This is the fourth in a five part series on Millennials in the workplace.

It’s really quite simple: retaining great employees saves you money. Replacing someone can cost anywhere from 20 to 200% of that person’s salary, depending which study you’ve read and the person’s role in the organization. Leaders know a low turnover rate is ideal for their company’s health. Industry and departmental changes aside (for example, Netflix changing from a company that shipped DVDs to one that streamed digital content), the lower your turnover, the better your organization’s knowledge retention, employee happiness, branding, and profitability.

So how do you go about retaining Millennials who have a reputation as job hoppers and not staying anywhere more than two years?

First, let’s dispel that myth. There’s no concrete evidence to suggest Gen Y is any more or less likely to leave their jobs sooner than other generations[i]. That being said, evidence suggests Millennials are less committed to their jobs than previous generations[ii]. While I don’t always agree with the reasons these studies cite, I do agree this youngest generation is the least engaged in a generally unengaged workforce.

At the end of the day, if you engage Gen Y, you’ll retain them. Assuming you’ve attracted and motivated them adequately, what are the keys to keeping them on board?

1. Embrace innovation

I feel this can’t be emphasized enough when it comes to keeping the youngest generation around longer than two years. Whether innovation is through technology or how you do business, embracing change and innovation is vital to retaining Gen Y. These “digital natives” simply won’t understand your reluctance to do so; they’ll feel your company is outdated if it isn’t continuously moving forward.

2. Challenge them

While enjoying challenge isn’t exclusive to any one generation, the Millennials see it as a requirement. If you want to keep them around longer than average, you’ll have to find new ways to challenge them and pique their curiosity. And taking advantage of their fresh perspective might even earn you some unexpected wins!

3. Coaching and Mentoring

More than previous generations, Gen Y understands the value of coaching and mentoring relationships, and their resulting partnerships. While I always recommend formal coaching and mentoring programs for organizations, even an informal one will help you take the right steps to retaining Millennial employees.

4. Create partnerships

A vital component to creating brand or organizational loyalty with Millennials is co-creating the value they see in it. This concept has been talked about in marketing but, when it comes to Millennials, it’s just as important in an organizational capacity. If you allow Gen Y to be a partner in their experience with your company (let them have input, give them control, allow them to customize) you’ll have much more loyal employees.

5. Help them contribute

Contributing, especially to the greater good, is one of the key distinguishing characteristics of Gen Y. If they feel they’re contributing to something beyond the bottom line, you’ll have created the right milieu for top-performing employees. And if your organization has clear policies on charitable contributions that align with employees’ belief systems, even better!

6. Employee experience

Your employee experience is so much more than a paycheque, signing agreements, or interactions with a manager or HR department. If you want to retain Gen Y, you have to start treating their employee experience as a process in and of itself from their first interest in the job to their last day at work (and becoming a potential customer).

Once you’ve created a culture that’s appealing to the next generation of leaders, you’ll be in an ideal position to grow your leadership pipeline and set yourself up for future success.

If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far, I encourage you to read the last part of this series: “Millennials as Leaders”.

[i] http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/enough-already-about-the-job-hopping-millennials/

[ii] http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2015/07/millennial-workers-are-less-engaged-and-less-stressed-than-other-workers

This is the first in a series of articles focused on Millennials in the workplace.

There’s been an increasing amount of chatter over the past few years about the Millennials or Generation Y. It seems every time you go to your favourite website there’s an article praising them for their community values, or berating them for their lack of work ethic (and everything in between). Regardless which camp you fall into, they’re a growing segment of the work force and you’ll have to embrace them if you want to keep your competitive advantage.

Like every generation that came before them, Millennials have been influenced by societal forces and share common traits. But like all generations, they’re made up of individuals with significant differences. While we might talk about the broad generalities most likely to shape the future, we always need to acknowledge the individuals, their circumstances and differences.

Generations always hyper-criticize the generation that follows them. Back in 1990, Time magazine wrote an article about Generation X with the tag-line “laid back, late blooming or just lost?” The article began:

“They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as one zap of a TV dial. They hate yuppies, hippies and druggies. They postpone marriage because they dread divorce. They sneer at Range Rovers, Rolexes and red suspenders. What they hold dear are family life, local activism, national parks, penny loafers and mountain bikes.”

Does this sound suspiciously familiar?

Some of the traits we associate with Millennials have less to do with their generation than with their “stage” in life. And therein lies my personal and professional issue with the terminologies used to describe generations. I’ve been working with Millennials since they were in grade school, right up to the present. Truth be told, depending what dates you use to define generations, I could be considered one myself. So let’s start with defining what a Millennial is.

Depending on your source, people who are considered Gen Y where born anywhere from 1976 to 2000. Recently, the consensus in media seems to be that anyone born between 1981 and 2000 qualifies as a Millennial (although it should be noted that not even ten years ago the date range was more in line with the years associated with Gen Y). Although this is a highly popular opinion, I disagree. In fact, I think it’s a marketing ploy to use (and popularize) the term “Millennial” in a way that makes sense when writing or speaking about them. The reality is that there are no hard lines defining the start and end dates for generations (perhaps with the exception of the Baby Boomers thanks to WWII). But in my experience and opinion, Gen Y was born between 1978 and 1995, and I’d apply the name Millennials to the following generation born between 1996 and 2014 — but that’s going down a whole different track! To avoid confusion, I’ll use the commonly accepted definition of Millennials and interchange the term Generation (or Gen) Y.

It’s important to note some of the commonalities in this generation, especially those that are relevant to Millennials in the workplace.

1. They’re highly educated. Considering they are the wealthiest generation to date, it is not surprising that they are also the most educated.

2. They’re very focused on community and family, and aren’t interested in working 80 hours a week to sacrifice these things.

3. They’re willing to speak up for what they believe they deserve, instead of accepting what’s given to them.

4. They require a lot of feedback — often in the form of praise, but also constructive criticism.

5. They’re exceptionally hard workers; but not in the “traditional” way, nor necessarily during “traditional” hours.

6. They believe the person who does the best work should be rewarded, not just the person who’s been there the longest, or has seniority.

7. They expect access to leadership.

8. They want to be included in conversations and decisions, and feel they’re valued.

9. They are digital natives- technology is a part of their identity.

10. They’re team-oriented and this makes them very loyal — under the right circumstances.

11. Learning and growing is fundamentally important to them.

12. They need to understand why they’re doing things.

As the number of Millennials in the workforce increases, the more leadership teams and companies will have to adapt to their influence on the workplace. In fact, the companies that maintain and increase their competitive edge will be the ones that embrace the changes this generation brings — and learn how to attract, retain, and develop Generation Y.

Click here to read the second in this series: “Attracting Millennials”