Opportunities of working with Millennials

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Recruiting younger workers

ISO 9001 requires that organisations have resources and also consider the needs and expectations of their interested parties, now and in the future. The future of your organisation will depend on the effectiveness of your teams, so regardless of ISO management systems (quality, environment, OHS or information security), you will need to engage your team.

ISO management systems require that an organisation puts controls and routines in place that are practical and useful. Depending on the organisation, these may start prior to engagement but will certainly cover induction and ongoing development to ensure individuals are trained and competent for the organisation's requirements. However, how much have you considered the changing needs of the people you are seeking to employ?

People are crucial to an organisation and as we move further into the century, all organisations are looking at the newer entrants to the workplace. Some media outlets are very dismissive of people born since 2000; labelling them derogatorily as 'millennials'.

However, a forward-looking organisation will do well to consider younger workers. For a start, half the world’s population is under 30 years of age. So, young workers don’t just work, but also represent 50% of the market for goods and services. Even in larger countries such as the USA, 46% of the workforce will be ‘millennial’ by 2020.

Younger workers have differing outlooks

Whatever age you grew up in, younger workers lack experience which can limit some ability or complex decision-making. However, in today’s increasingly technological age, young people will have developed skills and experience that some older workers will have avoided, and with a younger outlook on life, will have different perspectives on how that technology can be applied. It’s no surprise that newer tech firms are springing up headed by increasingly younger founders and leaders.

People entering the workplace as we move into the 2020s are also clearer about the work they want to do, and the cultures in which they want to work, sometimes foregoing benefits previously seen as unmissable. Figures from the USA, suggest that some workers are willing to forego a significant proportion of their wages in order to work in an organisation which meets their cultural expectations over another that doesn’t.

If you care, you recruit

The World Economic Forum has looked at what issues in society could be important for younger people. Three of the top five elements influencing younger people are Climate Change, distrust of the media and care for society at large. Being seen working for an organisation that cares could come high up the agenda.

When it comes to attracting the right young people for your organisation, regardless of role or responsibility, they will come with an opinion of what the world of work and society should look like. Young people shape the world, they’ll help you shape the organisation of the future.

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