5 tips on managing millennials in the workplace

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It isn’t easy to manage millennials.

I’m a millennial myself. And I know what I look for in a job. A great boss, who can push and challenge me in exactly the right way. I also look for flexible arrangements, so I don’t feel I’ve got chains attaching me to my desk at work.

Hear it from the men who coined the term ‘millennials’. The term was meant to depict a generation different from the previous one: raised differently, under different circumstances and with different goals, ambitions and motivations.

Much research has been done to understand this generation. They’re a generation that will soon take over the workforce, with some now holding middle and sometimes senior management roles across many industries.

So how exactly does this generation think? What makes them tick? And how exactly does one manage millennials?

1. They are loyal… not

To manage millennials, you need to understand that they are great lovers of social media. Almost narcissistic. Always on. Preening, clicking, talking, connecting…

A work environment which can mimic that free-wheeling social aspect would be highly attractive to a millennial.

Open offices can be an answer. Collaborative work environments are another. If you’re not able to provide this type of work environment or cultural setting to a millennial, there’s a good chance they will leave sooner rather than later.

Companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook are at the top of their game, because they have been able to harness the raw energy and spirit of the millennials. Other ways to do this are with the extensive use of humanistic and engaging office spaces, and flat structures of reporting.

2. Ditch the performance appraisal

There’s a good reason to do this. Millennials hate them. And they don’t work.

Performance appraisals simply do not improve work performance. The bell curve is demeaning.

And let’s face it, performance appraisals are going extinct. If there was a good time to scrap performance appraisals, it would be now. Chances are, you will manage millennials more successfully if you did. Radical, yes… but necessary.

Carrying this out however, requires a certain degree of courage. If your organisation is of any substantial size, there’s a good chance that there will be significant pushback on this idea. Performance appraisals are an extremely entrenched way of looking at performance.

3. Manage millennials by giving them a vision

4. Have quality managers

5. Building a legacy of millennial leadership