Millennials are not known for being a quiet bunch. The children of revolution and rapid social change, eighties, nineties, and noughties babies are outspoken, liberal, creative, and free-thinking, and the most successful companies have learnt to love them for these qualities. They inject a refreshing vibe into the businesses that social media and the internet culture have left floundering, bringing them up-to-date and putting them back in touch with their audiences.
But millennials are not easily pleased. They are a generation used to having their every whim catered to, their world one of fast-paced fun and touch-of-a-button gratification. Their creativity has been embraced since their school days, and old-fashioned hierarchies and square, sterile office buildings simply don’t cut it for them.
This means that to attract the youthful talent that your company needs, you have to offer them what they’re looking for. Here’s how to do that in three simple steps…
#1: Open Up Your Office Space
If you look at the new schools and colleges being built, you’ll see that education has evolved massively over the last few decades. Sterile, cramped classroom environments have been recognised as the stifling institutions that they are, and open plan spaces with more intimate areas to gather are massively in vogue with millennials, the first children of this educational revolution. As expert Bernard Brucha explains: “The old notion of work was to sequester people in a cube and have them hammer away. Now, people are learning there’s a better result that comes out of collaboration.”
#2: Give Them a Say
As we mentioned above, millennials are notoriously outspoken, and they like their opinions to be heard. The truth is, they’re worth listening to, for their ideas are fresh, creative, and often ingenious. Given the chance, they’ll be all too happy to tell you what they need to keep them inspired in the office, and big companies like Google are a shining example of how effective the simple act of consulting your employees can be. Allow them to create a space that gets their creative juices flowing, and the improvement in their work should repay you tenfold.
#3: Have Some Fun
We all know that you want your workplace environment to be productive, but sometimes it can pay to take the onus off of efficiency and enjoy yourself. This is the very best way to create a strong company culture, and will guarantee that your employees always look forward to turning up at the office and seeing what the day ahead brings. The Furniture Market is a perfect example, they carried out a study on how vain theiroffice full of millennials were. The video turned out very funny, they decided to hide camera’s around the office to see if they could catch people checking themselves out. Surprisingly over the course of the day the video revealed many of their colleagues couldn’t resist the mirrored furniture. Would I be that person who couldn’t resist and be classed as vain?
This leads me onto the office environment should inspire us all to relax, loosen our grip on the reins, and create an environment that is friendly, fun, and familial, because when employees enjoy working for you, they’ll work hard enough to ensure that their workplace escapades never have to end.
Give it a try today and see how quickly you notice the change.