Millennial Workforce Management – A Live Story

Leadership Challenges

PMIBC-17-3-009

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CONTENTS

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Millennial workforce managemnt ................................................................................................................................. 4

Millennials – the future of our workforce .................................................................................................................. 4

Characteristics of Millenials in the Workplace ......................................................................................................... 4

Myths about the Millennials ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Key Challenges in Managing Millennial workforce .................................................................................................. 6

Communication: ................................................................................................................................................... 6

Flexible Work Environment. ................................................................................................................................. 6

Opportunities for learning and trying out new technologies. ............................................................................... 7

Opportunities for Higher Education ..................................................................................................................... 7

Methodologies and Processes followed in addressing the Challenges in Millennial Management. ....................... 7

Online Collaboration Forum: A Tool for timely information sharing ..................................................................... 7

Promoting Innovation – Idea Management Tool. ................................................................................................ 8

Platforms for development opportunities: ............................................................................................................ 8

Flexible working environment: ............................................................................................................................. 9

Appraisal Process -Individual Development Plans and Career Discussions ...................................................... 9

Rewards and Recognition: - Peer to Peer Recognition Platform: ..................................................................... 10

Higher Education ............................................................................................................................................... 11

Critical Success Factor .......................................................................................................................................... 11

Business Benefit. ................................................................................................................................................... 11

Controlled Attrition within the Millennial workforce: ........................................................................................... 11

Bringing Innovative Solutions into the product. ................................................................................................. 11

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 12

References ................................................................................................................................................................ 12

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ABSTRACT

There is a paradigm shift in today’s workforce compared to that of yester years as we see millennials as a major

contributor of the workforce in corporates. The Millennial Generation was born between 1977 and 1998 and is almost

75 million strong in size. Since they were raised by giving them an ample supply of attention and validation by their

parents, they display profound self-confidence and believe they are highly valuable to any organization from day

one. They are extremely focused on developing themselves and thrive on learning new job skills, always setting new

challenges to achieve. They are also the “can do” generation, never worrying about failure, and see themselves as

running the world and work environments. Though they bring in lot of positive changes in the workforce, they also

pose lot of challenges in nurturing and retaining them in the organizations. The people who are managing the

millennials are prejudiced by many myths about the millennials like this generation doesn’t have any work ethics, no

respect for authority etc. These managers also need to learn new ways to manage them as well as unlearn many

things than just wishing “if they were different”. The authors are working with one of the leading Enterprise Application

Software product companies, managing a great number of younger generation colleagues. In this paper, authors will

explain the experiences and challenges in managing this workforce, what all are the approaches taken to motivate

this workforce and how did it positively impact the system.

INTRODUCTION

Susan is a 43 years old Project Manager working with one of the leading Software product companies. Three years

back, she has formed a new team to develop a new product, which is planned to release product features on a

quarterly basis to its customers. The team was formed majorly with campus hires and almost 80% of the team is

comprised of millennial generation workforce. She is responsible for both the timely and quality releases of the

product as well as people management of her workforce. She is part of the Organization where three more similar

teams are also working on the same product. Initially she was unsure how to manage this millennial workforce. She

has encountered problems with this form of generational diversity that the older generation thinks that the younger

generation is good for nothing, not committed and not hardworking. While the younger generation doesn’t approve

of the conservatism and old methods and standards of the older generation. Susan was prejudiced by many myths

about the millennials like this generation doesn’t have any work ethics, no respect for authority etc. But she took it

as a challenge and wanted to focus more on their strengths. She has devised new management processes based

on millennials workforce’s values and needs with an objective to tap their strengths for business success. She has

re-designed the work environment to attract, retain and motivate her team. This paper will explain Susan’s live story

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of managing her millennial workforce to get the best out of them and thus to contribute to the success of her

organization.

MILLENNIAL WORKFORCE MANAGEMNT

MILLENNIALS – THE FUTURE OF OUR WORKFORCE

The Millennial Generation was born between 1977 and 1998. Though all generations are important, the millennial

generation is particularly important as they would contribute to almost 50% of the workforce by 2020. Refer figure 1

for the distribution of workforce. If we look at technology companies, we have as much as 70-80% millennials in the

workplace. In the next ten years, 75% of the workplace will be millennials no matter where we are. They are certainly

a force to be reckoned with and the future workforce. So, it is important that we should learn and understand this

workforce right and manage them wisely, for business success.

Fig 1: Distribution of Workforce by 2020

CHARACTERISTICS OF MILLENIALS IN THE WORKPLACE

One of the interesting facts is that the millennials are overly connected to their parents. They are the pride and joy

of their parents who remain closely connected even as they enter the work force. Millennials are a complex

generation, with some conflicting characteristics. Though they are very hard working and achievement oriented, they

also want the freedom and flexibility of a virtual office. They want rules and responsibilities to be spelled out explicitly.

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It is all about me, might seem to be the mantra of this demanding bunch of young people. Their main reasons for

working are:

▪ They can afford the lifestyle that they want and earn enough money to pay for their hobbies

▪ They enjoy the social interactions among the group of people with whom they work

▪ They want the education they can get on the job

They are entrepreneurial in nature. But when it comes to work life balance, millennials are not willing to give up their

lifestyle for a career. They choose careers that allow them to live the life they desire, busy with after-work activities.

Millennials want a lot of things at work. Most Millennial workforce not only want their workplace to be fun, but they

also want to make their own hours and eventually be their own boss. Multitasking is their way of life. They are highly

comfortable going from activity to activity. When their workday ends, they charge out into gyms, volunteer positions,

classes and social events. They have also been described in positive ways. They are generally regarded as being

more open-minded. They are confident, hopeful, civic minded, self-expressive, inclusive, liberal, upbeat and

receptive to new ideas and ways of living. They want to be happy at work and don’t mind in taking a break rather

continuing a job that they don’t like.

MYTHS ABOUT THE MILLENNIALS

Millennials have been generally labelled by the previous generation as being self-centred, disloyal employees. The

fact is their goals and passions and needs in the workplace aren’t all that different from the Baby Boomer and Gen

X generations that precede them. It is important to know this, as we, the managers for these workforce, should not

be prejudiced by these myths, otherwise our actions would be biased by these wrong believes.

Here are some common myths about millennials in the workplace:

Myth: Millennials have no work ethic.

The fact is that they follow a self-centered work ethic. This is not necessarily the negative that it may seem at first.

Millennials are dedicated to completing their task well. They have not been raised in a way that demands them to

look around and see what should be done next. Instead they ask "what is my job" and go about figuring the best,

fastest way to complete that task. Then they consider themselves done. This is a key differentiator between

millennials and previous generations.

Myth: Millennials have no respect for authority.

In fact, they have great respect for leaders and loyalty. But no, as a rule they don't respect authority "just because."

For the younger generations, every ounce of loyalty and respect must be earned. But when it is earned, it is given

fiercely.

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Myth: Millennials lack loyalty to their employer

They are loyal to the work they do, provided they enjoy the work. If we can keep them motivated by meeting their

career aspirations, they will not be moving out. It is true that they don’t think twice to switch to a job that they like

rather continuing a job that they don’t like.

Myth: Millennials are lazy:

Millennials, in fact are the most competitive generation. As per a survey it is said that competition is “what gets them

up in the morning”. They also compare their performance with their peers comparatively more than that of other

generations do.

KEY CHALLENGES IN MANAGING MILLENNIAL WORKFORCE

One of the biggest challenges in a multi-generational workforce is integrating the Millennials with the previous

generations. The main reason being that, there is potential for negative stereotyping. Older workers may perceive

millennials as entitled, tech-obsessed or too eager to challenge norms while millennial employees could see previous

generations as being ‘stuck in their ways’ and difficult to train. Organizations need to take steps to ensure managers

overcome their unconscious bias. Ideally the generational differences can present a positive opportunity for

development at both ends of the spectrum. Younger workers’ enthusiasm for trying new things could be used to

encourage a culture of innovation, while older workers can leverage their experience and broad perspective to help

millennials understand some of the costs and risks associated with their ideas.

Some of the common challenges encountered while working with millennials are:

Communication:

Quick and efficient communication is the way Millennials choose to interact, not necessarily face-to-face. They are

typically unaware of their non-verbal cues. Thus, this generation tends to have more miscommunications between

friends, co-workers and bosses. They forget that words only account for a small part of the communication. The way

managers communicate with millennials need to be different than the way they communicate with gen X or previous

generations. They expect continuous, straight and candid feedback. They need to be told very precisely what is

expected out of them. Balancing the personal and professional conversation needs to be learnt by the managers.

Flexible Work Environment.

Millennials want a lot of things at work. They, not only want their workplace to be fun, but they also want to make

their own hours and eventually be their own boss. Above all, millennials want to be happy at work, so much so that

50 percent of millennial workers would rather be unemployed than work at a job they hate.

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Opportunities for learning and trying out new technologies.

Millennials want continuous learning opportunities. To keep them challenged by providing multiple opportunities as

well as providing projects in technologies they would like to learn is sometimes difficult, as we should operate within

the organizational boundaries. They are well connected with other colleagues in different teams and tend to compare

what they have and what others have got.

Opportunities for Higher Education

Majority of the millennial generation in the corporates is seeing their first job as a launching pad for their aspiring

higher education needs. The number of colleagues aspiring for higher education in the millennial workforce is far

high compared to the previous generations.

METHODOLOGIES AND PROCESSES FOLLOWED IN ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES IN

MILLENNIAL MANAGEMENT.

We should design the management systems based on their values and needs. We should be designing the work

environment to attract, retain and motivate the millennial workforce. The leading principle for managing the millennial

workforce should be:

❖ You be the leader: Millennials are looking for leaders with honesty and integrity.

❖ Challenge them: They are looking for growth, development and a career path.

❖ Let them work with friends: They would like to work with people they gel well with.

❖ Let them have fun at work: This will make the work environment more attractive for them.

❖ Be flexible: They are not going to give up their other activities just because of job. A rigid schedule could

lead to lose your millennial employee.

The following sections describe what Susan has done to manage her Millennial workforce.

Online Collaboration Forum: A Tool for timely information sharing

Millennials are expecting quick feedback, be it on their performance or on their ideas etc. To address the challenge

of effective communication, timely information sharing and to be connected well with fellow colleagues, she has used

the Online Collaboration Forums within her organization. This is a tool where anybody can share any information in

the from of blog or documents and start conversation on the same. This has seen to be very effective in getting them

connected with updates in their interested topics. This also gives an opportunity to share their views on the topics

being discussed and getting diversified views on their own ideas from other interested parties.

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Promoting Innovation – Idea Management Tool.

Millennials are very enthusiastic to try new and unconventional things. To promote the culture of innovation and to

provide support to prototype their ideas, Susan has put an Idea Management Tool in place.

An Online Forum dedicated for Idea Management, with emerging technical trends as clusters for ideation. A stream

lead is assigned for each of the cluster, who will sponsor further ideation and PoC (Proof of Concept) for the proposed

idea. The tool is open for any team member to propose any idea that may add value to the product and thus to their

customers. An expert judge along with the stream leads will evaluate the ideas for business benefit. Shortlisted ideas

are open for In-House Fellowship (described in later section) programs within her organization.

Platforms for development opportunities:

Millennials are not satisfied with just one activity at a time. They are good in multi-tasking and wanted to get involved

in multiple projects and learn different technologies in addition to their primary job responsibilities. To fulfil this

requirement, Susan has introduced the following platforms.

In-House Fellowships:

A platform for colleagues to work on new ideas and technologies. These are short term projects sponsored within

her organization. The topics for the fellowships are invited from colleagues through idea management tool. The

selected topics are published for fellowships in the collaboration tool and inviting nominations for participants. This

virtual team, formed based on their interest, will work on the proof of concept and prototyping the idea. This is

executed as a time bound project under the guidance of the stream lead of that technology under which the idea

belongs to. Successful ideas will be taken forward for productization. This gives the opportunity for colleagues to

directly influence the product features in addition to learning new technology and working with fellow colleagues of

different teams within the organization.

International Fellowships:

Susan has encouraged her colleagues to participate in International Fellowships. These are full time projects which

are short term in nature, usually of 6 months in duration. These fellowships are sponsored by other organizations of

the company. The fellowships are published in the portal and is open for colleagues to apply. Applicants undergo

the interview process to be qualified for the fellowship. The selected colleagues get the opportunity to work in a

totally different functional and technical domain and gain expertise of their choice, in addition to getting international

exposure and work culture.

Crowd Sourcing Platform:

This is a unique opportunity for them to work on technologies other than their primary project tasks. This platform

provides short term projects sponsored by other organizations within the company, locally, where interested

colleagues can voluntarily enrol and contribute. They get to work with new colleagues and learn a different domain

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both technically and functionally. This platform follows the gamification methodology to get reward points for their

contribution. Such contributions are managed without compromising both the schedule and quality of their primary

job responsibilities. Thus, in addition to technical and functional up-skilling, they become better in time management

and prioritization of various tasks in hand.

Learning Platforms for Technical and Functional Up-Skilling

Online Learning forums within the company provide an opportunity for the colleagues to learn new and emerging

technologies at their own pace. These forums provide diversified technical and functional courses to the colleagues.

There are platforms for guided courses as well as self-learning courses. Guided courses provide time bound courses

with detailed recorded lecture sessions and assessments. Each course is designed for 5 to 7 weeks. Each week will

cover various Units with assessment for each unit, followed by a weekly assignment. This forum also provides

opportunity to collaborate with fellow participants across the globe to get technical guidance and answering queries.

Self-learning courses are made available at the learning portal of the company.

Flexible working environment:

For Millennials, productivity doesn’t mean the time spent working, which is the standard of measurement for the work

done. They want this to be measured as how smartly they accomplish the project tasks. They don’t like to be clocking

8 hrs per day rather they prefer to work when they are energized, irrespective of what time of the day they work.

Their objective is to enjoy what they do. Susan realized that providing flexible working hours is inevitable to keep her

workforce motivated along with providing recreational facilities closer to the workplace. Susan follows Agile

Development Model with 2 weeks’ takt and colleagues are empowered to pick the backlogs to work on. She has

arranged recreational facilities which include in-house games like Chess, Carom Boards, Billiards, Foose Balls etc

in each floor of the campus buildings and colleagues are free to use these facilities any time of the day. This flexibility

has yielded better productivity as they get to energize themselves and network with other colleagues in the company.

There is no monitoring of in and out time as well as time spent in the office. This flexibility has also helped her

employees to be part of many of the organizational as well external events being organized in her campus.

Appraisal Process -Individual Development Plans and Career Discussions

The conventional feedback and appraisal mechanism with performance ratings don’t work with Millennials as they

expect on the spot and continuous feedback. They are also more interested in getting inputs for their futuristic growth

and development. It is also important that managers act as a coach and facilitator in guiding them to realize their

potential and development needs to meet their career aspirations. To address this, Susan has two formal ways of

discussions with her employees. One is the regular One to One discussions where the discussion topic would be

project or work related and basically targeting how they have been performing at work. The second one is more

future oriented against the goal set for each employee and the development plans agreed. Once the development

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plans and objectives are discussed and agreed upon, the same will be documented in performance management

tool, following a work flow for the acceptance of the goals from both the parties. This is then followed by regular

discussions with employee and manager to track the progress. During these discussions, Manager acts as a coach

and facilitator for the overall career growth of the employee and help them to identify their strengths and weaknesses

by themselves. Each discussion is documented in the tool with the acceptance of both the parties. This process is

benefitting the employee in getting the feedback and development inputs on a regular and frequent basis. Susan’s

organization has got rid of the traditional performance rating mechanism and is embracing this change as majority

of the workforce constitutes the millennial generation.

Rewards and Recognition: - Peer to Peer Recognition Platform:

Susan believes in the philosophy of “Everyone is a Talent” and that is why they are in her team. She follows the

Rewards and Recognition Program which provides an opportunity for all her employees to recognize others and be

recognized themselves for demonstrating and living the core values of the company. This platform provides flexibility

for both monetary and non-monetary awards. Non-monetary awards provide an opportunity for any employee to

thank a fellow colleague for the support provided. Monetary awards have various categories and is based on the

scope, impact, involvement, and time invested for the contribution. These awards attract points, depending on the

categories and the recipient can redeem them using various options ranging from merchandise or gift cards.

Fig 2: Criteria for Peer Nominations

This methodology has two folded benefit. One is that every employee feels empowered to be decision maker in

recognizing his/her own or fellow colleague’s contribution than the traditional way of Top-Down nomination, wherein

the manager nominates his/her choice of team member. This also takes care the risk of recognition trap, where in

majority of the workforce get disappointed by rewarding a minor part of the workforce.

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Higher Education

Providing part time Higher Education opportunities along with their current job can keep the millennial workforce with

the organization, thus meeting their academic aspirations. Susan’s organization is collaborating with leading

educational institutions to provide Post Graduate programs. In addition to this, fellowships are sponsored for

participants who get in to the top 5% positions for the technical courses offered by the leaning forums.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR

For Susan to be successful with her experiments, management support was essential. She has challenged many of

the conventional management processes. She also needed financial support from the top management to arrange

the recreational facilities offered to the team. She was lucky to be part of an organization, which promotes culture of

Continuous Process Improvements and open discussions. The company wide policies on higher education, online

learning platforms etc were also critical for her to be successful.

BUSINESS BENEFIT.

Some of the key benefits Susan gained my managing the millennial workforce, meeting their needs are:

Controlled Attrition within the Millennial workforce:

Continuity of the workforce in the same domain is a key ingredient for the business success, especially in Product

development companies. The product is getting evolved over a period and in depth knowledge both in functional and

technical domain is one of the critical success factors, which in turn leads to employee retention. By adopting the

various processes and methodologies explained above, Susan had a controlled attrition in her team, compared to

that of industry. Retaining the expertise gained was critical for her to meet the market demands of quarterly releases

of the product with utmost quality and features promised to market.

Bringing Innovative Solutions into the product.

By effectively leveraging their ideas, enthusiasm to try out new and unconventional things, many customer delighting

features were introduced into the product. Additionally, the exposure they got while working with other colleagues

out of the team as part of fellowships and crowd sourcing projects have brought in different perspective to problem

solving and thus to improve the product quality.

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CONCLUSION

Millennials are going to be the future workforce for any industry. Hence age diversity among employees would be an

issue for the foreseeable future. Millennials are generally very hard working, confident and open-minded. They are

upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of doing things. It is therefore inevitable to design the management

systems based on their values and needs with an objective to tap their strengths. It is also important to design the

work environment to attract, retain and motivate the millennial workforce by providing a flexible work environment

and learning opportunities.

While working with millennials be prepared for higher expectations and possible involvement of parents. We should

be ready to encourage them, mentor them and learn from them. We should be ready to learn and unlearn.

REFERENCES

[1] Marston Cam, “Motivating the “What’s In It For Me?” Workforce”, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, New

Jersey, May 2007

[2] Zigarmi Drea, O’Connor Michael, Blanchard Ken and Edeburn Carl, “The Leader Within. Learning Enough

About Yourself to Lead Others”, Pearson Education, Inc. New Jersey, Nov 2009

[3] http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/millenials.htm

[4] http://www.livescience.com/38061-millennials-generation-y.html

[5] http://www.generationsatwork.com/articles/millenials.htm

[6] https://www.thebalance.com/tips-for-managing-millennials-1918678

[7] https://aboutleaders.com/adapting-your-leadership-styles-for-the-millennial-generation/