This post is part of TNGG’s Career Week

“I’ve been here for almost three years, so, you know – that’s a really long time,” one of Todd Defren’s Millennial employees told her boss.

And three years is a long time considering that Millennials will hold an average of 10 jobs before we turn 38. This means most of us will switch jobs about twice in three years. Although it might seem perfectly normal to us, this job-hopping behavior is a problem for employers.

Retaining employees, Millennials or not, is a two-way street. Gen X-ers and Baby Boomers claim that we don’t have corporate loyalty. But what have corporations done to earn our loyalty? Have they tried to make us happy employees who would never think about “trying new things”? How many of them have asked us what we want and how we prefer to work?

What do we want? What makes us happy with a job?

Give us responsibilities.

Almost every time I discuss job longevity with people my age, having responsibilities, professional growth and learning are the first topics brought up. Join a #u30pro Twitter chat, and you will hear the same thing from dozens of people. And the most important part is that we can handle a lot of responsibilities. We carried a full load of classes, had a unpaid internship, worked a part-time job and served on the executive board of a few organizations while in college. All at the same time. We handled it then, and we can handle it now.

Treat employees as partners.

We are very well aware that we are your employees. We are very well aware that you tell us what to do and if we do it, you sign our paychecks. But we don’t want to be treated as just employees. We are not replaceable robots. We want to be treated as humans. More importantly, we want to know that you care about our ideas and opinions. It doesn’t mean that you have to agree with us, just listen to us every once in a while. It makes us feel appreciated. It makes us feel that our work actually matters. And it motivates us to work more and be more creative because it satisfies our higher order needs.

Treat the office as a coworking space.

The credit for this one goes to David Spinks, who mentioned it in a #u3opro chat. Different people work in different ways. Some are much more productive at 3 a.m. sitting in bed, while others need to go to an office and work there. I can understand why this wasn’t an option in the past, but today, when we have dozens of collaboration tools, there is no reason why flexible schedules and working from home shouldn’t be utilized to make us more efficient and productive. And that is why businesses exist, to be efficient and productive (at least that’s what I was told in school).

Focus on productivity, not on hours.

I don’t understand why employees have to stay at the office until 5 p.m. if they have finished their work. I don’t understand why productivity is judged by the number of hours people spend in the office instead of how much work they actually get done. It is not just my frustration. This is one of the reasons why many people think that Gen Y slacks at work and wastes time. If we have nothing to do but can’t leave, what else are we suppose to do? If we accomplish everything we’ve been assigned, what is the problem with leaving an hour early?

I am not saying that we work faster than previous generations. We just work differently and utilize our time differently.

Back in 2007, Best Buy started a flextime structure to create results-only work environment. And…it worked: employee productivity increased by 35% in departments covered by the program. If a huge retailer can make flextime work, why can’t the rest of corporate America?

Reward us.

As “the poodles of humanity, demanding constant grooming and incessant praise,” what else do you expect from us? It might be because we are entitled; it might be because we are self-centered; or it might be because respect from others is a basic human need, but no matter the reason, we need to feel appreciated for the work we do. And when I say reward us, I don’t mean give us two weeks paid vacation (although that would be really sweet), but simply show us that our work exceeds your expectations: say a few nice words in front of others, write us a LinkedIn recommendation, or give us more responsibilities.

Enough with my suggestions. What are yours? What are the best ways to retain Millennials?

Photo by Zach Klein

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