Millennials Flip the Work Hierarchy

Millennials already are the largest segment in the workplace. Within the next two years, 50 percent of the U.S. workforce is expected to be made up of Millennials. It will be 75 percent by 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Millennials are enjoying their unified might, all the mightier in today’s current tight labor market. They ARE your work-force, this is your new business reality. They will force the workplace to adapt to their desires as much or more than they will adapt to it. How do you attract the best of the available talent pool?

What Do Millennials Want?

John Lennon may have come from an earlier generation, but with this quote he is definitely singing the millennials tune…. “When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

Millennials Flip the Work Hierarchy

Online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment Thrillist founder Ben Lerer, gets it, “The people who work for you aren’t building a company for you, they are building it for themselves – they are the center of their own universe. Just because you are the CEO, doesn’t mean they are coming to work every day to make you happy. They want to be happy and it’s your job to keep them that way.”

Ideal Millennial Era Employers

These are the magic minimum five requirements employers must meet for a happy millennial workforce.

Get the Basics Right: Competitive Pay Plus Performance Rewards

Every last one of the millennials we interviewed told us they know what they’re worth (easy to find out online) and expect it. To wit….

- I don’t need to make a million dollars; but know what my work is worth and what I bring to the table. I have financial obligations to fulfill. If that can happen, then I’m happy. – Ryan Still Maintenance Manager, Portland Bottling Company
- When it comes to compensation it’s important that my salary is competitive for the industry and location standards and also adequately reflects my work value and contribution to the company. — Food Scientist
- Performance-based pay. Career path or career growth. – Engineering Manager at premier Northwest Food Processing Brand

Flexible Work Hours

The lack of time off and work flexibility can be a deal-breaker for many millennials. From their perspective, it’s more about getting the job done than working rigid hours – or way too many hours.

The millennial Director of Innovation at a large consumer packaged goods company shared her thoughts…. “I think our generation is more focused on being efficient with our time and being focused on just getting the work done rather than showing up to an office at a certain time.”

Ryan agrees. “With my generation, I see much more emulsion of professional and personal lives. We prefer more flexible hours so we can work as needed and always maintain a certain level of connectivity to work.”

As a millennial manager of millennials who runs a family business with her father, Sarah Gregory supports flexibility as a practical business approach. “Catering to the employee to keep them happy is going to keep them around longer than pissing them off. Give the extra two days off so they can go on a quick getaway. A happy employee who knows the work is much easier and profitable than an unhappy employee that will leave, and you will have to retrain someone new all over again.”

Even in the food production industry, where jobs don’t lend themselves well to flexible hours, where a body needs to be at a particular site at a particular time for the work to be done, employers are being challenged to come up with solutions for a generation that’s less willing to punch the clock for work. Savvy companies are having those problem-solving discussions now.

“Twelve-hour days do not equal a better worker, just a less efficient one. I want to work at a company that wants to take care of their people as much as they want to take care of their customer.” – Northwest Foods Engineering Manager

Purposeful Employment: Making a Difference

Millennials do not believe just any job will do. They want to make their mark in ways that matter not just to the company, but to the world (or at least their little corner of it).

“It would be hard for me to thrive in an environment where I’m not passionate about the company mission, vision, product, or service,” declares Blake Wetzel, a Seattle tech Talent Acquisition Manager. She aligns with employers who offer “Support and collaboration, ability to make an impact, and work-life balance.”

“I want to be proud of the product. Or working for a well-recognized company like my current company that makes best-in-class products.” – Northwest Foods Engineering Manager

“I believe in being challenged/challenging others, loyalty, resiliency, and having fun. I don’t need a company to have the same values as I do – but there does need to be guiding principles that the team can rally around. By working for a company with values, I can then use my own to help drive me and my team towards the company’s.” — Ryan Still Maintenance Manager, Portland Bottling Company

Work Culture: Respectful, Team-oriented — and Fun!

Before the Boomers, there was The Silent Generation. And then there’s their antithesis – the Millennials. They want to stand up for what they believe is right and be heard and they expect the same up and down the hierarchy. What’s more, millennials believe work and fun should not be mutually exclusive.

According to The Best Workplaces for Millennials, “When Millennials believe their company has a high-trust culture, they’re 22 times more likely to want to work there for a long time. In comparison, Gen Xers are 16 times more likely to want to stay, and Baby Boomers are 13 times more likely.”

“It’s important that our thoughts and ideas are truly listened to, valued, and respected.” –millennial Food Scientist.

“One of millennial’s greatest strengths is their collaborative skills. Competition for me and my millennial peers has always been with what we can accomplish as a team, not how we can compete against each other,” shares Ryan Still, the Maintenance Manager at a Portland Bottling Company.

Feeling like I’m a one-person show (lacking team support and resources is a strong consideration for leaving a company) –Blake Wetzel, a Seattle tech Talent Acquisition Manager

“I look for a company that is progressive in its values, inclusion of different types of people and thoughts, and a place that seems like it is fun to work, where I could be friends with my co-workers.” — Director of Innovation

Development Opportunities

“While your workers believe that business should consider stakeholders’ interests as well as profits, their experience is of employers prioritizing the bottom line above workers, society and the environment, leaving them with little sense of loyalty,” reveals the 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey.

“I look for companies that foster an environment in which employees can work independently and develop themselves professionally, but also have a team spirit that promotes collaboration and learning. I also look for companies that invest in professional growth and development. I avoid companies that do not see the importance of providing employees with a support system adequate to solve industry challenges and achieve company growth.” — Food Scientist

Jeff Fromm, in his Forbes article on millennials asserts “They are not willing to stick around if they do not believe they are receiving any personal benefit or growth.”

Ignore the Millennial Needs at Your Own Risk

About 21 percent of Millennials report switching jobs within the last year, and 60 percent are open to a different opportunity. – Gallup Millennial Research on Millennials. Forty-three percent of Millennials envision leaving their jobs within two years while only twenty-eight percent seek to stay beyond five years – The 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey. Per Gallup, millennial turnover costs the US economy 30.5 billion dollars annually.

When it comes to accepting the millennial perspective in the workplace, employers should take a page from the Borg alien collective in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which declares “We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”

I believe the good news regarding millennials, is employers will find, ultimately the change will be a positive one for all.

(Part 2 of a 2 part series. Follow this link for Part 1: Millenials, Why Your Business Should Love Them!)

Millennials Flip the Work Hierarchy

Connie Dorigan, Founder and Director of Recruiting, sees the food processing industry as the link between good living and good people. As the West Coast’s most experienced and trusted food processing recruiter, she also provides Executive and Career coaching and lots of free job search tools. Once you’ve connected with Connie, you’ll always be connected. For more information please visit her website at www.dorigan.com or call 503-635-8565.

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