Attracting & Retaining Young Talent: Flexibility is Key!

by Katie Cummins, HR Consultant, HRBOOST®

Recruiting top talent is a challenge for many organizations. Recruiting and retaining top Millennial talent can be an even bigger challenge. Given this generation represents 50% of the talent pool today, many companies try to fine tune their recruitment process to find and keep top talent. But, are they giving candidates what they want, particularly Millennials? Many of our clients look to us for advice on recruiting best practices and providing total rewards. Recently, one client challenged with hiring turned to us for help specifically in attracting Millennials.

Believe it or not, millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. workforce. Remember, Millennials (those born between 1980 – 2000) have been working for years now. Not only have Millennials surpassed Baby Boomers in the workforce, but they are poised to become the largest living generation in the U.S. in the very near future. If you think the Millennial “craze” and is going away, think again.

Millennials continue to grow in size, influence, and power within the workplace, yet many employers find it difficult to recruit and retain Millennial talent. In an effort to attract a younger generation of talent, our client turned to us for help in implementing initiatives that would attract Millennials. The question was posed – what do Millennials really want?

We partnered and knowing office is a verb now, we positioned them to offer a flexible work environment. Millennials seek freedom from the traditional 9-5. They prefer not to work in the time constraints of a typical work day. Life is short! They prefer flexibility to leave work early for a vet appointment or to make their son’s soccer game, but what many fail to realize is they are hyper responsible. They work before and after those events. They seek flexibility in their work location, preferring the option to work from home, or telecommute, even if just on occasion. For them, it doesn’t matter where they work, just that the work gets done. Millennials are finding a way to achieve work-life balance, and still get their job done even it its just a side gig. The goal however is to be their main gig!

Our client was able to successfully implement flexible work schedules, offering varying start times that still met the core hours of the business, offering four 10-hour work days, and implementing “summer hours” to allow teams a rotating schedule to leave early on Friday afternoons during the summer. We partnered to create a formal work from home program, with guidelines and accountability for the business, and flexibility and reduced commutes for employees. The result was an organization that could compete (and win) top talent and more importantly, retain happy, engaged employees. We are adults, after all.

Companies that offer flexibility in the workplace will not only attract Millennials but help retain them (and the new Gen Z too!). Employers who offer flexible schedules, work arrangements, and work assignments, in return get an employee who is willing to do whatever necessary to get the job done. In contrast, if they don’t offer flexibility, top talent will have no interest in working there.

The truth is, the things that matter to Millennials actually matter to much of the workforce, regardless of generation, the desire for flexibility isn’t unreasonable. The traditional way work gets done has changed, and companies that embrace that change and offer flexibility will successfully attract and retain the best talent.