Big Idea 2014: Re-Engage with Millennials or Prepare to be Irrelevant

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers pick one big idea that will shape 2014. See all the ideas here.

According to a recent Gallup survey, “The state of the Global workplace”, only 13% of employees are truly engaged at work. Over 60% are just working because they need a job, without any real energy or passion. This leads to an estimated annual loss of $500 billion in the US alone, and $50 billion in Germany for instance.

Why are employees so disengaged? There are obviously many different reasons, depending on the culture of the company, its sector of activity and its nationality, but there is a worldwide trend and I would offer that there are two powerful underlying forces at work that have a strong influence: a growing mistrust of large companies and institutions, and the arrival of a new generation in the work force. And they are linked to each other.

On one hand, companies that have been around for two or three decades have been mainly focused on shareholder value, based almost solely on financial performance, and organized around the control and command concept. And this still is a predominant model despite recent efforts by some to demonstrate they care about their impact on communities and the environment. Most of these companies were created before the web emerged, before Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Twitter were born: these platforms have dramatically changed the way people are seeking and sharing information, and how they want their voice to be heard.

Looking for companies with a real purpose.

Millennials - people born in the 80s and 90s - on the other hand, have been using new media extensively since well before their first job. Moreover they were born and raised in the midst of a new surge of globalization, and a new awareness about the need for sustainable development. And today they are a significant force in the workforce.

I think this reality is generating a cultural clash. It is absolutely crucial that long-established companies understand this gap in culture and behavior, that they learn how to attract, nurture and retain young talent. Their future depends on it. The new generation is looking for jobs and companies that have a real purpose, they like the concept of performance with a purpose, associated with corporate citizenship and participation. Most of those who are entering the job market have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and companies need to grasp how to combine this appetite for innovation, independence and freedom of speech with their global structure and business goals.

“Intrapreneurs” as the new employees

In fact, I would argue that most companies must re-invent themselves in light of powerful transformational forces: they need to become social enterprises, places were young talent feel they can truly influence the future of the business, were they can actively participate to innovation and the creation of new services. We should probably stop speaking of employees and promote the idea of co-entrepreneurs, or intrapreneurs. Otherwise the biggest threat to a sustainable development of many companies is disengaged staff, a very passive attitude, a lack of motivation and a difficulty to simply update the overall skillset. Companies should seriously encourage incubation instead of acquisition, when developing new specific expertise.

Greater transparency at all levels.

What makes things even more challenging for traditional companies is that, in the last ten years, young entrepreneurs have successfully - and very visibly - created their own companies. Today these people are considered role models for the younger generation. Many examples can be seen within the technology sector and it's little surprise then that tech seems to be more attractive to young talent than manufacturing, the energy sector or financial services. GenYers look at what happened to Instagram employees and see that they created an amazing wealth in a very short period of time. “If they could do it why can’t I do it myself”: is something we often hear from the most ambitious.

So the challenge is clearly about reconciling the values of the organization with the expectations and the values of this generation. And this can only be achieved through engagement 2.0 - let’s call it re-engagement.

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n 2014, Millennials will represent 47% of the workforce in the US and will be in leadership positions much earlier in their careers than previous generations. And we see the same phenomenon in China, Brazil or India. These employees need to be trained in leadership skills from the very start. They simply do not like traditional hierarchy and will want to work with a manager they respect and learn from: hence, mentoring and shadowing schemes are good tools to engage and grow GenY in an organization.

To them, social connectivity means freedom to engage spontaneously with various communities they belong to, at work and outside their company.

Connected as the new generation is, they can either be your ambassadors or your detractors: they are sharing on anonymous review sites like Glassdoor, The job crowd in the UK or Kununu in Germany.

So, in 2014, companies should focus on reorganizing themselves to offer motivating opportunities and responsibilities faster to their talent pool. They must use social networks internally to encourage co-creation, and they must accept greater transparency and participation in absolutely everything they do. Perhaps it's less of a big idea, and more of a Big Imperative?