{"id":11188,"date":"2013-10-07T08:41:30","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T07:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/?p=11188"},"modified":"2019-10-05T10:06:10","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T14:06:10","slug":"engaging-millennial-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/engaging-millennial-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Engaging Millennial Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/CS_Engaging-Millennial-Employees-300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-11194\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/CS_Engaging-Millennial-Employees-300.jpg\" alt=\"Engaging Millennial Employees\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>The generation gap is hardly a new concept. But how do you engage the various generations and especially the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/prospernow\/2012\/06\/27\/portrait-of-a-millennial-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Millennials<\/a>. Further Gaps have appeared between parents and children through the ages. So I guess I shouldn\u2019t have been surprised when my son and I discovered one between us.<\/p>\n<p>It manifested itself in a strange place, with moisturizer.<\/p>\n<p>My son Ben works for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bartleboglehegarty.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BBH<\/a> in advertising. Ben was telling me about a new trend for grooming products for men, including moisturizer. Then he showed me this ad he worked on.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QZ_W3Rn6HfU?list=UUw8G7o4_4cAUU5jWsaJfYJA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I looked into this a little bit after we talked. Skin care is projected to be a $735Million business this year. That is just one section of the immense men\u2019s grooming market. In the U.S., 42% of men say they participate in skin care in the shower. To be clear, they are not talking about washing their skin, but extra \u201ccare\u201d like scrubs and (can it be true?) moisturizer.<\/p>\n<p>To one of us, moisturizer is for sissies who are afraid of marring their beautiful countenance with freckles, wrinkles or any other form of sun damage. To the other it\u2019s a statement of manliness. Even as I type it, I can\u2019t wrap my head around it. And there it is, the gap. Where did I go wrong in bring up Ben!<\/p>\n<p>My son is a millennial. I wrote a post about this generation, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/blog\/generation-y\/\">Millennials Want It All: So Give it to them.<\/a> In it I describe their expectations for their <a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-experience\/\">customer experience<\/a>, which are high, immediate, and fairly capricious.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear that there are many places where the generations are not in step with one another. But there is an area where I think Millennials and \u2018Cuspers\u2019 like me can come together in inter-generational harmony and that is in their idea of the optimal workplace.<\/p>\n<p>Let me explain&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>This generation that brought us the \u2018Selfie\u2019, video game controllers that have far too many buttons to master, and men\u2019s moisturizer has an excellent modification to the idea of how they want to work. I believe their creative thinking and innovation are an excellent solution for the future of employee engagement.<\/p>\n<h2><b><\/b><b>Millennials Want It All, So Give It to Them\u2026At work.<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>By 2025, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/gen-ys-impact-on-the-future-of-work-2013-5?utm_source=feedly&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider%2Fwarroom+(War+Room)%3e\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Millenials will make up 75% of our workforce<\/a> . But these are not like any group of workers that has come before them.\u00a0 They use social media platforms to build their individual brand and freelance websites to start their own businesses and regular employment is typically viewed as their \u201cday job.\u201d\u00a0 Ben is the same. See him on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenShaw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They want to work in collaborative environments (read: no cubicle farms) with a clear path to advancement and if they don\u2019t see one, they jump ship. This presents a challenge to business as usual. As these demanding consumers and employees drive more and more of the free market, businesses will need to adapt their customer and employee experiences to compete.<\/p>\n<h2><b>How To Get the Selfie Generation to Work for You<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>There are two areas businesses today need to strategize to attract and retain this new generation: customer experience and employee engagement.<\/p>\n<p>I always talk about customer experience, and I still probably will before this post is over, but for today, let\u2019s focus on employee engagement.<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Post ran a slideshow of an office built with the millennial worker in mind.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/capitalbusiness\/an-office-built-with-the-millennial-worker-in-mind\/2013\/08\/29\/9b6d70a6-10b8-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_gallery.html#photo=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/capitalbusiness\/an-office-built-with-the-millennial-worker-in-mind\/2013\/08\/29\/9b6d70a6-10b8-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_gallery.html#photo=1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The most obvious difference in this workplace is that there is not a cubicle in sight. In fact, workers don\u2019t even have assigned desks. Instead they employ a practice called \u201choteling\u201d, a name given to describe how the employee doesn\u2019t have an assigned workspace but instead reserves a common one for the days when they are \u201cgoing in to the office.\u201d The areas can be collaborative in nature or individual workspaces. White noise is used to dull the ambient noise to provide employees a certain amount of focus without undue distractions. For their personal items, they have a locker complete with an outlet for charging their technology inside.<\/p>\n<p>The innovations go on and on, but the idea is the same: this is a new way to work using the technology available to create a work environment that compliments a change in social norms.<\/p>\n<p>The point I got from the Washington Post\u2019s slide show is that millennial workers don\u2019t see themselves tied to an office. They fancy they are like contractors that work where they want, when they want, and sitting by whomever they want.<\/p>\n<p>The brilliance of this office set up is that these millennial workers are easy to turn into an engaged employee by offering them an environment that works with their creativity and innovative perspective on their role in the workforce. It says, \u201cI get you and want you to be a part of my team.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><b>The Importance of Employee Engagement<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/blogs\/finding-the-answer-to-employee-engagement\">Employee Engagement<\/a> refers to a concept that has emerged in the past two decades.<\/p>\n<p>Before that time, companies were focused on the happiness that employees felt about their job and its related compensation and benefits, work environment and personal development opportunities. These feelings describe an employee\u2019s satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p>But Employee engagement takes employee satisfaction one step further. Measuring employee engagement requires delving into the willingness of the employee to invest personally in their work. Engaged employees work like it is their passion to meet the goals and mission of the company. They use this passion to further the goals of the organization through innovative thinking and creativity.<\/p>\n<h2><b>How to Create Engaged Employees<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Employee engagement thrives in collaborative and cross functional environments. Engaged Employees are critical to creating a positive customer experience. Their efforts to solve problems and create \u201cwow\u201d! moments for the customer on behalf of the mission are what drives value to the customer experience and create <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-experience\/customer-loyalty\">customer loyalty.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I wish that I had the recipe book for how to create engaged employees in 5 easy steps. It\u2019s not as simple as that. There are many factors at work in every unique situation so there is no one-size-fits-all formula that if you follow you will get engagement from your workforce. That being said, I think that engagement starts with a solid foundation of leadership with a specific goal in mind. Then I think you add in good hiring and screening of the types of people you introduce your work force. Now add in listening and collaboration. Bake for 6-12 months and see what happens.<\/p>\n<p>Recipe aside, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Generation_Y\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Generation Y<\/a> workers are going to need different methods of motivation in order to become engaged employees. Workplaces will need to adapt to this need and adopt these ideas of the new worker in order to differentiate themselves in a global marketplace. Employee engagement requires that a business focus on more than just job satisfaction and compensation as motivation for performance.<\/p>\n<p>Companies that focus solely on money as reward can sometimes create an individual environment, whose motivation is more selfish. This can also create silos (as discussed in Zhecho Dobrev\u2019s blog post, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/blog\/how-to-overcome-organizational-silos\">How to Overcome Organisational Silos<\/a>\u201d) where members of the team or even departments that are working on their own with no interaction with the other departments. This environment disrupts the workflow of a company, and ultimately the customer experience. This is not a company where employee engagement thrives.<\/p>\n<p>By making sure that motivation comes in many forms besides money that contribute to the employees ability to get on board with the mission and promote it will go a lot further in fostering and environment that creates engaged employees &#8212; Millennials, Xers, Boomers alike.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to learn more about how you can harness the power of engaged employees, register for our webinar, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/thought-leadership\/webinars\/employee-ambassadorship\/\">\u2018Employee Ambassadorship: Generating and Delivering \u201cWow\u201d Customer Experiences\u2019<\/a>. In this webinar we explore what makes an employee the best kind of engaged employee, the Ambassador, and how you can use this part of your team to inspire and invigorate your employees.<\/p>\n<p>And speaking of invigoration, I have to ask all of you men and women alike, did you moisturize today?<\/p>\n<table style=\"background-color: #dfdddd;\" border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div style=\"padding: 10px; float: left; padding-left: 20px;\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/colin-smiling.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5619\" title=\"Colin-shaw-smiling.jpg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/colin-smiling.jpg\" alt=\"Colin Shaw\" width=\"98\" height=\"130\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding-right: 20px; text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/about-us\/team\/colin-shaw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colin Shaw<\/a> is founder &amp; CEO of Beyond Philosophy, one of the world\u2019s first organizations devoted to customer experience. Colin is an international author of four best-selling books &amp; recognized <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/linkedin-recognizes-worlds-150-top-influencers-colin-shaw-beyond-philosophy-founder-ceo-included-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Business Influencer<\/a> by LinkedIn. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beyond Philosophy<\/a> provide consulting, <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">specialised<\/span> research &amp; training from our Global Headquarters in Tampa, Florida, USA.<br \/>\n<span style=\"line-height: 19px;\"><br \/>\nFollow Colin Shaw on Twitter: <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 19px;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/ColinShaw_CX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">@ColinShaw_CX<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The generation gap is hardly a new concept. But how do you engage the various generations and especially the Millennials. Further Gaps have appeared between parents and children through the ages. So I guess I shouldn\u2019t have been surprised when my son and I discovered one between us. It manifested itself in a strange place, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employee-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}