Corporate E-Learning

More than ever, millennials – those born between 1980 and 1995 – are entering the workforce and becoming a vital part of our organizations. These workers bring a unique outlook on life to their jobs, and may also pose unique challenges. Taking time to customize the onboarding process for millennial employees helps promote employee retention and ensures that millennials are properly socialized into the workplace. Customizing the onboarding process for millennial employees benefits both the employee and the workplace.

Onboarding is one of the most important investments organizations make in their employees. A sound onboarding process not only gathers the necessary paperwork from a new hire, but socializes them into the workplace and the job. Onboarding is more than just new hire orientation. It is a continuous process of bringing the new hire into the organization, helping them develop, providing feedback and integrating the new hire into the organization and team. Far from a one-time event, the onboarding process can encompass the first 180 days of a new hire’s tenure at your organization

Preparing your employees for success starts long before they arrive for their first day on the job. A sound onboarding process not only helps to integrate new hires into the workplace, it prepares them to succeed in the first days and months on the job and over the long haul. A quality onboarding process goes beyond just new employee orientation -- it supports employees as they grow comfortable in the job and the organization.

As members of the Millennial generation – otherwise known as Gen Y – begin to enter the workforce, workplaces and organizations must change to meet their unique talents and challenges. Employees of the generation have different expectations for their working lives and careers, and the savvy organization takes these into account from the moment of hire and through the onboarding process.

Having a comprehensive onboarding checklist – from pre-arrival through the first day and up through the employee’s first 90 to 180 days – can help when onboarding Millennial employees. Because Millennials thrive on interaction and feedback, having a checklist of what they should be learning and experiencing at various steps in the onboarding process helps the manager provide the type of mentoring and feedback Millennials need. It also helps in the process of investiture socialization we discussed in Module Four.

One of the most important things that a manager can do in the onboarding process is engaging the millennial employee. Millennials are interactive – they thrive when they can explore, do, and experience. Finding ways to engage Millennials throughout the onboarding process not only ensures that the process goes smoothly, but helps get them invested in the organization. An invested employee is an employee more likely to stay with the organization for the long run.

Even more than most employees, Millennials need follow-up during the onboarding process. Regular check ins allow managers to gauge strengths and weaknesses, address needs and questions, and provide the interaction and feedback Millennials need to thrive. Scheduling regular formal and informal follow-ups throughout the first 90 to 180 days is key to successfully onboarding and ultimately retaining Millennials.

Setting expectations should be a central part of the onboarding process. This allows the employee to know what is expected of him or her, and what he or she can expect from the organization. Millennials in particular benefit when they are given clear expectations, both in terms of what is required of them and in terms of what they can reasonably expect from others. Incorporating clear expectations starting with onboarding is one way to help Millennials feel both that the organization invests in them, and that they can invest in the organization.

Millennials thrive when they are mentored. They are used to a high level of interaction with the significant more knowledgeable others in their lives – teachers, parents, bosses. Establishing mentoring relationships with millennial employees during the onboarding process helps not only to make them more comfortable in the job, but conveys that the organization is invested in them as people. Millennials value recognition and having time and energy invested in them. Make mentoring part of the onboarding process as you bring Millennials into your organization.

One of the most important things that employees learn in the onboarding process is how they will be assigned work, what expectations for work are, and how they will be rewarded or compensated. When assigning work to the millennial employee, managers and supervisors should keep in mind these employees’ need for structure, specific guidelines and clear expectations, and feedback.

Feedback is a vital part of onboarding and nurturing any employee, but it is especially important for Millennials. Taking the time to provide frequent quality feedback helps Millennials feel that the organization is invested in them and their success. Because Millennials are used to receiving feedback often from many people in their lives, they tend to do their best work in a feedback-rich environment.

Although this workshop is coming to a close, we hope that your journey to understanding the process of onboarding Millennials is just beginning. Please take a moment to review and update your action plan. This will be a key tool to guide your progress in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. We wish you the best of luck on the rest of your travels!