Introduction
The new employees are expected to be experienced professionals willing to contribute to the company’s success. All applicants will undoubtedly notice that the salary is much higher than the state average. Thus, hiring Millennials can be a viable option, as they tend to be enthusiastic about high salaries and being responsible for almost all the operations that are needed to develop and promote new products.
Millennial workers currently represent almost half of the workforce. Moreover, professionals who boast remarkable working experience often belong to that generation. Therefore, HR managers believe that Millennials will represent most applicants. Millennials have certain features that, over time, are exaggerated stereotypes. Nevertheless, each employer seeks to understand its workers and is ready to conduct research to enhance working conditions in general and tailor the approaches to various groups of employees. Moreover, HR managers want to be sure that their decision to hire a Millennial instead of a more experienced person or a highly motivated recent graduate was the right one.
Benefits of Hiring a Millennial
Millennials, in general, like the education process and seek challenges. That is clearly their main strength, as they are used to dealing with the tough competition in the labor market. According to Rosa and Hastings (2018), most Millennials show vivid interest in learning in their positions and obtaining and seeking workplace training. Many representatives of this generation have been studying hard at universities, sometimes even to the point when they find themselves overqualified for the job offers they get.
Enormous student debts that many Millennials have to make these young people unusually motivated to perform great in order to get promoted. Sometimes Millennials are even too enthusiastic about their promotion and start actively discussing it with their superiors before they are actually ready for new positions and higher levels of responsibility. Generation Y employees are tech-obsessed, which in many cases, becomes their competitive edge. The ability to quickly adapt to the use of various complex technologies, software, and tools makes them indispensable when it comes to the much-talked-about digitalization of most business processes in different companies.
Texas Insurance Company can benefit immensely from Millennials’ dedication and ingenuity if the company manages to separate an independent branch for the development and introduction of new products. Concentrating on Millennials in this branch will provide them with the real opportunity to realize their potential and interact with peers in the most efficient way possible. What is more, the best option for a company would be to provide Millennials with an opportunity to work on a new independent project.
Millennials, in general, tend to be proud of the work they are doing. They are almost always enthusiastic, but the lack of passion for any kind of position can make a Millennial quit their job, despite stability and decent pay. Therefore, Texas Insurance company should utilize such an advantage and encourage Millennials to involve other employees in the projects they feel passionate about. Thus, Millennials can ensure that the company has a strong culture. This generation is fond of team-based service projects, and they can easily establish relationships. Cooperation is central to Millennials’ performance, as they are enthusiastic about taking part in “cause work,” which implies work with social causes.
Companies nationwide have already realized all the benefits of high levels of cooperation and now seek to enhance the frameworks that can assist Millennials to work in teams. Generation Y values employee satisfaction, custom care, and integrity in their employers more than the company’s size and popularity. Moreover, salary is often outperformed by a proper work-life balance in Millennials’ hierarchy of values. Even the widespread issue of enormous student loans does not seem to make a typical Millennial accept a job only because of high pay. Despite the harsh economic realities that await Millennials when they enter the job market, their optimism is one of their major advantages. The performance they show once all the working conditions seem to suit their high demands tends to be great.
Downsides of Hiring a Millennial
One of the most common blanket statements about Millennial employees is that they are lazy. Although it is a misconception, it points to a very serious issue that may occur when dealing with Millennial employees. These young but already experienced workers sometimes seem to be motivated more by having an opportunity to make a social impact rather than by money. According to Cattermole (2018), Millennials want to make an impact, do something socially good and work for an organization that has a strong company culture and offers extraordinary experiences at work. Therefore, Millennials have equally high expectations when they start working for a company. They actually want their employers to prove that what they are doing is meaningful.
The most common myths concerning the Millennials’ attitude to work claim that Millennials are not ready to work extra hours, that they have a poor work ethic, they do not respect authority. Consequently, they are widely believed to lack real incentives to climb the career ladder. Motivating Millennials is generally considered to be a complex undertaking, as it may seem that what they really are after is not the promotion but the recognition of their importance. Therefore, it may actually be hard for senior employees to cooperate with new young workers who may sometimes lack both respect for and interest in authority.
The hardest thing about having an ambitious Millennial on an important team is that they can easily get disillusioned. The management may miss the moment when a Millennial suddenly loses the passion for the job they are doing. Therefore, the company should definitely analyze all the possible scenarios in case a Project Manager suddenly feels disappointed in the results and gives up all the previous efforts. Moreover, it is crucial to remember that Millennials feel natural about quickly changing companies once they start feeling useless or undervalued.
The problem is that not all companies can provide all the above-mentioned opportunities, as some of them have a long tradition of encouraging their employees to work harder, primarily by increasing their salaries. Moreover, Millennials’ strive for transparency may also prove to be a tough issue to discuss with an employee in a conservative firm that can boast of rich history and big clients. Generation Y employees may also expect the companies they work for to adapt to the fast-changing world quickly. Thus, they tend to expect their proposals and new ideas to be heard and seriously considered by their superiors. Therefore, if most of the company’s current employees belong to a different age group, HR managers should hire an extremely polite person to avoid misunderstandings.
Recommendations
The company should definitely consider hiring a Millennial employee as a viable option. Nevertheless, its management should be ready to show higher flexibility when dealing with its younger workers. HR managers should keep in mind that Generation Y employees may give the company a competitive edge. Young, highly skilled employees will undoubtedly bring brilliant ideas and new perspectives that can enhance various business operations. If the company is serious about its new project that is expected to result in a brand-new product, it should be ready to help its young employees achieve their fullest potential.
Moreover, the company may consider hiring more Millennial workers in the future, as these young people tend to perform best when they are given a chance to cooperate. Generation Y workers expect to be supported by their colleagues. Nevertheless, serious efforts are needed to find the right approach for Millennial workers. In order to successfully integrate, motivate, and retain Generation Y workers, the company should find the right way to become clearer about its mission. It is a necessary step, as Millennials need to feel proud of the company they are working for. The company should also be ready to provide opportunities for career growth, as Millennials tend to expect fast promotions and strive for new challenges.
References
Cattermole, G. (2018). Creating an employee engagement strategy for millennials. Strategic HR Review, 17(6), 290–294. Web.
Rosa, N. M. B., & Hastings, S. O. (2018). Managing millennials: Looking beyond generational stereotypes. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 31(4), 920–930. Web.