We have all heard statistics stating “millennials surpass Gen-Xers as the largest generation in U.S. labor force” and “millennials are now the largest living generation in the United States.” Companies that don’t respond to the new millennial mindsets about embracing emerging technology and change in the workplace face real business challenges.

PwC faced "crisis-level attrition," says Jonathan Amy, a PwC training executive, in an article for QuartzatWork. “The attrition, coupled with reluctance at college recruiting events, made clear how unenthused the new generation was with the company’s culture. PwC’s youngest employees were leaving at rates incomparable to previous generations. As soon as they got the opportunity to go somewhere else, they went.”

Technology is no longer a side conversation among the upper echelons of corporate management. Technology and the employee experience are at the heart of what makes millennials accept and leave jobs.

Here are five ways you can better engage your employees and avoid attrition through smartly designed technology solutions.

Enable fulfillment

We all accept our jobs for a reason. Some of us may love the challenge of exploring an uncharted technological frontier while others may prefer the detail-oriented procedural work of accounting. Whatever the reason, the opportunity to do a job that you love is a big factor in employee engagement and job satisfaction. Employees need to feel that their unique skills are valued and utilized.

“For all millennials have done in existing workplaces, they’ve also created new workplaces. This isn’t about startups or new companies; it’s about turning their passions into thriving careers,” says Forbes. “Many within this generation want to fulfill an entrepreneurial goal: making a living doing what they love.”

Unfortunately, several things can stand in the way of achieving job optimization for employees and the business functions that they support. Competing priorities at the enterprise level can unintentionally burden employees with unrelated (and unwelcome) tasks.

The good news? Often these tasks can be minimized or mitigated all together through the strategic use of technology. Click here for our list of 8 Google Chrome Extensions for Security & Productivity.

Provide opportunities to grow

“Here’s the thing: many organizations are deactivating the part of employees’ brains called the seeking system. Our seeking systems create the natural impulse to explore our worlds, learn about our environments, and extract meaning from our circumstances. When we follow the urges of our seeking system, it releases dopamine—a neurotransmitter linked to motivation and pleasure—that makes us want to explore more,” writes Daniel M. Cable, Professor of Organizational Behavior.

For companies to retain their top talent and keep their brains engaged, creating new opportunities is key.

Employees in traditional work environments often seek new jobs through internal promotions - where they believe they can finally escape the monotony of administrative burdens. Unfortunately, “promotions that do happen incrementally are often administrative formalities, like adding "senior" to or shredding "associate" from your current title -- but the odds of a significant increase or change in responsibilities often don't follow,” says HubSpot writer, Lindsay Kolowich. She continues to explain that valuable promotions come when an employee goes above their job requirements or when a business need has been identified.

Empower responsible employees

In the modern, telecommuting-centric corporate era, it comes as no surprise that employees want to be trusted to tackle their own responsibilities without overbearing micromanagement.

“Millennials, in many cases, have grown up under a style of parenting that supported individual empowerment, where the kids were almost always included in family decision-making,” Forbes points out.

Autonomy and transparency in the workplace are becoming more commonplace and, as a result, are becoming an employee expectation. What’s holding organizations back? It’s often a company’s concern for their sensitive information and intellectual property that creates work-from-home hesitations.

Businesses are moving to Google Workspace because they want to radically improve collaboration, efficiency, and the user experience millennials crave. Applications like AOBox allow teams and collaborators to securely share, access, and interact with files directly through Google Drive, regardless of whether they have a Google account.

Facilitate collaboration

With the integration of new enterprise technology tools like Google Workspace, individuals enjoy the benefits of a personalized and productive work lifestyle. Companies also profit from dynamic, collaborative teams.

Human connection is essential to our well-being. We may not all require the same ratio of socialization to personal space. We may indulge in different hobbies, cuisines, and living accommodations. Despite our differences, though, we all crave a sense of belonging. Connectedness is a fundamental necessity of the human condition and doesn’t cease to exist between 9am - 5pm. Employees need to be engaged to thrive in the workplace.

Companies can achieve this engagement and employee satisfaction through collaboration platforms like Workplace by Facebook. Within weeks, you'll be amazed by how Workplace improves communication, increases engagement, and revives your IT ecosystem.

Support success through process and workflows

Structured processes, defined expectations, and access to resources are also just as important to employees as exercising their own passions and lifestyle liberties.

Employees want to know that their efforts are in alignment with their teams’ priorities and that they are accomplishing milestones with accuracy and timeliness. Clearly defined processes and directives empower employees with confidence that they are doing the right things, in the right order, and at the right time.

This is why the ability to build human-friendly business applications is at the heart of AODocs' content management platform. Giving employees tools that are intuitive, have a nice UI/UX, and increase efficiency is key to improving employee engagement and retention.

“The simple truth is that design and user experience considerations can unlock huge collaborative synergies within an organization. Why can't work projects be searched as effortlessly as Facebook friends? Why can't invoices be called up as quickly as an Uber?” - Stéphane Donzé

To schedule your personalized demo and consultation of AODocs, click here.

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