Virtusa’s approach to engaging Millennials
It’s very likely that the next client or colleague you work with is a Millennial which is described as someone who was born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. Someone from Gen Y.
The fact that the United Nations (UN) has selected ‘Invest in Young Persons’ as the global theme to mark this year’s World Population Day underscores the need to focus on this group. Being the age group with the largest population on the planet, Bazaar Voice predicts that they are set to emerge as the generation with the most spending power by 2018. These numbers make them a vital target for businesses both as prospective customers for products and services and as talent to be absorbed into the labour pool. Taking over the work place, 87 per cent of them have moved to management roles in the last five years, according to Business News Daily. Time magazine notes that 3 out of 4 workers are set to be Millennials by 2025. This phenomenon is highly visible in the ICT and ICT enabled services sectors where they have outpaced older generations even at C-suite levels.
Being a global business consulting and IT outsourcing company, we have experienced these changing patterns first hand at Virtusa. With 76 per cent of Virtusans around the world and 82 per cent of them in Asia being Millennials, we have had to adapt ourselves rapidly to offer a work environment that is best suited to their persona. They have been the driving force behind the company’s innovation and technology leadership. Having identified the true potential of this group, we make every effort to keep them charged up about the work we do. And this has helped us continue to retain our edge over the years.
Millennials believe that work is what they do and not just a place they go to. Being born networkers, they are team players who adapt to today’s meta-cultural work environment with ease. While the rest of the world is grappling to understand them better, this group is very clear about workplace expectations in its mind. They’re strongly influenced by innovative organisations. With a strong sense of community, they place a premium on corporate values and ethical practices. They seek open minded companies and bosses who are comfortable with accommodating flexible schedules so work seamlessly blends with the rest of their lives. When it comes to compensation, they prefer customisable, performance-based reward packages.
With word-of-mouth driving their product purchases, they stay updated on brands largely through social networks. According to a study by leading research firm Ipsos, this number is as high as 63 per cent in America. They are more likely to trust their peer group’s opinion about a product or a company over traditional ‘expert advice’. Hence the job which come with the recommendation of friends from their university instantly appeal to them. At Virtusa, we’ve tried to effectively leverage this trait through our employee referral program. Every year, a large number of new recruits come in through this programme.
These digital natives seek recognition and leadership akin to what they have experienced in the gaming world. Which is why our goal has been to create the Sunday night computing experience for Monday mornings. Our proprietary social business platform V+provides social collaboration, document management, video services, enterprise services, innovation management, social performance management, and gamification to teams spread across different functions and geographies throughout the organisation. V+ adoption grew from 0 to 7450+ users in less than three years with close to 100 per cent of the company on social media today. Through V+ and related platforms, we have managed to achieve gamification around core business outcomes. The personal dashboards, leaderboards and contests on quality, productivity, client delight, innovation, knowledge management, etc… have revved up delivery excellence.
This go-getter generation is literally hunting for opportunities to move ahead in their chosen careers. Ambitious and impatient, about 40 per cent of Millennials believe that they must be promoted every two years with their average tenures being two years notes a study by PayScale, Inc and Millennial Branding. Hence they prefer career paths which offer opportunities for rapid advancement. Going beyond the current job role, they look out for companies which offer a clear career path and help them develop their skills for the future. In their bosses, they look for a mentor and a coach who’ll help them chart their career paths with straight feedback and formal development programmes. At Virtusa, we’re completely transparent about the tiers within the organisation. Clearly defining our expectations, we show young Virtusans the opportunities that await them within the company. Our Role Based Training (RBT) programmes help them grow by pushing them beyond their current knowledge or skill levels.
Always hungry to learn more, they are keen to pick up industry or functional knowledge, technical skills in their areas of expertise at the workplace while also grabbing any nuggets of wisdom on self-management and personal productivity, leadership, creativity and innovation strategies as well. While they welcome mentors who share their accumulated knowledge and offer constant feedback, they do not have the time for conventional training processes. They want their training to be Just in time… Just enough…Just where needed… i.e. provide the right amount of information on a specific subject at the right time. Which is why we have provided access to a wealth of information in the form of case studies, white papers, etc to all Virtusans. They can access this information right from their desks by simply searching onVingo, our search engine. Yammer collaboration software and business applications allow them to reach out to Virtusans across the enterprise for any assistance.
Accepting that this generation is radically different, organisations need to try and comprehend their attitudes, behaviour and values and mould the workplace to suit them better. Embracing the digital era and social network revolution, we’ve managed to co-create a truly Millennial user experience at Virtusa. Recognising achievements through contests and leader boards on every aspect of work from life values to coaching to referrals have charged up people excellence and helped us unpack higher levels of performance. And this has translated into a passionate workforce that charges ahead as a team to deliver excellence time and time again…
(The writer is the Director of Human Resources at Virtusa Sri Lanka where she is responsible for the professional development and engagement of 2000+ employees. Having been in the HR profession for more than a decade with experience in many diverse areas such as talent acquisition, talent development and employer branding, she also serves in the board of advisors of AIESEC Sri Lanka)