Harnessing Change: Educating the Millennial Workforce

Millennials: The Future of the American Workforce

What does a Millennial look like? Take John, our fictional Millennial, he is ambitious and eager to start his career but has goals beyond what his current company is able to offer. His attention span is short and he will ultimately take the skills that he is learning now and market them to land his next job. Many millennials will only stay at a company an average of 3 years before moving on, and John might be asking himself, “in the long run, what am I truly gaining by staying with any given company for a prolonged period of time, especially if I feel like no meaningful investment is being made into my future?”

Well, the answer should be “a sense of belonging and desirability fostered by meaningful and crucial investment in the accumulation of knowledge." However, reality seems to have taken a different course. Some organizations appear to be cutting learning programs without taking into consideration the serious repercussions. Don’t be one of them.

Here exists the essential link between Millennial dissatisfaction and employee turnover rate. Interestingly, according to a four-year McKinsey & Company study, capability building has remained a high strategic priority for executives. However, many companies are still using the same approaches to learning and skill development that they were using back in 2010. Put yourself in your employees shoes: the market is an ever changing battlefield. Just like Millennials want to keep up with current trends by upgrading their iPhones every year when the latest model is released, they expect to receive the latest training and information. Wouldn’t you?

And, frankly, if an organization isn’t taking the necessary steps to properly invest in the education of Millennial successors or other employees, you can’t blame them for the turnover rate. So, when John decides to move on to another company, who is really at fault?. A report in the Washington Post  discussed findings that “across the board, the bulk of earnings growth happens during the first decade.’ Economists Fatih Guvenen, Fatih Karahan, Serdar Ozkan and Jae Song studied the career paths of about 5 million workers over nearly 40 years and report that “the jump in pay could be largely driven by the steep learning curves early in your career.”

In other words, there is a relatively small amount of time for Millennials to secure themselves financially, and, if they have any qualms about their potential at any given organization-- they’ll move on.They’re determined. They’re self-interested.  They’ll do anything it takes to become successful- even if that means starting over fresh at a new organization.

According to Alan Cooper, Associate Dean of Willumsted School of Business at Adelphi University, “If you look at historical data, development/learning is one of the first things to get cut in companies that aren’t high performers and the very last thing to get cut in companies that are high performers.” So, if you’re reading this and thinking, “How can my company become more like the successful companies that Alan is talking about?" We think we have some pointers for you to consider:

Playing in the big leagues.

• Align goals of both the leadership and the workforce - this creates clear goals for the organization that all employees can get behind
• Foster a flat business hierarchy by emphasizing and integrating learning programs - more training and learning leads to individuals coming to see themselves as homogenous within the organization and owners in their own right.
• Share knowledge - higher distribution of internal organizational information to the workforce and leadership leads to significant increases in productivity.
• Clearly state and reinforce tangible and achievable goals - heightened awareness throughout organizations of desirable and feasible goals increases employee motivation and organizational direction.

Additionally, from a leadership perspective, it’s in your best interest to pay close attention to this data. Recruiting, training, learning curves – they all add up to 50-200% of base salary to replace an employee.  Not only do the high turnover rates signify a stressful and *uncertain* experience for workers- they also signify increased costs of replacing employees. It’s cheaper to invest in training than replace an employee.

Get with the program!

However, we wouldn’t want you to think that this is simply a diatribe solely about leadership responsibilities…this is a two way street after all. Don’t just settle for implementing learning and development programs: Demand outcomes. Hold each employee responsible for the utilization of your investment, one that, according to the data, they crucially need.

But don’t just take our word for it: Elizabeth Woodward, Senior Manager of Learning Programs at CGS stated that cohesion created by the observation of demonstrated results leads to “a drumbeat of incremental change that builds towards a larger transformational effort.” Simply put, when one group can observe how learning programs have produced measurable results for another, it ignites motivation and a willingness to outperform and produce.

Ultimately, we’re talking about leadership attitude toward change. It’s simple: Investment in learning displays a willingness of leadership to accept and capitalize on change within the market. The trick, however, is in harnessing the change.