By Jenna Puckett, TechnologyAdvice
Free lunch, gym memberships, flexible work hours, travel stipends, ‘Whiskey Fridays” – does this sound like the average work week yet? These perks are just a handful of techniques companies are using to incentivize their team members. According to Gallup, only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. This decline in job satisfaction can lead to lack of motivation, low contribution, and a high turnover rate.
Alternatively, companies with high employee engagement levels are up to 10-times more likely to see an increase in sales and profit than those with lower engagement. Raising employee engagement is vital if companies want to achieve sustainable growth. Businesses must take strategic steps to attract, develop and retain an entirely new workforce as the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement age. According to the BPW Foundation, by 2025, Millennials will make up more than 75% of the workforce.
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Ready, Set, Engage
This shift in company dynamics leaves a lot of businesses asking, “What do Millennials really want?” Although Millennials have different desires and expectations than their Baby Boomer predecessors, they’re not aliens. In order to increase engagement, it’s just as important for companies to learn what motivates their millennial employees as it is for them to know and understand their customers.
When looking for the ideal work environment, Millennials are motivated by four factors:
- Work-life balance;
- Team culture;
- Feedback and recognition; and
- Community.
The ability to work from home or to shift hours is a perk that helps keep personal life and work balanced. Millennials also value a company culture that encourages teamwork and open communication because it helps them understand how they fit into the bigger picture. This leads to a desire for feedback and recognition. Despite basically growing up on various social networks, 96% of Millennials actually prefer to receive feedback face to face. They’re also 11% more likely than Baby Boomers to want feedback at least once a month. Finally, giving back to the community is a priority for Millennials. They want to be proud of the companies they work for, and they have extremely high expectations of their employers.
Given such expectations, it’s not surprising that more than half of American companies have implemented some sort of employee engagement or incentive program. Millennials are expected to stay at a job for roughly three years, so attracting the country’s top talent-and retaining it-has become a $46 billion industry.
How To Choose The Right Incentives
Since 72% of Millennials are willing to sacrifice a higher salary for a more personally fulfilling career, it’s important to choose a highly motivating incentive program. If it feels overwhelming to get started, then begin at the end by asking, “What is the problem we’re trying to solve?”
If the goal is to motivate employees to be safer in the workplace, for instance, then a safety incentive program may be most beneficial. A well-designed program should reward safe work and proactive behavior. For example, Producers Assistance Corporation uses reloadable gift cards as an incentive. Employee safety is critical in the oil and gas industry, so each time an employee attends a safety meeting, points are loaded onto their card. By putting the focus on a reward, such as gaining points to spend, the company decreased incident rates and has more than doubled employee participation during their six month trial.
Companies looking to foster a culture of peer recognition can turn to the AT&T Employee Recognition Program for inspiration. Their World of Thanks program is simple: write and send a message of thanks to a team member on official paper. After four years, the company has boosted performance levels and handwritten more than 130,00 thank you notes.
Another way companies are motivating Millennials is through gamified employee engagement programs. By adding game elements to employee recognition programs, employers can leverage their young employees’ lifelong love for technology and collaboration. This helps foster intrinsic motivation, which is a key to sustained productivity and workplace happiness. Because winning employee loyalty requires the same strategic approach as gaining a customer’s loyalty, it’s not surprising that many businesses are using gamification as a solution.
Most people, whether Millennial or not, spend a substantial portion of their lives working, so the quality of the workplace, the team members, and the entire brand experience is bound to be reflected in the quality of their lives. Luckily, by offering perks such as flexible schedules, snacks, mentors, company retreats, charitable donation matching, or other fun incentives, companies can bring their workplace into the same century as their employees.
Jenna Puckett is a writer for TechnologyAdvice. She covers topics related to gamification, employee performance, and other emerging tech trends. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
