David Kiger took the time to find out what companies are doing wrong when it comes to millennials and what mistakes are commonly made in the workplace.

1. By David KigerCourtesy of Dice.com at Flickr.com

2. Around this time the only thing we hear in the workplace is : what
are we going to do about millennials? There is an amazing interview
with Simon Sinek where he explains how millennials behave in the
workplace and how they feel when they are within a company.
Simon explains how they were dealt with a bad hand and how they
are coping in today’s workplace. And it is not a good picture.
For companies it is impossible not to have them in the company or
to avoid them since they are one of the largest demographic groups
that are being thrown into the workforce atmosphere. Managers are
having problems managing them and often make too many mistakes
when they have to tell them what to do. For example, millennials
use smartphones and gadgets that they can handle with their
thumbs, they work listening to music in their headphones and they
have conversations with their managers while they are looking at 5
different windows in their computers.

3. A lot of leaders and managers don’t know what to do and have
classified them within a stereotype that does not benefit them
at all. Within this context, managers and companies are
making big mistakes with this generation and this is resulting
in big money losses or processes being slow and painful.
What are those common mistakes? David Kiger took the time
to find out what companies are doing wrong when it comes to
millennials and what mistakes are commonly made in the
workplace.

4. First, let’s talk about training. When companies are training millennials
they do not know what content to give them. They assume that
millennials don’t want training in certain aspects like technical issues.
Leaders think that they should ask them what they want and most of
the times they don’t even know. So not having the right content is a big
mistake for leaders and for employees as well. Millennials also want
training in self-management and productivity and most of the times
companies fail to give them that.
When leaders don’t explain millennials what the trainings are about
and how trainings will be useful in their lives and careers, they fall into
another mistake. Leaders are failing to explain this and they think that
the training is enough. Leaders need to show millennials the
applicability of the training and how it is going to be useful for them in
the future. The training can’t just be about learning, it needs to have an
application in the real world and they need to see it clearly.

5. The previous takes us to another point. Incredibly a lot of
companies are leaving out the digital component in their training
and relationships with millennials. Some trainings are face to face,
which is not a bad thing, but it makes all the relationship and
training for them boring and slow.
Yet, another mistake that companies and leaders make when it
comes to millennials is to not provide enough feedback. Everybody
wants to know what they are doing right and wrong and millennials
are no exception. Millennials want to know what the plan is and
how they are executing it even more than their older peers who are
more relaxed and can wait for results to arrive.
Now, after talking about training mistakes that companies make
with their millennial employees, let’s take a look at broader
mistakes made by companies that affect the long term relationship
of millennials and the company.

6. One of the biggest mistakes a company can make with their
millennial employees is not to give them space and
opportunities to grow. In the video related before in this
article, Simon says that millennials are lacking the skills to cope
with life and that is seen in the workforce. A lot of millennials
go to the working atmosphere without the right information to
cope with life and that has to be taught in the workplace. If a
company or a leader does not understand this, millennials will
quit and look for another job as soon as they can because they
are not getting what they need for life from the company.
Unfortunately this is the way it is and it could be blamed on
parents or school. But if the company does not allow them to
learn such skill, they will simply quit.

7. Another big mistake made by companies is to only delegate work on
millennials and not make them part of the whole process.
Millennials often feel that they have to take part of the deal or they
will feel excluded. Leaders fail to ask millennials for input and give
them a voice when designing their tasks.
All of the previous mistakes are being made by leaders that fail to
understand this generation and that assume many things about
millennials without knowing them (that they are entitled, lazy,
absent minded or irresponsible) and if they don’t take the time to
work hand by hand with them, their companies will struggle since
this is the generation that is filling the chairs in the workplaces.
Be sure to also read this article about other common mistakes made
by leaders.