Engaging Millennials and Boomerangs at Work

There are at least three different value-based cohorts at work in most organizations. They would be labeled the Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1965), Gen Xer’s (born 1966 to about 1982), Millennials (also called Gen Yer’s born about 1983-2003). The Post Millennials (born after 2003) will be arriving in a few years. The Millennials constitute the largest segment of the population in many countries. Because they seem different, managers and HR professionals wonder how to manage them.

           Let me be clear, we are making gross generalizations in such a discussion. We are talking about a group of people and not specific individuals and there will be exceptions. Figuring out what is going on in the minds of people from a different cultural generation and ethos is always difficult. The older cohort often claims the younger cohorts are self-centered, listen to lousy music and are leading society and our organizations down a path to ruin (some will even claim they are crossing the River Styx early). Our parents’ generation said this about us. We typically say it about our children's or grand children's generations.

Millennials are repeatedly shown in surveys in a variety of countries, as contrasted to their older cohorts to be: more self-centered than others, wanting more balance between work and life; feel more entitled to comforts and social status; more team-oriented; more comfortable with media and social media in particular. From work, they expect more of a sense of purpose, if not a noble purpose. They expect to be developed at work and have supportive managers. If they do not have these things and environments, they leave and go to other environments.

To make the quest for understanding worse, the Millennials tend to be the children of the oldest cohort, the so-called Baby Boomers. As such, they grew into life, society and work not only in their parents’ shadow but also not wanting the same life and work-style of their parents. They don’t want divorces and poor health. They don’t want boring jobs. They don’t want to ruin their bodies for the sake of advancement nor ruin the planet for more profits. They don’t want to sacrifice and wait for happiness, fun and a meaningful life.

Boomerangs in the US is used as a label for people who move back with their parents after they are 21. In Greece and other countries in the world, many never left. Many people may have left jobs to seek new environments and opportunities. Some may have been disappointed and wanted to return. Others may not have done so well. And then, of course, the great recession and most country's economic and budgetary challenges all may have made things more difficult. So to expect more and more boomerang employees is likely, especially as the job opportunities continue to be scarce.

How do you motivate Millennials or Boomerangs? How do you attract them to come to work for you? How do you convince them to stay? Three tactics will help a lot. First, create a shared vision, sense of purpose in the organization (or its component units). Talk about the purpose. Tell stories of helping customers or clients and remind people “why” you are working not just counting numbers to see how well you are doing. Second, create work hours, expectations and working styles that allow for more of a balance between work and life. Explore ways to integrate work and life activities. Make the boundaries between work and home or work and leisure less rigid. Third, and perhaps the most important, define jobs in terms of the potential for exploring new activities and developing. Change managerial styles to be less demanding and more engaging, less expecting an exchange (“we pay you, you do your job well”) and more of a developing, growing experience. Millennials and boomerangs want novelty, learning, and excitement.

If you can encourage more of these three things in your organization, you will find a motivated, engaged productive and innovative set of millennials and boomerangs. You will also notice others from different value and age cohorts responding to the call and giving move of themselves. 

One more thought about boomerangs, assuming they were good performers before they left (otherwise why rehire them), they might offer another benefit. They have experienced the world differently in another organization. These new observations about the market, how to do things, and such are potential sources of innovation. Too many organizations (and countries) claim that ideas from others would not work because that is not how we do it here. The assumption is that we have unique insight into the ways of the world. But the boomerangs might bring new ideas and help us break our mental set and routines (habits) and do things differently. It will only occur as a benefit if they are asked and people listen. 

For more ideas on this and how to help motivate people, join the Coaching Research Lab Linked In group. #CWRUcoaching or #coachingresearchlab.