The Results Are In: How Do You Think Millennial Employees Need to be Managed?

In our August question of the month, we asked how you think Millennial employees need to be managed, and the results show many leaders are cautiously optimistic about the youngest generation in the workplace.

With more than 36% of the votes, “allowing Millennials the freedom to do their work on their own terms” was the most popular answer, followed closely by “take full advantage of their tech-savvy, forward-thinking personalities” at 34%.

Dropping off steeply, “they’re no different than any other employee” and “Millennial employees tend to wander and bite off more than they can chew” came in at 13% and 8% respectively. And, 5% of respondents said “Millennials need constant praise from managers.”

Another 4% of respondents chose the “other” option and wrote in their own thoughts on how Millennial employees need to be managed, including:

  • Let them fail occasionally.
  • Make expectations clear upfront, and then act as a mentor or coach.
  • Give them constant feedback – not just praise.
  • They need to feel ownership of their work.
  • They have less respect for authority or position.

Different strokes for different folks.
As with past generations, the Millennials’ contribution to changing workforce dynamics has been met with greatly varying degrees of criticism and praise. According to Express Employment Professionals founder and CEO, Bob Funk:

“Younger workers always change the way employers do business. Millennials are a strong, free–thinking group whose attitude toward their employers is often ‘easy come and easy go.’ To create a strong workforce, employers need to be more willing to provide guidance to young people and help them settle into their careers, and Millennials need to be more willing to accept guidance.”

In many workplaces today, there could be as many as four generations working side by side. And with such diversity in age comes diversity in values, beliefs, and work ethic. A recent article titled, “Every Every Every Generation Has Been the Me Me Me Generation” posted on TheAlanticWire.com provides some interesting perspective into some of the factors that may be driving the ongoing cycle of generational conflict:

“Basically, it’s not that people born after 1980 are narcissists, it’s that young people are narcissists, and they get over themselves as they get older. It’s like doing a study of toddlers and declaring those born since 2010 are Generation Sociopath: Kids These Days Will Pull Your Hair, Pee On Walls, Throw Full Bowls of Cereal Without Even Thinking of the Consequences.”

For more insight into Millennials in the workplace, check out these other articles from Refresh Leadership:

Let us know what you think.
How do you think Millennial employees WANT to be managed? Have you experienced generational conflict among your workers? If you are a Millennial, what challenges have you faced and how have you handled them? Let us know in the comments section below!

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