Why Attract Mee llennial's to Your Business?

I am a member of a networking group called Sydney Business Connections, a great group run by Richard Carter. Each meeting Richard gives a topic of discussion and we break into groups and come up with ideas to solve the problems of the world... well, we try to!

Recently the topic of conversation was "How to Attract Millennial's to Your Business".

According to good old Dr Google, a Millennial in 2018 will be aged between 22 and 37 years old. The parents of Millennials are a mix of the Baby Boomers and Generation X.

My small breakout group of 4 were lucky enough to have Super Millennial Nick in our group (thanks Nick!). Nick made some great contributions, which I found to be so interesting and enlightening that I had to share.

Our group DID acknowledge that we were talking very generally and we all know exceptions to the general 'reputation' of any generation. Labels don't always stick.

Nick was very honest and open and shared his perspective of his generation. Here is a summary of what Nick said:

• To attract Millennial's as staff to your business, you must be online and have a good reputation online. You need to connect to them online both visually and emotionally
• Millennial's don't like being told what to do or being shouted at (I think this applies to all generations)
• They are sensitive
• They would prefer to be instructed in an influential way rather than be instructed/told what to do
• They don't believe in a Boss/Subordinate relationship and believe in equality. To them there should be no such thing as a 'Boss'
• They are looking for a work/life balance and freedom
• They want to feel important and valued and feel they are serving their purpose (I think this all generations too).

Being a business owner for 20 years and having 10 staff, these comments concerned me greatly and my initial reaction was one of total dismay!

I said to Nick, "I am hearing a lot of 'me, me, me' and 'I want, I want, I want'. Tell me, I as the employer am giving you an opportunity, training and wages, what are you bringing to the party? After what you have told me, why on earth would I want to employ a Millennial?"

Then we got onto the good stuff:

• Millennial's are prepared to work very hard if they are happy and fulfilled in their job and believe in what they are doing
• They will bring fresh ideas to your business
• They will attract Millennials as customers to your business
• They will bring innovation
• They will help your business transition into the new era.

These are gold and as an employer of Millennial's I can see these qualities in my staff.

Collaborative team work is very important, but the simple fact is for something to function correctly someone does need to be in charge, guiding, leading and directing. Call it what you will but I don't have a problem with the term and concept of 'Boss'. I wonder - when a Millennial becomes a 'Boss' themselves will they be more embracing of the term because that they attained that status themselves?

How do things in the world function if no one is in charge and there is no 'Boss'.

I am a proud employer (dare I say, 'Boss') of many generations and the mix of ages is what makes our office have a great combination of long term experience and fresh ideas with collaboration. No generation has all bad or all good, there will be a 'perfect match' for you in all of them.