According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Millennials were the largest generation in the workforce in 2015.” The training and management of people aged nineteen to thirty-five has been a hot-button in recent years, but even though they are a generation that has been widely studied, they have also been largely misunderstood. Their sheer numbers in the workplace dictate that it’s time we learn to harness this generation’s positive traits to propel our businesses forward.

We’ll walk you through some of the most incredible traits of the millennial generation and then share with you how your business can use their qualities to boost your company’s production.

Millennials Work for Purpose

Millennials want to feel that their work is serving a good purpose. They are highly adaptable, creative, entrepreneurial, and tech-savvy. Millennials are more willing to work overtime to get the job done to their standards. They want to see that their work is contributing to the greater mission of their company.

Millennials base their performance on output and quality over the time spent on a project. When employers are focused on the time it takes for a Millennial to finish a project, Millennials view this standard as a hindrance to the work they will provide. The thing to remember is that they care. A lot. Managers will do well with Millennials if they share the why behind what Millennial workers are doing and how their output is integral to the overall project. Millennials will be some of your hardest working and loyal employees if you share with them the purpose of their work and focus less on their ability to punch a clock.

Millennials Want Personal Growth

One of the biggest reasons Millennials are so quick to move to the next job is that they don’t see personal benefit or growth coming from their current one. Millennials tend to be more self-oriented. They care about growth in their career and what else besides compensation that a company can offer them.

This generation values their experience working at a job more than they value the dollar amount they are receiving. Offer these people an opportunity to learn new skills and maybe even a higher-up that is willing to mentor them. They will stick around when they see your investment on employee development that they can’t find anywhere else.

They Work Well Collaboratively

Millennials are the most collaborative and inclusive generation to date. Use this to your advantage and boost morale with company events or collaborative projects. When your employees work together, they generally work more creatively. By blending the individual skills of employees together, everyone will gain more ownership of tasks within the company.

They Want Feedback

They don’t need a trophy or words that affirm how great they are. Even though the relationship is more of a coach-player verses a boss-employee. They don’t necessarily need appraisals; they need quality feedback so they have concrete information on where they can improve.

Millennials often get a bad rap. They do differ from older generations, but their qualities can be extremely powerful in the workplace. Managers need to know how to trigger those effectively.

Does your business need help creating a development plan for Millennials in your office? We’ve got the tools that will help. Contact StaffScapes today.