How to manage Millennials in the workplace

Aesthetic, beauty and spa recruiter specialists La Source International, share their views on how employees must adapt their management style to managing Millennials for future success. Sponsored Story.

It’s a big issue I think you will agree.

In simple terms, Employers must adapt their management style to get the very best out of this generation for their businesses.

Millennials as well as having many positive traits can be impatient and they want instant gratification; many are moving jobs far too quickly because they feel they are not making an impact.

Everything thing in their life they can get instantaneously now and the same goes for wanting to make their mark in a job otherwise the boredom creeps in.

So, we must be able to manage their expectations and teach that the overall journey to success in business is long and sometimes hard and that they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help.

The only way this can come is through their leaders having super strong communication and social skills themselves; to highlight these points in an interview scenario; that they need to walk before they can run, and that promotion comes from hard work and focus and time within an organisation.

So, how do we do this?

1) We need to act as mentors and not bosses; We find that Millennials do lack respect for traditional structures of authority. Their upbringing has been much laxer and more permissive, so they do not respond well to rigid protocols or displays of power. Rather, they need their leaders to be approachable, to encourage and guide them. Managers should take care to avoid setting themselves up as role models or pushing their authority onto them. They should earn the respect of millennials through their professional prestige and the consistency of their actions, not through some innate sense of respect for the established hierarchy.

2) We must recognise their need for recognition; the reason they are this way is because they were given everything they wanted from an early age and very often told they were special all the time; so, it’s not their fault! Its crucial managers make them feel part of something amazing at work and that they are thanked for the quite frankly, hard work they do massaging and treating clients all day or smashing their sales target out in the field or getting all their students through their exams. They need a critical path of goals that will take them through to month 12 as opposed to passing probation at month 3 and where a lot just get left to their own devices because the managers become so busy with the day to day operational issues.

3) Money isn’t everything. It is not that millennials do not understand the value of money; it's just not their primary motivation. What they value most is the attractiveness of the work itself, the opportunity to meet people and network, and a relaxed atmosphere. Millennials are especially motivated by dynamic, cross-functional positions so it makes sense if someone is trained in beauty therapy to also train them on reception; this also works for the business in times of high demand and sickness. They love being able to "customize" their remuneration packages with things like additional days off, flexible hours, telecommuting, discounts or food vouchers etc.

It's not easy being a manager or owner however it can be extremely rewarding if you just adjust to the needs of these Millennials.

For more information on specialised recruitment, visit La Source International's homepage here