While research shows that this generation is likely to switch jobs 4 times before they reach age 32, they are also extremely dedicated and hardworking. Most importantly, they have a hunger for professional growth and learning. Early-career professionals place a strong importance on career development and expect employers to do the same.
Because of this, employee development planning must be competitive if you want superstar hires to stick around for longer than a few years. Managers must make it a priority to deliver timely training, mentoring, and coaching to employees who want to gain new skills. Here are three reasons that training is mission-critical to millennials in your organization.
They are impatient.
Millennials are accustomed to instant gratification because they’ve grown up during the age of technology. They never had to reference a library catalog to find the answers to their most obscure intellectual questions such as, ‘do koalas have belly buttons?’ (they don’t in case you were curious), because they have Google for instant answers. They didn’t have to call their friend’s house and leave a message with Suzie’s mom to find out what Bobby was up to; they just pull up Facebook and see that he checked in at Starbucks 7 minutes ago. There are endless relevant examples, but the point is that young professionals expect everything to happen quickly. When seeing an interest expressed for additional training by one of your team members, it makes good sense to set a plan in motion within a short horizon. Although it can be easy to put career development on the back shelf behind short-term activities, it pays off to make training and development a priority.
Engaged Employees are more productive.
No matter how engaged your employees appear, you can always set the bar higher. Show genuine interest in the success of your employees and they’ll show you loyalty in return. Increased engagement turns into increased productivity, so it’s a win-win for everyone. The key here is that managers genuinely want to mentor and coach employees that show an interest in growing their skills and experience. Keeping things new and exciting for those who want to learn is one way to keep those millennials engaged and productive. Offer promising young leaders a wider variety of development opportunities, and they may be more inclined to stay with your company.
Millennials are all about ME ME ME.
Although Copernicus proved that the planets revolve around the sun, millennials sometimes give off the vibe that contrary to popular belief, the world revolves around them. Now before you become defensive, let me explain. According to Time, millennials want to do what’s best for themselves concerning their careers — not a bad thing, when you think about it. They are more likely to ask “what’s in it for me?” than generations of workers before them. They want to make the world a better place, and believe that they can individually make the kind of impact necessary to bring about that change. Managers can use this to their benefit when delivering training to employees in this mindset. Show employees that you want to invest in their future, and they will be more likely to remain a long-term asset to your team. Discuss what they believe to be their most valuable skills, and determine what development you see as most beneficial to the company based off of that.
NBA superstar LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, just as enterprising young professionals will take their talents elsewhere if HR managers fail to see their potential for development. Ving is a tool that allows you to create digital information packets to deliver timely training to your eager employees. Include files, videos, and question sets in your engaging, trackable packet. Employees can interact with your ving anywhere on any device — putting them in control of their success. Millennials like to be in control, and with Ving, you make it happen.