FACEBOOK is the first Fortune-500 company founded and led by a millennial, and we pride ourselves on having built a workplace designed by and for this generation. So what does it take to attract and retain millennial talent?
Through employee surveys conducted over the past seven years, we’ve found out that millennials’ wants and needs are strikingly similar to those of colleagues from other generations:
FULFILLMENT. Millennials want to do meaningful work. And we know from our internal data here at Facebook that making a real, personal impact is part of achieving that meaning.
One way we create opportunities for employees to do this is by encouraging engineers who join the company to choose their teams, basing the decision in part on where they believe they will have the most impact, and in part, on organizational needs.
AUTHENTICITY. Millennials are often dismissed as narcissists because they share a lot—often on Facebook! We see nothing wrong with expressing one’s true self, both at home and at the office. Doing so translates into closer work-life integration and leaders who are more authentic and thus more effective.
STRENGTHS. Millennials play to their individual strengths, not because they’re too lazy or too afraid to try new things, but because they want to perform to the best of their abilities.
At Facebook, we work hard to match our people with opportunities that align with their skills and interests. For example, we let employees decide if they want to become managers or remain individual contributors. [They] don’t have to manage to move up.
LEARNING. Millennials want real-time feedback, ongoing coaching and stretch development opportunities sooner and more frequently than traditional corporate cultures provide. Consider CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s response when, several years ago, an intern told him that he needed to work on his public speaking.
After thanking the intern for the feedback, Zuckerberg continued to practice at our weekly internal Q&As and through external speaking opportunities. And we went on to hire the bold intern.
INITIATIVE. Another common criticism of millennials centers on their “sense of entitlement.” They want to be agents in the action, and they choose their own leaders, often unofficially.
But the result isn’t anarchy. It’s innovation that energizes both the individual and the company. That’s why we encourage people at all levels to put forward ideas and take the initiative to implement them.
Harvard Business School Publishing Corp.
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