Attracting Younger Workers

Earlier we wrote an article about how the younger generation may change the way you measure and use satisfaction. This group is used to getting their way, and grew up in an environment that didn’t value long term employment as much as their elders. Still, the issue is not that they won’t stay at a job in which they’re satisfied.

The issue is that keeping them satisfied is far more difficult. You’ll need to find a way to get them to remain satisfied at their job – something that is certainly no easy task for a fickle group that seems to think they’re more valuable than they may actually be. Still, if you want to keep the younger generation satisfied, here are some ideas.

The source for some of these ideas comes from the Capital Blog .

Keep the Role Moving If they’re doing well at their role, give them more/other things to do. It’s somewhat of a business myth to believe that age and experience are both absolutely necessary to take on greater roles. Really, all that matters is skill and the ability to learn (and maybe the ability to handle stress).

If the employee you’re hoping to keep is excelling at their role, see if they’ll take on more. Let them move up in the company and give them the opportunity to prove their worth. That excitement and novelty should keep them interested in the job.

Of course, this requires that you are able to correctly evaluate talent, but if you have a good system in place, giving the individual more to do (and compensating them accordingly) will improve their satisfaction. Fair Treatment The younger generation is going to be far less receptive to unfair treatment. If they’re making less than they should or being treated like they’re not as skilled as they are, they may be more prone to overreacting, and their satisfaction is going to decrease.

Many companies will find that they have to bend over backwards for younger employees in ways they never have before, and that may upset the older workers that have more respect for business, but at the very least you need to avoid unfair treatment. If the younger person even smells something that resembles age bias or not recognizing their contributions, their satisfaction is going to drop. We’ll discuss more potential ways to attract and keep young employees in the next article.