How to manage millennials
Lisa Martin has given up on hiring graduates for her mobile bookkeeping and accountancy business, GoFi8ure, because she finds most of them leave after a year or two to head overseas.
‘‘We don’t have the resources to train them and then lose them,’’ she said.
Hiring someone would usually take four weeks, and then there was the time it took to get them up to speed with the business.
Attracting and holding on to top talent is something that concerns a lot of New Zealand businesspeople.
Marsh’s latest Directors’ Risk Survey shows that it is regarded as the third-biggest internal risk to businesses.
Directors of government agencies and entities ranked the issue much more of a concern than public or private companies.
Marsh country head for New Zealand Marcus Pearson said it was the type of risk that was unlikely to go away.
He said New Zealand businesses had to accept that a lot of people would want to go overseas to get more experience.
Many business leaders had had international stints and come back better for it, he said.
‘‘But you don’t want to see people going and not coming back, and that’s historically what has happened. You lose that talent.’’
Developing modern, technologydriven workplaces where there was an opportunity to progress would be important, he said.
Millennials are about a third of the workforce at present but will be more than half by 2025.
Pearson said that would require an attitude change for some businesses.
‘‘[Millennials’] outlook on the workplace, what they want from a job and high use of social media and technology will have a big impact and employers will need to adapt in order to attract and retain employees,’’ he said.
‘‘Millennials want more flexibility; they prioritise health, wellbeing and work-life balance over money alone, are frustrated when they don’t have the technology they need to do their jobs and require different communication styles that meet their work style and social/digital preferences.
‘‘The traditional management style will no longer work and the changing demographic of the workplace is going to force workplaces to adapt.’’
He said secondment could be an option for young employees who wanted to add an international role to their resumes. It worked well in the insurance industry, he said.
‘‘The worst thing to do is stop people moving up in their careers.’’
He said companies seeking to retain their best talent should regularly engage with their employees. The aim was to give them the confidence that they were provided with a framework and environment in which to grow and achieve their career aspirations.
‘‘That can take the form of professional career development programmes [through] to generous remuneration and employee benefit packages.’’
Marsh’s survey said most small to medium-sized businesses in New Zealand did not invest in programmes to develop their employees, so were left looking elsewhere.
‘‘Many employees are lured offshore by increased employment opportunities that larger cities and companies can offer, specifically in certain sectors this can lead to shortages of talent.’’