How to keep millennials on board
Three strategies in culture and recruitment can help retain a notoriously mobile generation.
At first glance, David Hickey appears to be that rarest type of millennial, the employee who stayed. The Meltwater director joined the news and social media insights company when he was 21. He recently celebrated his 10-year anniversary there.
‘‘To be honest (when I applied) I was only thinking six months ahead,’’ he says.
Despite thinking short term, Hickey says he was discerning, looking for a company with international opportunities and a meritocracy.
He found both, but today, he’s uniquely positioned to explain how both culture and recruiting practices can turn the tide on the trend of the job-hopping millennial.
The average age of Meltwater’s 100 or so Australian employees (there are 1000 staff globally) is 26, yet overall retention rates hover around 85-90 per cent. For senior roles, that’s even higher. Hickey says retaining Gen Ys in the workplace comes down to three key strategies.
The first? Grow or go.
‘‘As employees Gen Ys typically gravitate to tech companies and start-ups, because any business that has a sense of stagnation will lead to them getting itchy feet,’’ he says.
Hickey notes that usually, the main driver for a Gen Y in deciding whether or not to take a job is if it offers a chance for them to develop new personal and professional skills.
‘‘It’s not very much about the money or a sense of security. It’s not even about fancy ping pong tables – despite what you see in the media, although those are all nice to have,’’ he says.
It’s well known that Gen Ys want to feel connected to the work they are doing. For Hickey, this means the second strategy to keep Gen Ys engaged should be a sense of shared purpose.
At Meltwater, this means plenty of face time with line managers.
‘‘Every employee sits down with their manager every single Friday,’’ says Hickey.
Sometimes, the meetings seem like a simple catch-up.
But Hickey says even then, their purpose is greater.
‘‘If you are tapped into how employees are getting on, and there’s a constant two-way feedback loop, people feel they have a seat at the table,’’ he says, adding that regular 360 feedback for bosses solidifies the feeling of being heard.
The third strategy helping keep turnover low among Meltwater’s millennial-heavy staff is promoting from within.
‘‘We hire based on potential, not experience, and we only promote from within. Drive and determination, and how you realise that potential, are what determines how quickly you progress within the organisation,’’ he says.
It’s a principle that is often made clear in interview stage, but not through words alone.
‘‘When they come here and are interviewed by other people who are Gen Y, they realise those people have been promoted based on their experience here,’’ says Hickey.
It all sounds sensible in theory, and as the numbers show, at least at Meltwater, the approach works. But others considering the same path should take heed – Gen Ys are paying attention.
‘‘If you promise it, you have to damn well deliver it – they are always critiquing promises you make in a recruitment process.’’
‘‘It’s not very much about the money or a sense of security. It’s not even about fancy ping pong tables.’’ David Hickey of Meltwater