So, Do You Want to Retain Free Spirited Employees?

Are you frustrated that your younger employees are leaving?
This creates an enormous amount of stress and conflict in the workplace.
Your company spends time and money training and mentoring them.

You may feel lucky if your new hires stay employed for 2 years!

This is a new work reality.
The challenge is how to keep the younger and very gifted employees from jumping ship and engaged at work.

I just read a very interesting article on this subject from one of my favorite clients – Express Employment Professionals
from Grand Rapids, MI.  They gave me permission to share this article with my loyal readers.

For more workforce and workplace trends, please contact Express Employment Professionals, www.expresspros.com

Retaining the Free-Spirited Employee
By James C. Price • November 6th, 2012

Technology is making the world smaller. With the swipe of a finger, images and videos from all over the globe can appear on a smartphone in a matter of seconds. Satellite and internet radio have opened listeners to thoughts and ideas about anything and everything. Now more than ever, the free spirit’s adventurous nature is whetted with temptations and passions to discover these places for themselves. Younger generations are finding that work should revolve around their lives, shifting the mindset that has driven workplace thinking for decades. This, mixed with the itch to experience new and exciting things, has left employers with a retention problem. Generally, Generation Y workers leave at the two-year mark and Gen Xers move on after five years, compared to the Baby Boomer generation that averages seven years at each position. This descending trend, including younger people’s desire for adventure, has created a revolving door of sorts in which go-getting, creative individuals are hard to come by.

Why Adventure-Seeking Workers are Immensely Important

A great team is made up of a diverse group of people. Hard workers, go-getters, followers, leaders, free thinkers, and self-starters all create an atmosphere of symmetrical synergy. Though some employees may be extremely loyal, they may lack the creativity and spontaneity needed to stay relevant and innovative. Enter the dreamer. This person may be hard to cooperate with and find commonality in work ethic, but this is exactly the catalyst needed to spark passionate creativity in the workplace. Adventurous people are constantly searching for the next big thrill, wanting to experience life in new and exciting ways. This mentality can easily be harnessed as a strength, not a weakness, as employers understand the potential that sits below the surface.

How to Corral the Untamed World

Utilizing people’s personality and character traits as tools to carve out high productivity is one of the best things a leader can do to bring balance in the workplace. To begin, creativity needs to be the number one focus. Whatever it takes to keep this delicate entity alive and well is paramount in engaging the roaming employee. This is by far the main reason why companies hire these types of individuals. Thwarting this gift by being overly rigid is the quickest way for your top talent to walk out the door – or even worse, for them to continue coming into the office after they have checked-out mentally. If an employee has a case of restlessness, companies could offer to send them on trips to conferences or office visits in other parts of the country. And if there are several branches or franchises affiliated with a company, a manager could send the employee for a temporary transfer to one of the other offices. Though, more often than not, the easiest way to achieve employee engagement is by offering this type of worker the ability to work remotely.

Loyalty Begets Loyalty

One misconception about younger generations, especially Millennials, is that they aren’t loyal to any particular company and are eager to leave and move on to greener pastures should the opportunity arise. In truth, workers who are pegged with this mentality are actually a product of the times. They saw their parents and older siblings lose their jobs during the Great Recession, along with their pension plans, investments, and benefits. Younger workers have devalued work tenure and have become less loyal as large companies have become less loyal to them. Employers view Millennials and some Gen Xers in the wrong light. With a few changes, adventurous, creative workers can be retained and help bring companies into the future.

 The Journey is the Adventure

Adrenaline and travel junkies would be the first to say that how they get somewhere is just as important as where they are going. This is the most important thing to remember when wanting to retain and use creative, adventurous people. They want to know that it’s not just a means to an end, but that the means are as exciting as the goal itself. One can use these opportunities to make a shift in mindset. Though not everyone is going to be this type of person, everyone can learn from their spontaneous, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants approach. Who knows, it could be the beginning of innovation unforeseen by their leaders.

Check out my short video on “Communicating with Generation X and Y”

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Until Next Time,
This is Joyce Weiss
and Remember…”You Get What YOU Tolerate!”