It is no secret that Millennials, which comprise most of the global workforce right now, understand their power over their employers. Unlike the Baby Boomers, who remained largely loyal to their first jobs, this next generation knows what they want. They are willing to fight for them. That’s not to say that Millennials can’t be loyal to companies, especially those that have given them breaks. It also doesn’t mean that Baby Boomers do not know how to fight for their dreams. These are different times. Millennials are trudging along with the demands of a digital world.
But for companies, that means it’s much harder to make millennial workers stay. Since they know what they need and want, they are not afraid to make demands and concessions either. Companies have to adapt and innovate; use technology the way it should be used. Otherwise, they’ll constantly be bidding their top talents goodbye because these millennials know that the world is run by technology. If a company can’t keep up with it, you don’t expect them to stay and go down with you, right?
Fighting Against the Trend
Employee retention is fast becoming a problem in this digital age. More and more employees are deciding to be self-employed than become employed. They are relying on their digital skills and technical know-how to stand on their own. Unlike previous generations, today’s workforce values work-life balance, which is why many of them went into freelancing.
Companies are finding themselves fighting against this generation’s need to be “free.” They can’t very well deny how perfect this generation is to the fast-paced world of business today. But unless you, as a company, get your head straight and maximize technology and all its convenience, you stand to lose many of your top workers.
Convenience and Accessibility
Employees shouldn’t need to go directly to the human resources department to check how many vacation and sick leaves they have. They shouldn’t have to deal with other units in the company to get information about their jobs. All that should be in a ServiceNow HR service management platform, where employees can access self-service items related to their jobs. This service is beneficial to your own human resource department as they can easily create personalized reports for faster resolution of requests.
Communication Networks
Your employees shouldn’t need to use their own devices or messaging apps to communicate with the rest of the team. With the pandemic wreaking havoc on virtually every industry, employees are working from home and collaborating through teleconferencing and project management software. A strong communications network allows companies to foster collaboration among employees. Making it easy for everyone to do their jobs, especially this time, will earn you brownie points for innovativeness and resourcefulness.
Career Development
Since when does career development need to take a backseat? Millennials want a chance to prove their mettle, but that doesn’t mean they will content themselves with the same entry-level position they have been in for years. If your company isn’t ready to support them through learning initiatives, you might want to start saying goodbye to many of your top talents.
These people know their worth. Nobody wants a dead-end job. They want to climb the corporate ladder and they can only do that if you’re going to support them with e-learning initiatives. Investing in seminars, conferences, and workshops even amid the pandemic will benefit your company in the long run, too.
Flight-risk Analytics
Who said that analytics is only for consumers? You can use flight-risk analytics to determine who among your employees are most likely to leave. This can be done by analyzing their activities and engagement levels. The higher their engagement is with the company and their colleagues, the more likely it is that they’re going to stay at least for a little while.
Identifying who is most likely to leave doesn’t mean you should find a way to replace them immediately. Companies should use this information to improve their employee retention strategies. Sometimes, employees just want validation and appreciation for them to want to stay. If they are worth the effort, it wouldn’t take so much from you to give them what they want.
Use technology as a tool to help you in every facet of running a business, employee retention including. While there are a lot of concerns that technology depersonalizes relationships in the office, it also brings about many of the advances that have been made in human resource management. That is a good enough payback for this perceived depersonalization.
