Leveraging Millennials' Talent in the Workplace

© 2016 Michiki Morgan Worldwide LLC

With Millennials making up a rapidly growing percentage of the workplace, many organizations are struggling to navigate generational differences and technology in order to take full advantage of their millennial employees. Millennials have been undeniably impacted by technological changes and the speed of the economy, leading to a new social contract between employee and employer. While they have higher expectations of the companies they work for including an increased desire for flexibility and instant gratification, their desires and values aren’t quite as different as their non-millennial counterparts are prone to believing. One of the main ways Millennials are notably different as employees is in their desire to partner with their organizations and bosses. They’re much more likely to care working for a business whose mission they find personally meaningful, and on average are more interested in wanting to learn about the inner workings of the entire organization. Throughout the discussion, attendees expressed concern over their organization’s ability to keep up with technology, and mentioned that this creates problems both in attracting skilled employees as well as keeping them engaged in their work. Participants also noted that they’ve seen their organization work under the assumption that they will only be able to keep their millennial employees for 2-3 years, before the will be driven to move on.


Studies suggest that creating a positive, inclusive culture where communication is a high priority is key in working successfully with Millennials. Making sure leadership is trust worthy, hands on, and provides mentorship and growth opportunities will also help significantly increase the length of service of millennial employees, as well as keep them engaged throughout their careers. While some participants expressed frustration at the prospect of greatly shifting their work styles and culture to accommodate new employees, they also acknowledge the necessity of benefiting from millennial talent and the opportunity for growth that change presents.

• Millennials will make up 75% • The birth rate of non-caucasian will surpass caucasians in the US • Women will be earning more advanced degrees than men • More than ½ the world’s largest companies will have HQ’s in emerging countries

• Demographic upheaval • Technology everywhere, digital everything • Speed in the exponential economy • New social contract between employer and worker

• 70% of workers are disengaged • 56% of companies are not ready to meet their leadership needs • 86% of businesses and HR leaders do not believe they have an adequate leadership pipeline


• 75% are struggling to recruit the top people they need

• Largest living generation • Born 1981-1996 • Currently 20-35 years old • Value: Transparency, meaningful work, instant gratification • Constantly use technology and social media • Hipsters • Entrepreneurial • Risk Takers • Want to work “with” an organization, rather than “for” one

• 87% of companies say it costs $15,000 - $25,000 to replace a lost millennial employee • 71% of companies say losing a millennial employee increases stress and workload for current employees • 56% say it takes 3-7 weeks to hire a fully productive millennial employee in a new roll

• Millennials are more likely to be concerned about learning about the business overall • More likely to care about compensation and achieving income goals • More likely to care about learning new skills


• More likely to care about meaningful work with an opportunity to make a difference in the world • Less likely to care about job location • Less likely to care about work-life balance

• 66% of Millennials expect to leave their current organization by 2020

• Millennials who leave their jobs within two years: o 71% believe their leadership skills are not being fully developed o 57% feel overlooked for potential leadership positions

• Millennials who stay at their jobs more than 5 years: o 68% have support/training widely available to progress in leadership roles

• 44% turned down a job because of an organization’s values • 49% have chosen not to undertake a work task because it went against their personal values • 55% consider personal values as very influential when making decisions at work • 56% ruled out ever working for a particular organizations because of its values

• 16.8% work-life balance


• 13.4% opportunities to progress/ be leaders • 11.0% flexibility (i.e., remote working, flexible hours) • 9.3% sense of meaningful work • 8.3% professional development training programs

• 83% of Millennials are actively engaged when they believe their organization fosters an inclusive culture • Creating an inclusive culture is critical for organizations to benefit from diverse viewpoints, ideas, and perspectives • Fostering a diverse culture positively impacts the recruiting process

• Meaningful work • Hands-on management • Positive work environment • Growth opportunity • Trust in leadership

• What are the challenges of either attracting, engaging or retaining Millennials? What is your real-life story? o “Everybody expects every company to be incredibly advanced in technology. We have had some hires in the

past recently where people came discouraged because our ability to keep up with technology wasn’t as rapid as they have hoped.”

o “From the employer’s side, the other people who have been in the company for a long time think: “[Outdated technology is] such a small detail, who cares about this?” No one would ever think it would be something that would disappoint the new hire.”


o “There is a little bit of a grey area when to take initiative, when to ask for direction.” o “Millennials are focused on instant gratification not just term of compensation and benefits and everything else

it's in terms of new experiences. They figured out one thing and they are on to the next thing and there may not be that opportunity ready for them yet within the organization.”

o “When we are hiring people out of college now our expectations is that they are going to stay with us for two to three years. So we kind of change our whole model to “How do we get the most out of them in 2 or 3 years?”

o “If you know there is going to be a turnaround that quickly then they have to have systems and a pipeline created so it doesn’t affect the client.”

• What do you think is holding your company back from changing at the speed that it should? o Discussion of the expectation of some Millennials to telecommute within the first year of a new job. o “We’re sitting here wondering ‘How can we work with them?’ but how often do they get together and ask “How

they can work with the others?” That is the question that I have in my mind. Are they really thinking about what you just said? The value of the other generation as well.”

o Discussion of how the re-location of an office to a more desirable neighborhood could positively impact hiring of Millennials.

o Discussion of using new technologies (i.e. social media, skype) in the recruiting process. § “Even today I think the clients in the work that I do most do Skype interviews. It seems so personal. But I

guess it is different for every generation. But the do a lot of Skype because of the cost, the time etc. It it's quicker you don’t have to fly there is less logistics less costs.

o Discussion of difficulties respect and entitlement differences present when dealing with Millennials § “One thing that we struggle in our company is having the Millennials having respect for the older

employees who might not be technologically gifted. When we were hiring people straight out of college they didn’t have respect for people who were 50 in our organization who weren’t that great on Excel and all of that.”


• Nozomi: “So we keep saying that Millennials have a mind of their own... But if we look at the numbers, yes there are some gaps, but a lot of them are pretty close.”

o Desire to learn about the business § Millennials 58% § Executives 35%

o The value or quality of life over career path § Millennials 48% § Executives 61%

o Frustration of technology on the job § Millennials 11% § Executives 27%

o Dissatisfaction with management quality § Millennials 3% § Executives 37%

o Consideration of leaving a job due to limited leadership developments § 25% gap

• “I know some young people who graduated from Georgia Tech [...] These kids are not entitled. These kids work. Now there’s a whole bunch of them, you can’t say “all Millennials”… I think a lot of them are very engaged.”

• “Millennials want to be a partner. And if you treat them as a partner, they feel included and therefore that is an inclusive environment.”

• What were the key take-aways for you today? o “Based on the stats it seem like Millennials/non-Millennials have the same goals just a different way of going

about it.” o “[A] partnership can help create a culture that may keep Millennials around where they feel engaged and they

feel they are doing something towards the company.” o “They are thinking like us as well, so there are not so many differences between us. That is the bottom line.”


o “When you don’t know you don’t know we all learn stuff everyday we just have to continue learning. It doesn’t matter whether you like it or you don’t. It is what it is. And you have to adapt and if you don’t you are going to die.”









Nozomi Morgan is a speaker, certified Executive Coach and CEO of Michiki Morgan Worldwide. She is an expert in Japanese business culture and practices. She focuses on helping Japanese companies succeed in their global expansion and United States based firms working with Japanese companies to overcome the tension and frustration that can naturally arise from cultural differences. Her clients experience dramatic improvement in key performance by enhancing communication and cultivating trust through cross cultural leadership and communication training, team building and executive coaching. She is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and Huffington Post.


Her diverse international background—having lived, studied and worked in Asia, Europe and North America—gives her a wealth of experience and knowledge as a coach, speaker, and mentor. Born and raised in Japan, she values integrity, professionalism, and respect, all of which are core tenets of her deeply ingrained heritage. For more than 15 years, Nozomi garnered expertise as a corporate marketer and strategist, working for top companies such as Delta Air Lines, Johnson & Johnson, BBDO, and working with industry-leading clients in the automotive, consumer package goods, fashion, finance, entertainment, IT, lifestyle, and airline sectors in Japan and the United States. Nozomi is based both in the United States and Japan. She enjoys giving back to the community as the VP of Professional Development at the National Association of Asian American Professionals Atlanta Chapter and serving as the National Co-Director of Women in NAAAP program helping women’s leadership development. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Japan-American Society of Georgia. Nozomi holds an MBA from Yale and a BA from International Christian University in Tokyo.

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Leveraging Millennials' Talent in the Workplace