Superpower

WORLDWIDE, ONLY 13% OF EMPLOYEES ARE ENGAGED AT WORK

In a global research poll carried out by Gallup, only 13% of people going to work every day are engaged… that means 87% of us are just turning up, or worse causing total mayhem for our company and colleagues because we are just not happy in work!  Scary thought isn’t it?

Now we know that most organisations want to develop and engage their employees’, but to get there virtually all follow the conventional wisdom that we must find what’s wrong with people and then attempt to “fix” it!  And unfortunately, research suggests this can result in a culture of mediocrity and disengagement.

But did you know that people who use their Strengths every day in their work or daily activities are 6 times more likely to be engaged and 3 times more likely to report having a better
quality of life

So here are a few questions for you…

Do you know what your core talents and strengths are? Do you know what you bring to the table? What are your superpowers? Can you articulate exactly who you are, what you offer and how you can lead others? 

Or how about this…

Do you ever wonder why you don’t get on with certain people? Or how about the project or team you are working on… ‘Why don’t they understand where I am coming from?’ Or ‘how can I really develop and motivate my team’?

These are questions and challenges that plague us every day…

So here’s a thought..... what if you had the opportunity to do what you do best every day? What if you could articulate exactly who you are, and what you bring to the table? What if you could say with complete confidence that you are happy in your work and that you are fully engaged in your current everyday activity? What if you could motivate your team by giving them projects and tasks that suited their strengths so they were highly motivated and engaged in their roles and exceeding their goals?

At FUTURENEERZ we’ve found that in a strengths-based culture, employees have the opportunity to do what they do best every day. Their development is grounded in what they do right, not what they do wrong. As a result, employees look forward to going to work, achieve more while they are there and stay with their company longer. Companies can all but eliminate active disengagement by emphasizing strengths over weaknesses: Managers who predominantly focus on employees' strengths reduce active disengagement to an astoundingly low 1%. That’s an enticing stat isn’t it?

PEOPLE WORKING IN THE STRENGTHS ZONE....

•  look forward to going to work

•  have more positive than negative interactions with their co-workers

•  treat customers better

•  tell their friends they work for a great company

•  achieve more on a daily basis

•  have more positive, create, and innovative moments

FUTURENEERZ can help your organisation tap into the power of a strengths-based culture through an innovative online assessment known as the Clifton StrengthsFinder.  Don Clifton, the Father of Strengths Psychology invented it in the late 1990’s following a landmark 30 year study.  Clifton StrengthsFInder empowers people to identify and develop what they do best.  It provides the basis for meaningful coaching and ongoing conversations that create a culture of coaching and intensive development. Today, more than 16 million people around the work have discovered their strengths through the assessment.

Taking the Clifton StrengthsFinder solves one key issue – identifying employees’ individual talents – but there is more work to be done to develop a true strengths-based culture.  FUTURENEERZ will work with you to form a highly individualised strategy for building and maintaining a strengths-based approach to developing your young talented workforce.

Our Managing Director, Ciara is a GALLUP strengths coach and would be delighted to chat with you on how we can help you develop your teams and drive high performance through a strength based approach. If you’re interested in finding out more, please Contact Us at FUTURENEERZ.

Conditions to thrive

By 2025, over 75% of the workforce will be Millennials, ARE YOU READY?

The modern workplace presents many challenges for employees and managers, including changing job requirements, fast-moving technology, global connectedness and matrixed teams.  Millennials also place new demands on managers. The workplace is evolving, and so must the way employees are managed and developed.

At FUTURENEERZ, we have seen this clearly through our research to date in Ireland as well as highly reputed international research reports such as Gallup's latest report, How Millennials Want to Work and Live. Over the past 40 years, Gallup has studied tens of thousands of teams globally to learn more about the issues, pain points, challenges they face, the techniques managers, teams and organisations use to create highly engaged teams, and most importantly, the things that high-performing teams do that distinguish them from others. 

At FUTURENEERZ, we call these distinguishing factors ‘Conditions to Thrive’. There are 3 core conditions that companies focus on in order to drive high performance and engagement.

1. Passion & Purpose

•   Organisations provide a Clear Vision, Company Purpose & Inclusive Culture to their workforce.

•  Team success ultimately depends on the team’s ability to identify and focus on a compelling vision or common purpose and understand the role each member plays in reaching that vision.

 2. Trust & Strengths Based Culture

•  Trust is a core company value & cornerstone of organisational behaviour.

•  Companies embrace a strengths based culture. Team members are aware of their unique talents and how they can help the team respond to or achieve the common goals.  They also know how the others on the team can best contribute. As such, they act interdependently.

•  They have an understanding of how each person is inclined to think, act, and feel.  This awareness helps the team navigate the issues all teams encounters. Certain talents make team members adept at conflict management, documenting the team’s work, setting direction, influencing others etc.  In short, they understand how the team can work best together.

3. Cash + Love

•  While a competitive package is required to recruit and retain Millennials.  The No.1 driver for Millennials is development! They are most interested in opportunities to learn and grow, as well as a manager who cares about them as people. They want interesting work that makes a difference in the world and aligns with their personal sense of purpose. They don’t want to be micro-managed, they want to be coached with constant feedback and communication with the opportunity to advance as they develop.

•  Interested to learn more?  Please Contact Us, we’d be delighted to discuss our research & practical solutions with you.

It turns out that what is really important in building a great team is the individual.  It is how each person thinks about his or her contribution within the context of the others on the team and how each person combines his or her strengths with the complementary strengths of others to tackle challenges together.

The team’s aim is to achieve excellence and get the most out of each team member’s natural talents. In building great teams, it is therefore important to start by understanding and appreciating each team member’s talents and intentionally leveraging these to reach the collective team goal.

If you want to find out more about how to develop a high performing team based on a strengths-based approach, Contact Us at FUTURENEERZ.