Here are 5 traits sociologists identify as common to Millennials. Of course, other factors such as personality and upbringing help make us the individuals we are, so not all Millennials are alike.

However, if you find that you and your senior staff are sometimes at odds with your newer employees, recognizing these traits will help you improve morale and boost productivity.

1. They expect a balance between work and life. Many in this generation grew up constantly in motion with school, extracurricular activities, family and friends. So the lines between work and play are blurred, and multitasking is natural. As employees, they are willing to work hard, as long as management understands their need for flexibility where their personal life is concerned. This means supervisors should be clear about performance expectations and, as long as these are met, accept that these employees may do things differently, like taking time to respond to a text message.
2. They need to understand their role. Millennials tend to be mission-driven, which means it’s important for them to know precisely what contribution they make to the company and how important what they do is to the organization’s success. Moreover, they need a clear idea of where the company is headed and what that means for their futures.
3. They’re all about career growth. It’s important to have opportunities for high performers to advance within the company. Upward mobility is an important attribute of this generation, and they tend to be impatient to move up. If you interview a Millennial with these aspirations, clearly define their path to growth so there won’t be any misunderstanding.
4. Millennials want to be appreciated. Most of us enjoy being recognized for our performance, but it’s especially important to this generation. Having been raised by attentive parents and rewarded for participation as much as achievement, Millennials need their efforts to be acknowledged. Come up with ways to recognize the contributions all of your employees make to the company’s success, and be generous with sincere affirmations such as randomly stopping to say, “I appreciate all you do for us” as you walk the factory floor.
5. They “get” digital. Having been brought up during an era of explosive advancements in technology, Millennials are much more at home in the digital world than previous generations. After all, for them PCs have always been around, they’ve always played video games and they graduated from old-fashioned email to instant messaging and texting. The good news is that this makes them excellent prospects for learning advanced CNC machine programming, and taking advantage of IIot (the Industrial Internet of Things).

Millennial employees bring a wealth of opportunities and a few challenges to your business. LNS can help you increase the productivity of this tech-savvy generation with the advancements in bar feeding, chip and coolant management, air filtration and work holding.

Learn more by contacting your local LNS representative or calling 513-528-5674.