Millennial Experts Have it Wrong

Aurea recently conducted research with Gartner about employee engagement.  And guess what?  People who are creating a business out of telling you millennials are ‘different’ are wrong.  Like the media, they are creating a divide, so they can step in and ‘help.’  Some key findings of the research include:

• According to Gartner’s analyst Craig Roth, millennials behave the way they do not because they belong to the particular ‘millennia’ cohort, but because they are ‘young.’
• Youngest and oldest workers score higher in digital dexterity (proclivity to use new technologies at work) than other age groups.
• It is expected that millennials are not always going to have the same attitude towards work, as someday, they will get older.
• The concluding message is: Engage everyone.  Engaging only millennials – or younger workers – is not the answer.

As I’ve been saying for years, all of your employees are human beings and human beings are wired similarly.  You do not have to approach millennials differently.  They inherently have the same basic needs as all of your other employees.  Meet employee’s needs and they will stay engaged.  It does not matter what generation they are in.

What Can I Do?  Don’t buy in to the millennial hype.  People of all ages need to be connected to something bigger than themselves (your company’s purpose and mission), need to have a voice and know their voice is being heard, and need to be appreciated and acknowledged for a job well done.  Do these things on your team or in your entire company, and you will keep people engaged and re-engage employees who have checked out.  You do not have to employ different strategies for different generations of workers.  Trust me on this one – I have your back.

Jill Christensen is an employee engagement expert, best-selling author, and international keynote speaker. She is a Top 101 Global Employee Engagement Influencer, authored the book, If Not You, Who?, and works with the best and brightest global leaders to improve productivity and retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth by re-engaging employees. Jill can be reached at +1.303.999.9224 or jill@jillchristensenintl.com.