Millennials in the Workplace: How Digital Signage Can Attract Them
A study by Gallup established that Gen Z and millennials constitute nearly half (46%) of full-time workers in the U.S. Considering this influx of a new and different generation in the workforce, management teams must look at what makes millennial employees different and adapt to retain their talent. Here are some things millennial workers want and how employee communications can help.
1. An Employer Who Cares About Their Well-Being
Gen Z and millennials want an employer who cares about their well-being not only inside the office but outside. The COVID-19 pandemic brought companies prioritizing employee well-being into the limelight. If your workers aren’t healthy, your business isn’t healthy either. Therefore, an organization’s position on employee well-being is a significant factor in determining where millennials want to work and how they feel about their employer.
Many businesses have wellness programs. However, physical wellness isn’t all that counts. For example, young workers may be physically healthy but socially isolated. This affects their productivity. Entry-level employees could be facing financial hardship that affects their performance. The main elements of well-being include social, career, community, financial, and physical well-being. All of these elements influence the others; therefore, employees need to thrive in all of them for a well-balanced life.
Digital signage used to communicate with employees is a great tool to promote overall wellness in the workplace. There are numerous content ideas to implement on your signage to communicate with younger employees making them feel valued and promoting inclusion. For example, honoring different ethnicities on holidays, discussing stress-relief tips, or highlighting out-of-office achievements are three ways to internally communicate with your employees. By utilizing digital signage, you will show millennials how to invest you in their health and successes.
2. An Employer Who Encourages Flexibility and Innovation
Millennials don’t have to be physically present at work to work. Actually, according to a PWC study, millennials work well if given clear instructions and concrete targets. The study further suggested that management teams focus on the timely completion of tasks instead of where and how employees complete tasks. As a result, many organizations attracting top millennial talent encourage flexibility.
Apart from flexible working conditions, employers should also promote innovation. Successful businesses encourage people who develop marketable and unique ideas. Therefore, if you want to remain competitive, you need to constantly innovate and challenge the progress and norms of your workers. Millennials want to be the driving force for their company’s success.
3. An Employer Who Has a Clear Mission
A study by Deloitte established that 76% of millennials regard businesses as a source of positive social impact. Therefore, millennial job candidates want employers who recognize the importance of social media in an organization. Millennials constantly use social media at work. This is why employers should engage employees in social selling programs and display social walls on digital signage. Millennials at the workplace are your strongest brand ambassadors. They will help you attract new talent, generate high-quality leads, and build brand awareness.
Furthermore, many prosperous business leaders understand the need for excellent employer brands with specific vision or mission statements. These statements define the company culture and reason for being successful. Many successful companies have mission statements. Unfortunately, they are not properly shared. In fact, 47% of employees say they don’t know what their company’s core values are. Digital signage is the perfect tool for a modern workforce. Digital signage has a 47.7% effectiveness on brand awareness and will let everyone know what the organization’s core values, mission statements, and vision are. When millennials visit your office for an interview and see proactive, clear communication of a company’s core values, it will resonate with them and show them how you value employee communication.
4. An Employer Who Appreciates Technology
Millennials are the most educated generation. In fact, 19% of millennials are in college, while 44% are set to graduate. This is one of the reasons millennials feel at home on the internet. Technology like laptops, tablets, and smartphones have changed how we connect and interact with each other. Many millennials access the internet from their phones. Moreover, most of them spend their free time on their smart devices and also expect to access work-related tasks from their mobile devices. Remote work is the new norm in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, millennials want ongoing conversations. This means real-time communication regarding texting, tweeting, liking, and video calls. Additionally, since millennials like constant feedback and personalized news feed, they expect the same experience at the workplace. Digital signage serves as the solution showcasing unique and personalized feeds and social media walls gravitating millennials to read company highlights and more. The bottom line is that the future of work is mobile. Employees who have mobile access to their employers and workplace technology are more productive than those who don’t.
5. An Employer Who Offers Career Growth Opportunities and Employee Empowerment
The new generation believes that professional growth and development opportunities are their top priorities. This means career growth opportunities can attract and retain millennials in the workplace. Many employees stay at a company longer if their employers invest in their careers.
Mastery is continuous and requires constant feedback. To clarify, it means the push to better oneself. Millennials seek to bring value to the work they do. They seek ongoing skill development. Thus, it’s crucial that managers meet regularly with their team members to identify the most effective ways to keep their workers engaged and growing.
For example, mobile training and e-learning opportunities allow workers to train online and improve their skills at their convenience. Managers must also organize for workers to attend training conferences that will expose them to different work strategies and technologies.
What’s more, employer empowerment is another thing that millennial workers want. Previous generations worked in restricting workplace environments with limited freedom. So, millennials expect autonomy and responsibility to make independent decisions.
One problem is that many employers don’t know how to empower their workers. The primary levels of empowerment include empowerment on an organizational, managerial, and individual level. As a result, empowering employees helps with employee retention and keeps your workers engaged and inspired. Highlighting growth opportunities and empowering your staff on digital signage ensures everyone is informed about learning opportunities and motivated to achieve their personal goals, as well as company-wide goals.
6. An Employer Who Understands Healthy Work-Life Integration
Millennials want a work-life balance. This means finding harmony, so their work doesn’t negatively impact their relationships, happiness, and general well-being. Startups are aware of the amount of pressure they put on their employees. There’s the expectation that workers go the extra mile to achieve company goals. However, millennials expect support in this regard.
For instance, some initiatives your company can take to achieve this is through free lunches and allowing time for workers to leave early for family commitments. Furthermore, you should offer unlimited vacation policies and paid sick leaves. Breakroom digital signage can serve as your support as it can reflect special company rewards as well as benefits that are not being taken advantage of.
Attract and Retain Millenial Employees with Internal Communications
The 21st-century work environment should be conducive to millennials and Gen Z workers. The older generations need to embrace the input of millennial employees and how they will revolutionize the global workforce. Therefore, the human resource and other senior departments need to devise ways of adapting workplace conditions to improve employee experience and employee engagement. This will not only help companies achieve greater heights but will also retain millennial employees. Digital signage is the tool you need to drive millennial employees to your business and show them just how much you value their needs to boost their productivity.
