Talent management plays a huge part in retaining deserving employees in a firm. And with millennials set to represent nearly 75% of the global working population by 2025 (EY, 2017), every organisation must know the best strategies for attracting and retaining millennial talent at the workplace.

While a good salary might have been enough to get the cream of the crop from past generations, organisations these days have to offer more than just monetary compensation to attract most millennials. The workplaces & leaders need to have a deeper commitment to actively understand this generation in order to better serve and employ them. The curious millennials are a bunch to manage but an organisation’s desire to win the battle for the Right Talent in the market only accentuates the fact that they have to now Step Up to create work spaces that exude authenticity and encourage productivity, efficiency and flexibility.

It is vital to see the future of the millennial generation in the workforce. Forget the conversations about stereotypes, complaints, and management, businesses now need to focus on strategically developing millennial talent. The millennial talent is the present and future of business. The competitive edge isn’t the cutting edge technology only but the talent that if harnessed will make the companies emerge victorious.

Businesses who strategize and systemize their talent development with the millennial generation and post-millennial generation will outrun all its competitors. After all, this will not only dominate the workforce by 2025, but will also have many seats at the executive tables by then. Strategizing for millennials’ development into the leadership pipeline must happen now.

Talent management plays a huge part in not just retaining the best talent, but also in grooming them for the future requirements. Millennials value experience over materialistic benefits. Hence, it is essential for an organisation to create a strong workplace culture with opportunities for volunteering, team bonding, creativity, freedom of doing work etc. Additionally, focus on personal growth, up-skilling, team building, training the leaders to mentor rather than manage, not only attracts but retains talent as well. Other important aspect of this holistic growth is the pursuit for recognition; the millennials want to see how they will grow in the organization. They seek instant gratification and want freelance flexibility with full-time stability.

Millennials is a generation that wants to keep moving and growing steadily. Building a culture of consistent learning within an organisation is a crucial aspect that helps them keep engaged and motivated. In fact, 74% of the workforce worldwide is ready to learn new skills or re-train to remain employable in the future (PwC, 2018). This clearly suggests how crucial it is for the modern organizations to center their talent strategy on a learning & development culture. Some initiatives like an opportunity to join a management committee or attend an informal event with top executives or inverse mentoring programs, can have a lasting impact on learning and motivation.

There’s no denying that millennials are incredibly tech-savvy, and technology is a synonym for their comfort. It will surely be a challenge to attract millennials to your organisation if you use outdated technology, or if you don’t have a great social media presence. Thus, it is crucial for an organisation to build digital processes that go beyond the traditional formats of working, for example, a regular AI based feedback system that not just automates the entire process but improves the transparency and the digital connect with the millennials. It’s time to rethink how our tools & processes can move beyond their current scope, and instead use the entire gamut of social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) technologies to create innovative and technologically advanced workplaces that are much more attractive to this segment.

The essential elements that attract millennials include collaborative culture, friendly policies, work-life balance and increased communication, which help keep them motivated and passionate towards the organisation & the shared goals. They like to “work hard, play hard” and want to be at a company that appreciates this desire for balance. They also expect a more flexible work environment than previous generations and want to work for a company that fundamentally believes in various causes beyond business. Additionally, millennials want to feel like they have an open and honest relationship with their manager and peers, and that there won’t be any nasty surprises when they join a company. Once they’ve signed on, they want assurance that their opinion is valued and both give and receive a good deal of feedback.

To sum up, it’s important to understand that any talent strategy has to be authentic and connected. The most simplistic way to portray a millennial is to understand that they want to create value for the organisations & want the same to be reciprocated. Elementary changes make a bigger impact than having a paradigm shift. So, let’s all work towards having a deeper, more meaningful impact on this tribe both in personal & professional spaces by doing things a bit differently every day.