Performance management is a nurturing process for an employee’s holistic development, so that the employee is motivated to make effective contributions to the organization. But performance management is rarely done the right way in some organizations. The reason being, the performance processes are not done in a periodic manner. Goals need to be reviewed on a monthly or quarterly basis, failing which employees will be left ambiguous regarding what is expected out of them. But why is this particularly important for millennials? Do you think annual reviews are good enough? 

Millennials will occupy half-the workforce by 2020. They are unlike our predecessors when it comes to staying in their jobs. Job security used to be an important factor that was required by Gen X employees. However, when it comes to Gen Y employees, they are not very concerned about job security. They hunt for opportunities and growth. Therefore, they wouldn’t mind switching jobs for that reason. They are often perceived as individuals having a sense of entitlement. They are usually characterized by their impatience and shrewdness. Therefore, when it comes to performance processes, they prefer it to be straightforward. 

In this article, we shall discuss some of the factors that could be transformed in such a way that performance management becomes a beneficial process for millennial employees: 

Workplace trends 

Workplace trends are changing ever since millennials are occupying the workforce. It is great to see how employees have more freedom and choice in terms of their schedules and the ways in which they perform their tasks. Employees prefer autonomy over their tasks because they want to be accountable for the tasks that they perform. Managers often feel the need to intervene, however, employees perceive it as a sign of mistrust. 

Career advancement 

Job security has become a redundant concept for millennials. They switch jobs rapidly. Millennials do not stay in their jobs for more than two years. This is primarily because they find certain traditional practices redundant. Especially when it comes to annual performance appraisals. Annual appraisals do not suffice in terms of getting the accurate information from the reviewers. Therefore, no one benefits from such reviews because there is no career advancement.  

Since businesses are concerned about growth, employees are concerned about their career development. The problem with annual performance reviews is that they do not help with employees’ career aspirations. In addition to that, since job hopping has become a common thing with millennials, it results in reduced employee retention. Therefore, periodic performance appraisals partnered with continuous feedback and rewards, help in employee self-development and business growth. Such a mechanism also results in better employee engagement.  

Importance of feedback 

There are a lot of things millennials expect when it comes to their workplace culture. They prefer it to be very friendly and supportive. It is important to have a positive work culture. Continuous feedback is one of the essential elements in a strong workplace culture. Employees need consistent support from their superiors. The problem with most companies is that they put all their energy into the recruitment and onboarding process.  

They do the minimal when it comes to employee engagement and retention. Having a mentoring program, for instance could do wonders in motivating millennial employees. Since, we have discussed earlier that continuous feedback helps employees to review their personal goals and their career progression, annual performance reviews are not constructive and supportive. Feedback that is produced in annual performance reviews are not very development oriented. 

Conclusion 

Companies must come up with effective strategies to increase job satisfaction among millennial employees and align employee goals with business objectives. Doing this would help employees understand how they are contributing to the overall success of the business. Millennials would always prefer a sense of direction and expand their goals and do things that are challenging. Then they would rather do something challenging other than switch to new job roles.  

In addition to that, companies must think of leveraging technology to improve performance management in the organization. Investing in a good performance management software can do wonders because, millennials are digital natives and a PMS software is a digital platform for continuous communication.