
Subscribe
New research by Global Tolerance found that 62 percent of surveyed millennials “only want to work for an organization that delivers social and environmental impacts.” Rosie Warin, CEO of Global Tolerance, describes this as a values revolution in millennial generation recruiting. It is the Green Economic Revolution reshaping how HR directors win and keep millennial generation work associates! Warin's warning to all companies is that failing to live up to the CSR or values expectations of millennials can mean “only having access to one-third of the millennial generation talent pool.“
These are the three CSR criteria that millennials use in evaluating a company, a job and job offer:
Find each job function’s CSR passion. Millennials prioritize values and work-meaning over money. They have increased motivation when their jobs align with their passions. Aligning with the millennial generation’s passions for sustainability and social responsibility will require outreach across business functions to identify such values in each job function. For example, millennial generation engineers will be attracted to manufacturing operations that deploy zero waste best practices that are an emerging business norm at Dupont and GM.
Offer collaborative and energy efficient work environments. By now most companies have figured out that the millennial generation expect to work collaboratively. In response they have adopted more collaborative space designs. These more collaborative space designs are often more energy efficient because they use sustainable building design best practices like natural lighting. Their higher occupancy per square foot typically results in increased energy efficiency. The interior designs that use repurposed fixtures go even further in aligning with the millennial generation’s focus on sustainable use of resources and their affinity for a sharing economy. Offering work space that is “cool with a purpose” is a HR recruiting best practice for winning millennial generation work associates.
Timely and transparent communications. This is the generation that drove the success of Twitter and Facebook. They expect communications to be personal, authentic, succinct and transparent. For example, vague HR cliches like “we will be in touch” fail in being transparent on the candidate's real potential for winning a job. Leaving a voice mail message appears old fashion. Providing millennial generation job candidates a brochure about the company’s CSR department looks like propaganda. What does work in recruiting millennials is to provide them access to work associates that are making a difference through their jobs.
Feed them sustainably sourced food. The millennial generation is very focused on food. It is a point of social engagement. It fulfills their desire for diversity. Food grazing is their eating norm. Their diets are typically foreign to most company’s boomer generation senior officers who could benefit from their best practices for controlling their weight. Offering the millennial generation free food and the opportunity to graze in the work environmentis hugely attractive to potential millennial generation job candidates. Even more so when this food is sustainably sourced and promotes healthy living.
Bill Roth is a cleantech business pioneer having led teams that developed the first hydrogen fueled Prius and a utility scale, non-thermal solar power plant. Using his CEO and senior officer experiences, Roth has coached hundreds of CEOs and business owners on how to develop and implement projects that win customers and cut costs while reducing environmental impacts. As a professional economist, Roth has written numerous books including his best selling The Secret Green Sauce (available on Amazon) that profiles proven sustainable best practices in pricing, marketing and operations. His most recent book, The Boomer Generation Diet (available on Amazon) profiles his humorous personal story on how he used sustainable best practices to lose 40 pounds and still enjoy Happy Hour!