Making Your Workplace More Millennial-Friendly
About eight years ago, some managers at PwC essentially wanted HR to provide time travel: “We don’t like the people we’re hiring right now. Can we go back to the places we used to get people?”Anne Donovan, people innovation leader with PwC, noted that that the company was still hiring people from the top schools in the country, and that its hiring needs and processes had largely stayed the same. What had changed: A new generation of workers was coming on board. Yes, they were a bit different in their expectations, but it was the organization that was going to have to change. The millennials were here to stay.Donovan shared this anecdote recently at the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Signature Speakers Series. She noted that a PwC-commissioned study about millennials in the workplace found, as others have, that they have different needs and desires from other generations and they express them differently. Work holds a different place in their lives than it did with their parents.We can’t “go back” to how it was before, nor should we, Donovan says. Millennials are here to stay, they’re brilliant, they’re doing great work and organizations need to adapt. It’s worth it -- for everyone.Here were some of key takeaways from her presentation.
Accommodation Is Not a Dirty Word
To illustrate how things have changed since she began at PwC 33 years ago, Donovan cited some megatrends that are taking over the globe, especially the evolution of technology. When she first began at PwC, she says, you had to earn your adding machine. She wasn’t given one until she’d been there a while. Technology has rapidly changed since then.Yet, amid so much change on a macro level, it’s often the micro changes that people get bogged down in, Donovan says.Something as simple as “Susie wants to work from home two days a week” can lead to a quagmire of policy changes, meetings and trust issues, she says. But when you get down to it, if Susie’s job is such that it’s possible for her to work from home a couple days a week without hurting her productivity, and it costs you nothing to allow this, why not make the accommodation? It’ll keep her happy and keep her around longer, and that’s the goal, Donovan says.
One Size Does Not Fit All, If It Ever Did
Different generations have different needs, Donovan says. Generation X, defined as those born between 1965 and 1979, tend to be transactional. They want control over their work, opportunities for development and to be paid well. This fits with how things work at big firms, Donovan says: They hire smart people, give them lots of independent work and autonomy, pay for training and give them a hefty paycheck.Millennials don’t have these same needs. They are more interested, Donovan says, in team cohesion. They want to feel good about the work they’re doing and the people they work with. And they want a supportive supervisor. As Donovan says, “They want love, and they want it expressed frequently.”Along these lines, PwC has changed its semiannual performance reviews. It now offers real-time performance “snapshots” that can be done as frequently as a manager wants. They only allow 200 characters, much like a tweet, Donovan says. Managers can give feedback like “Great job wrapping up that project on time” or “I wish you’d contributed more in the meeting,” offering millennials the instant feedback they crave.The silver bullet for millennials, though, is flexibility. Their outside interests and personal obligations are just as important to them as their career, and they want an employer that understands that.A Gen X employee will leave for another job that pays more, says Donovan, but a millennial will leave for a job that pays about the same if they get more cohesion, support and flexibility. This isn’t just a feel good issue for Donovan: Since PwC loses about $100,000 in turnover costs for every employee leaving, it’s in the firm’s interest to keep people happy.
Trust Has to Be an Action, Not Just a Word
The heart of these adaptations, says Donovan, is trust. PwC trusts that when Susie works from home two days a week, she’s really working, and that will show in her results. There is no demand that she be on video or signed into special monitoring software all day. “There are plenty of ways for someone to be in the office and not working,” notes Donovan, so if this keeps Susie happy, it’s worth it.PwC also changed its office dress code on July 1. Donovan says that on days when she’ll be in the office and not meeting with clients, she often wears jeans. (This prompted a collective gasp from the audience.) She says this adaptation has been the biggest change so far, but people are really starting to like it. Trust again is a big component — if someone has a client meeting, they’re expected to dress however the client will deem appropriate. And if they don’t, Donovan says, she trusts that the client or someone in the office will let the worker know they’re off-target. So far there have been no issues, she says.Donovan’s next job is to help roll out similar changes across global teams in many different countries. She says if leadership is on board, the changes then just depend on individual teams being flexible and individuals being accountable for their output. So far each of her changes has had to be gently pushed onto Gen Xers and the baby boomers in the office, but she says they’ve all come around and now truly enjoy each of these perks themselves, which highlights the fact that adapting your office for millennials can benefit everyone.Success Labs is a leadership-development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.
