SME News September 2017

10 SME NEWS / September 2017 , As SMEs globally face skills shortages and employment issues, DBI Furniture Solutions provides five reasons whymillennials make great employees Millennials Make Great Employees Says Furniture Specialist Millennials have had more than their fair share of bad press lately. Dubbed the ‘go nowhere’ generation, they’re often associated with a lazy, risk-averse attitude, but are they just misunderstood? With inspirational millennial entrepreneurs making headlines and many businesses investing in a millennial workforce, it would seem so. Nick Pollitt, Managing Director of office furniture provider DBI Furniture Solutions, spoke to a range of businesses and found that millennials could be one of your business’s biggest assets. 1) They crave responsibility and thrive when empowered One of the most common criticisms aimed at millennials is that they’re self-entitled – possibly down to their parents’ openness to involve them in family decisions as children. Giving them a sense of responsibility from a young age, this kind of parenting has led many young people to feel they should also be able to have similar input in the workplace. However, this trait can actually be of significant benefit to employers if they approach it in the right way. Give a millennial employee ownership of a particular area (no matter how small), and they’ll feel infinitely more valued, and that their work is having a real impact on the wider business. Joshua Hebert, CEO of Magellan Jets, says: “Give millennials a boring task without a reason, and they’ll give you boring results. Give them a share in the idea you’re putting into play, however, and they are more likely to turn in work you never imagined.” Boosting morale and motivation, businesses adopting a team structure that focuses on empowering younger employees are likely to see a happier, more dynamic workforce. This kind of environment also breeds skilled workers, with further benefits down the line when these employees are able to step up to higher positions without hesitation thanks to their experience. 2) They’re open to change Thanks to their parents encouraging them to speak up, millennials are conditioned to openly question processes in a business if they think they can be improved. Rather than starting work and blindly following the rules because “that’s how things have always been done”, millennial workers are open to change and likely to challenge things when older workers would perhaps be more reserved. People development consultant Susy Roberts says: “Generation Y aren’t more demanding – but they are different. They’ve been brought up in a team environment and encouraged to speak up when things aren’t right. And this, as any good business coach will tell you, is simply best practice. With millennials, it’s definitely not all about money. An open working culture that respects individual views and opinions is essential.” While some business owners may see this as a lack of respect for authority, that is simply not the case. Keen to make their mark and not afraid to challenge the status quo, millennials can help shape a business for the better, bringing in inventive ways of thinking that can streamline processes and increase efficiency.