6 Ways to Cater to Your Millennial and Gen Z Employees

Millenials (those born between 1981 and 1997) and Gen Z employees (those born between 1997 and the early 2010’s) are the youngest members of our country’s workforce. As elder generations like the Baby Boomers and Gen X begin to retire, Millennials and Gen Z Canadians are quickly becoming the largest demographic groups of employees. Inevitably, with this generational turnover comes a new set of priorities: Millennials and Gen Z employees have different wants and needs than their predecessors, and it’s up to Canadian employers to shift their engagement and retention strategies to match those desires. If you’re an employer looking for new ways to meet your younger employees’ needs, we’ve got six suggestions for you.

1. Ask them what they want

If you’ve got a team made up of young employees and you’re not sure what they want out of their job, ask them! Getting their direct feedback will give you the best idea of what they’re looking to achieve while working for you, what kind of benefits they’d want the most, what they find to be the most challenging aspects of their job and more. This kind of information will help you tailor your work environment to meet their needs as best as possible, and involving them in the process will show your younger employees that you value their input in that decision-making process. 

An easy way to do so is to create surveys for your employees or hold open discussions with small groups to get their opinions. The more information you have to work with, the more effectively you can connect with your Millennial and Gen Z employees. 

2. Offer remote or flexible working conditions

If it’s possible for your business, offer your young employees flexible and/or remote work. Though many young workers hadn’t worked remotely prior to the pandemic, it’s estimated that over 60% of Millennials want the option to continue working remotely and to use video conferencing instead of travelling for work. 

This is a benefit that’s coveted by employees of all ages, but Millennials and Gen Z workers see flexible work as one of the most important perks they could have. These generations put a high priority on work/life balance and see the ability to enjoy their lives outside of work as equally important (if not more important) than their salaries alone. So, if your business model allows for flexibility, give it a try! You can also try a modified version, offering your employees a few days a week at home and a few in the office when it’s safe to return. 

3. Offer a student loan repayment plan

Approximately half of Canadian students are in debt when they graduate, and since the pandemic has made the job market more competitive than ever, millions of young Millennials and Gen Z employees are facing a stressful situation. Knowing this, offering student debt repayment programs as part of your benefits package is an excellent way to attract strong, younger candidates and cater to your existing young employees.

This isn’t to say that other types of benefits, like RRSP contributions or match-based saving, aren’t important, but young employees with student debt have to get over the hump of paying off their loans before they can really focus on other long-term financial goals like retirement. This kind of burden can cause financial stress to spill over into your workplace everyday, creating a major drain on your employees’ productivity and negatively impacting their quality of work. Instead, if your team members know that they’re on a fast-track to paying off their debt as they work for you, they’ll be able to devote more of their focus to their job and will be more likely to stick around on a long-term basis.

4. Help them create a financial safety net

One of the best ways to cater to Millennial and Gen Z employees is to offer them benefits that’ll help them create a financial safety net for themselves. As the youngest members of the workforce, Millennials and Gen Z employees tend to earn the lowest salaries and are the most likely to work in industries that don’t traditionally offer their employees a comprehensive benefits package. This can leave young employees vulnerable as the cost of living continues to rise and particularly so in the face of economic downturns (like those our country has experienced over the course of the pandemic).

Instead, offering your employees a match-based saving plan will encourage them to grow their savings and plan ahead for financial emergencies. In a nutshell, they ask employees to save money into a third-party account on a consistent basis in order to see their savings matched by their employer. This money is after-tax, liquid cash and can be used for anything the employee needs it for, helping them manage their short-term needs effectively. Match-based saving plans can be introduced in any industry and only require that your employees have access to a mobile phone.

QUBER is an industry leader in Canadian match-based savings and can offer employers a customized experience using the QUBER platform to facilitate match-based savings with their employees. If you’re interested in learning more about how QUBER can help you strengthen your relationship with your Millennial and Gen Z employees, click here.

5. Create opportunities for growth and development

If you’ve got a number of Millennial and Gen Z employees, why not offer them the chance to learn and grow within your company? It’s been reported that 91% of Millennial employees see their professional development as an integral part of their job. If there’s no way for a young employee to improve their skill set at work or move up within your organization, it’s going to be hard to keep them engaged in their job and even harder to retain them on a long-term basis. Offering to cover the cost of courses or specialized training related to their job is a great way to show that you’re invested in their success. It’ll also benefit your business, as a more experienced employee will be able to take on more responsibility and serve your customers as effectively as possible. 

6. Emphasize your mission and values

Finally, if you’re trying to connect with your Millennial and Gen Z employees, be sure to regularly emphasize what your company is all about! Your mission statement and your company values can be used as a critical tool to attract high-quality candidates and reinforce your ultimate goals as an organization. Millennial and Gen Z employees are more likely to seek out work that aligns with their personal values than their older counterparts, so making your company’s purpose clear can have a big impact on how engaged they feel at work. An employee that understands how their work fits into the larger picture is going to be much more likely to strive to do great work and push your business to the next level.

If you’re a Canadian employer interested in adopting an innovative, impactful benefits package to retain your employees, reduce the effects of financial stress in the workplace and set yourself apart from your competitors, match-based saving benefits may be right for your business! QUBER is an industry leader in Canadian match-based savings and can offer employers a customized experience using the QUBER platform to facilitate match-based savings with their employees. If you’re interested in seeing a demo of how QUBER can help strengthen your relationship with your employees, send us an email at contactus@quber.ca or visit our Employers page and send us a message using the contact form found at the bottom of the page.  

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