One of my early jobs was with a Fortune 500 company. I was placed into a salaried position that was talked about as being an ‘easy desk’. And after a few weeks of becoming accustomed to the job, that label became an understatement. My compensation was the same as my peers, but it only took me about 20 hours per week to g above and beyond what was required of the job. Which would have been fantastic, were it not for the requirement that I be in the office for 8 hours per day. This led to a great deal of frustration, as I felt under-utilized and as if my time were being wasted. When I talked to supervision and others about the problem, I was told that I should be thankful for such an easy job. But I wasn’t….I wanted to work hard.
A traditional analysis of this situation would lead to the reasonable conclusion that the Millenial in question is simply impatient. And there may be credence to such an argument. But I want to approach from the perspective of untapped opportunity, rather than sticking to the status quo.
Millennials are a very time-sensitive generation; specifically, they are sensitive to passively wasted time. Passively wasted time and actively wasted time are two very different things. Actively wasted time is that time often referred to in pop culture as “time well wasted”[1], or time that, if enjoyed being wasted, isn’t wasted time.[2] These are the days spent on the beach tanning, rainy afternoons with a book, a glass of wine in the evening to unwind. Passively wasted time, on the other hand, is time being wasted due to external forces. Think of this as being stuck in traffic, waiting at the doctor’s office for your appointment, or those ‘appointment windows’ given by cable companies.
When Millennial time-sensitivity is combined with the Millennials’ willingness to leave jobs with which they are dissatisfied, and simply being frequently bored can lead to Millennials leaving a firm. Some may claim that the salary is enough to hold a Millennial in a position. But if you look at the research in some of my past posts, Millennials would rather do something they enjoy for free (or at additional expense) than be bored for money.
And busy work doesn’t cut it – that’s what my supervision tried with me. They were just attempting to simply fill the hours in the day, rather than assign meaningful work. But what should companies do about this? One of my first mentors accomplishes this very well with her primarily Millennial team. Job assignments and expectations are given, but in addition a ‘menu of options’ for side-projects and professional development work are given. These are things that don’t have to be done, but would still add value to the firm if accomplished (included in that is professional development). The fear may be that, without a specific directive, the Millennial employees will not accomplish the side projects, choosing to waste time instead. But due to the innate aversion to boredom, these projects will be picked up and worked on with vigor, because the alternative is passively wasted time.
So don’t decry that Millennials constantly need stimulation and want to always be multi-tasking. Rather, leverage this to the capitalization of your firm. Not only will the business results be better, but Millennial retention will be better.
[1] Brad Paisley, Time Well Wasted
[2] John Lennon, need to find proper source.