5 for recruiting millennial women to enhance org culture and profitability

Recruiting Millennial Women to Enhance Org Culture and Profitability

If Millennial women sound like your ideal job candidate type, you’ve got to understand and deliver when it comes to what they want.

Recruiting Millennial Women Comes Down to Connecting These Dots

It’s not just the C-Suite, a new LeanIn.org / McKinsey & Co. study shows that women may be underrepresented at every level in corporate America. Companies with a diverse workforce are 21 percent more likely to enjoy above-average profitability, and that’s only one of many benefits of having a diverse organizational culture. Understanding what Millennial women want can give your firm an edge when it comes to recruiting Millennial women. Here’s what you need to know.

It’s not all about advancement.

While many Millennial women are eager to advance, women at every stage of their career are somewhat less eager to become a top company officer or CEO.

  • 78% of men and 75% of women want to be promoted
  • Only 43% of women say they want to be a top executive compared to 53% of men

They perceive an uneven playing field.

25 percent of women say gender has hindered their progress, a perception that intensifies as women move up the corporate ladder. They’re also four times more likely to believe that there aren’t as many opportunities for advancement open to them as their male counterparts.

They don’t believe their companies care about gender diversity.

Though three quarters of companies say they’re committed to gender diversity, fewer than half of professional women believe it’s a priority for their CEO, and only about one third say it’s a priority for their direct supervisor.

What’s in place isn’t working.

Many companies have diversity and career development initiatives, but participation rates are low. Some women even believe that their career could be negatively affected if they participate, especially if it means taking any type of leave.

With these statistics in mind, you can begin to develop a program for recruiting Millennial women that addresses their concerns and caters to the way they want to interact with brands. For that, we’ll reference five key marketing lessons that can be applied when recruiting Millennial women is a top priority for your agency or organization.

You might also like: 5 Places Organizational Culture Shows Up

Gender Diversity in the Workplace: 5 Keys for Recruiting Millennial Women

1. Simplify

Millennial women, and moms in particular, value time as their most precious commodity. If your company can offer a schedule, time off, on-site gym, childcare or other amenities that help them maximize use of their time, it could be a significant plus for Millennial women both in recruiting and retention.

2. Evoke

Your company story, mission, vision and values can all be used to evoke emotion in Millennial women that help them feel more personally attracted and connected to your brand. Minus this feeling that working for your company is being part of something ‘bigger,’ they’ll be easier to poach and more likely to leave.

3. Care

Millennials want to feel proud of the company they work for. Your brand’s socially-responsible policies and practices need to reflect the same values younger workers care about. Get it right, and not only will you attract more Millennials, they’ll stay longer and be more likely to advocate for your brand as well.

4. Tailor

This is huge! Giving all your company’s workers – not just Millennials – the ability to tailor one or more aspects of their work life represents an irreplaceable benefit of working for your company. From compensation or benefits packages to responsibilities, work spaces and furnishings, telecommute options, hours and other conditions of employment, they want options.

Millennials want to work collaboratively with you to tailor their own working conditions as much as possible. Flexible options could give your business a serious advantage when it comes to recruiting Millennial women, in particular, since it can help them simplify their lives as well.

5. Open

Unlike many individuals in previous generations, younger workers aren’t content to “pay their dues” by gaining experience for years before their input becomes valuable. They have a point of view and they have valuable contributions to make in the workplace if you’ll let them.

While they aren’t afraid of sharing information and ideas, many feel that their contributions are dismissed because they lack significant experience. It’s important for you to encourage them to speak up, listen and act on what you learn. (You may also need to come alongside older workers who feel threatened by the energy and exuberance Millennials bring to the workplace; ensure them they have nothing to fear!)

Millennial women have a lot to offer in the workplace. If you’re committed to adding more women to the ranks of leadership in your company, understanding how to make the workplace Millennial-friendly could fast-track your efforts.