While the secret to attracting millennials may remain unsolved for some carriers, a new survey involving multiple industries offers at least one fresh recruitment clue. Trust turns out to be one recruiting tool that helps retain younger employees.
Millennials are 22 times more likely to want to work at a company for a long time when they believe it has a high-trust culture, according to the “2018 Best Workplaces for Millennials,” an annual ranking produced by Great Places to Work, a global people analytics and consulting firm, in partnership with FORTUNE. Baby Boomers, by contrast, are 13 times more likely to stay when trust is strong, and Gen X-ers are 16 times more likely, according to the survey.
The survey is based on responses from employees in multiple industries, including information technology, financial services and insurance, construction and real estate, manufacturing and production, hospitality, healthcare, retail, transportation, telecommunications, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals and real estate.
Flight Risk
Why is trust so important? The survey found that millennials, versus Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers, tend to have a stagnant experience as they move up the ranks and want to leave. But when leaders show how much they value their millennial employees as people, organizations see more than 8 times an improvement in agility, and a 7 times improvement in their ability to innovate. Young employees who see a high level of trust at their companies want to stick around and grow, the survey found.
What’s more, millennials that like where they work are often the particular company’s biggest cheerleaders. Millennials who like their workplace are “49 times more likely to endorse their company to friends and family,” according to the survey’s key findings.
Overall, 88 percent of younger employees said they planned to stay long-term and work at the 100 highest ranked companies, and these same employees were almost 3 times as likely to be engaged at work versus those other demographics. Great Places to Work CEO Michael Bush said that result meant that “these employers have cracked the code on how to retain millennials.”
The survey came up with a five-part recommendation to keep millennial talent at your company: create authentic and meaningful professional opportunities, focus on your millennial leaders, lead with sincerity, strengthen your employer brand and offer a great workplace for all.
On the actual ranking of the 100 best workplaces for millennials, Progressive Insurance was the highest ranked carrier, at number 10. Ultimate Software ranked first. Rankings are based on feedback from more than 398,000 employees at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations.
Source: Great Places to Work