Engaging employees has been a concern for many organizations in recent years and with a new generation of employees in the workplace, the challenge has evolved quite a bit. Many researches have established connections between employee engagement and business performance, whether it’s for attracting and retaining talent, greater productivity, profitability or reputation.
Gallup found that organizations scoring in the top half on employee engagement nearly doubled their odds of success compared with those in the bottom half.1
Are you ready to engage the millennials that will represent 75% of the workforce by 20252?
The employees of the millennial generation, born between 1980 and 2000, have been raised with technology. They are always connected, networking. In their world, everything is instantaneous and the line between work and leisure is blurred.
To give you an idea of how they will transform our worspace, here’s what a typical day looks like for a millennial compare with a baby-boomer.
Baby-boomers and Gen X typical workday
Millennials typical workday
Source: http://mry.com/micro-leisure/
How social media can influence employee engagement
With millennials lifestyle and values, the organization culture has to adapt and reflect the flexibility, collaboration and innovation this generation needs.
According to an international research conducted by KPMG, the satisfaction level of employees was higher in organizations who allow access to social media. It also enhances knowledge transfer and wellbeing in the workplace. Even more than that, a third of employees who used social media to share posts on their employers will share positive comments. Isn’t it a great engagement sign? 3
L’Oréal has successfully listened to their employees and embraces this culture shift. They have added a social network for employees that complement their social tools for business sales. Their internal social tool allows employees to collaborate and share, with the same business objective in mind. It is also easier for management to communicate with employees so that everyone in the organization is aligned.4
Social media has definitively an impact on millennials engagement at work, not only for all the benefits associated but certainly because of the culture of trust and transparency behind.
1 http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/163130/employee-engagement-drives-growth.aspx
2 http://fortune.com/2015/06/02/3-ways-employers-can-engage-millennials-at-work/
3http://www.forbes.com/sites/karenhigginbottom/2014/04/14/social-media-ignites-employee-activism/
4http://www.salesforce.com/ca/customers/stories/loreal.jsp