Five Ways to Improve Your Millennial Employees Performance
It’s not enough to just hire and develop the best talent…
I have never believed that “people” are a company’s most valuable resource. People are people; they are not a resource. They are not a commodity, as the word “resource” indicates, and if you treat them as such, your company’s performance will suffer. And what millennials want from work is different than any other generation.
In contrast, the right people, the best people, the top millennial talent—they are the lifeblood of your organization. The challenge for companies today is recruiting, hiring, developing, and retaining the best millennials. However, even this is not enough. Once you have the best millennials to onboard, you must constantly look for ways to improve their performance. Here are five ways to do just that:
- Recognize and Reward Individual Performance
One of the quickest ways to lose your best millennials is to peanut-butter spread recognition and rewards. Your best millennials will continue to get even better over time while your worst millennials will get even worse. When you reward mediocrity, your best employees’ performance will decrease and your worst employees’ performance will at most stay the same.
- Profit Share with Every Member of Your Team
Finding a way to make every millennial an owner is critical to improving both employee and company performance. Even if the amount is miniscule, your employees will take an owners mentality when dealing with customers.
- Make Job Training a Qualification of Employment
Ensure new millennial hires are qualified by making them pass various tests. This can mean assessments for cultural fit as well as specific skill sets needed for exceptional job performance.
- Offer and Encourage Professional Development Opportunities at All Levels
Create an environment where professional development opportunities are offered, paid for, and encouraged at all levels. Want to get your millennial employees to believe it? Try having your CEO attend the next training event as a student. Saying it is one thing, but doing it takes it to another level!
- Create Clear Growth Paths for Your Millennial Employees
Make sure your employees understand that as the company grows, they will grow, and vice versa. Do everything possible to promote from within the organization. They must understand your company’s vision, which is WHY you exist. The vision, the WHY is what drives your organization.
