In the first quarter of 2015, the workplace demographic shift that had been predicted for years finally occurred: Millennials passed Generation X as the largest segment of the American workforce. Millennials, generally regarded as people born after 1981, now number 53.5 million employees, as opposed to 52.7 Gen Xers and 44.6 million baby boomers. The gap is expected to widen as even younger millennials enter the workforce, including teenagers who weren’t even alive in the 20th century.
This evolution to the younger generation of employees has also resulted in a shift on how workers engage with their jobs. The corporate training materials and methods that may have been adequate 20 years ago often fall flat in today’s workplace. And ineffective learning results in increased turnover, decreased productivity, and an unhealthier bottom line. Today’s companies must come up with different strategies in order to thrive. Here are four corporate training materials and methods that keep millennials engaged:
1. Digital documents
Printed corporate training materials have clearly become a thing of the past. Even most baby boomers will yawn at the prospect of studying an operations manual contained in a three-inch binder. Thanks to mobile technology, this old—some might say antiquated—method of training can be replaced, much to the benefit of millennials who are not likely to respond to something that feels too much like studying for SATs. Digital documents can be downloaded to a tablet or other portable device so that they can be read anyplace, anytime, and without the level of boredom printed corporate training materials literally bring to the table.
2. Podcasts
Podcasts—and not just the things you download on iTunes, but any digital audio file—can be a valuable method to training employees. For starters, they are easy for a manager or training exec to record off his or her computer, tablet, or smartphone. Second, they can be listened to anywhere—during a lunch break, while stocking shelves or straightening up the sales floor, or on the train ride home. Finally, millennials are used to the medium and will more readily accept it over other corporate training methods. Ask your employees to put on headphones to learn something new, and more than likely, they will.
3. Video
If millennials are more inclined to accept audio-based corporate training materials, they will absolutely embrace video-based content. Video packs more of a learning punch; employees learn better from watching than reading, and then take that knowledge become more engaged in their jobs. Besides the increased impact video offers in terms of overall retention, training takes much less time than it might with reading a 200-page printed manual. Modern mobile devices lend themselves for watching video, and with the latest training platforms, files don’t even need to be streamed—they can be compressed, automatically delivered to a tablet to reside locally, and then viewed without a bandwidth-sucking Internet connection.
4. Invitations to collaborate
Another way to effectively engage millennials via corporate training materials is to include these employees in the process. Encourage them to give their opinions, ask questions, and offer ways to improve how they and their co-workers learn. Unlike older generations, millennials want their voices heard, and want to know they have a part in the success of their organizations. Mobile training solutions allow for this collaboration by facilitating the sending of messages and the ability to attach messages to specific content. Ideas flow back and forth, processes improve, and employees engage.
What corporate training materials and methods do you feel work best with millennials?
