The True Cost of hiring a millennial

Millennials are all the rage at the moment. You cannot turn on the without hearing something millennual related, consequently it made sense for me to make an article about this and the hiring process.

What is a millennial? For me its kinda like someone born after 199 whatever , I know definitions can vary but I thought I would offer a little bit more insight or gibberish in fairly eloquent manner.

Its about how you did your homework!?

Jay that makes zero sense (Not the first or last time I will hear that), What I mean is that if you had to do your homework with just your bare hands and brains (pre millenial) or  were you able to use the internet? If you used the internet then your a millennial. Do you place more stock in savings and personal development or adventures and experiences,? I feel based on interaction and feedback,  a lot of modern thinkers place a lot of emphasis on the experiences they have rather than money and salary.

I say this now but try and underpay a millennial see what happens -_-

How does this affect the workforce and what does this have to do with me?

So in the next 10 years by sorta 2025 – 2027 75% or so of the workforce will be millennial. – I’m also scared (Avocado toast will be under immense breakfast strain).

Whats the issue?

No major issue here except the average work life for a millennial is approx 2 years. This is majorly down on the 3 to 31/2 year average I was quoted from 5 years ago. Microsoft says it costs approx 20k to replace a millennial employee, as  we are probably  are talking about the creme de la creme of talent so lets say between 10 – 20k to replace them.

What the hell am i SPENDING 20,000 on?

– Training

– Development

– The opportunity cost of developing an employee (when you could be generating new business or delivering for existing or prospective clients)

….. So you invest but you get a smaller than usual prospective return / based on the last few years to  actually utilise their skills.

Simon Sinek who did an outstanding video / podcast about this if you haven’t seen it really its worth 20 mins out of your day. He spoke about the motivations of a millennial …

What do they need? What do they want?

They need to feel wanted … The social media phenom which makes people far more anxious to get to the destination where they think they are meant to be, people no longer want to play their position they want to be the director and the head of the company.

But the reason why there isn’t many Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Bartlett’s, Gary Vaynerchuk’s is because they are the exception to the rule, not the norm.

So when we continually band their stories it artificially leads to a jump in peoples conscious expectations of what they can achieve / have the capacity to achieve, a race to the top which can in theory be the antithesis of the mentality exhibited by a millennial we mentioned earlier.

….. So what can you do?

 

How do you retain top talent?

– Clear path to the top 

“I want to know that i could be the top of my industry it need to be transparent and attainable, I need to feel if i do my best I can be the best in the company / world.”

– Training

What do you do? How do you train? Whats my development program? What courses are you sending me on? How can you guarantee if I work had where I will be in the next 2 years?

You need to transparently lay this out in a way people can get behind. Because other companies are doing this and will poach your staff off the back of a training program.

– Mission Statement

You need to have a value, something that you stand for ….  People love to shout from the roof tops about something they believe in. They will be your ultimate brand ambassadors and they will make sure everyone knows how great the place you work is.

– Keep them Engaged and Inspired

An inspired staff member is an engaged staff member.

 

Final Thoughts

Finally though to everyone is a trade off because its a constant balancing act of  (Immediate Gratification vs Proving yourself). As an employer you cant be throwing money after someone who cant tangibly repay it through the quality of their work. By the same token you have to empower your staff member with the tools, strategy and potential career trajectory  to ensure you and them get the most out of their time at the company.

Hey …. I never said it was easy.

 

Contact Jay Andrew Odeka for more information or  help with Graduate Recruitment / Business Development / Talent Acquisition / Recruitment / Marketing Solutions – jay@wundertalent.co.uk / jay@wundertech.co.uk