Communicating with Millennials : A Sponsor’s Guide to getting it right.
At a recent Plan Sponsor University (TPSU) program at Loyola University in Maryland, James Dowling of Fidelity Investments engaged a group of over 35 Plan Sponsors attending the education program. Mr. Dowling had the often vexing task of explain how Plan Sponsors can better communicate with Millennials about their retirement plans.
Dowling was quick to point out that Millennial are now the largest demographic group in America with over 90 million falling into this demographic age cell. Often referred to as aloof (sometimes critical called lazy), uninspired, not committed, etc. The view of the Millennial-aged worker is not exactly a positive one when referring to work ethic. However, as Dowling explained, perhaps it’s more a generational perspective rather than an actual delicacy in work ethic.
There is a perception that Millennials don’t have as much personal face-to-face interactions socially as their Gen-X or Baby-boomer counter-parts. Millennials do utilize social media and smart phones to interact at much higher frequency than their older counter-parts… that is a fact. But beyond the social aspect, Millennials tend to rely more on technology and first looks to employ technology to complete tasks. This is only natural since they are the first generation to grow-up completely in the new social technology era.
Another observation about this group is that they also came of age during the worst financial crisis in a generation. Access to stable, full-time employment (and money) was scarce and that has fostered some skepticism (if not resentment) towards the stewardship of the economy by older generations. It is a bit sobering, but not an unfair assessment. Dowling quipped to the mostly baby-boomer audience, “can you imagine how Millennials view us?” He has a valid point.
Finally, Dowling noted that Millennials are more trusting of their peers as opposed to authority-figures (read: older folks in a suit and tie). Once again this can be traced to social media such as Facebook and Twitter “Likes”. Millennials are conditioned to acknowledge peer reviews and recommendations, not mandates from authority figures. Also, Millennials are hyper-focused on self-interest. This should not be confused with selfishness, but this generation has a heightened sense of watching-out for their own interests. After all, the system did not exactly look-out for them in their early professional years.
So, what is the take-away? Dowling suggests that Plan Sponsors use technology to communicate. For example, he says when rolling-out plan features, talk about the benefits to the employee, and don’t send a list of features alone. Explain how the features benefit the individual. Also, Dowling encourages using text messages to send notifications. He explained that while older generations view text messaging as in the realm of “personal communication”, Millenials don’t necessarily make that distinction. Text messaging is the primary communication method for this group…he suggests using it.
Most importantly, Dowling advised using peer examples to demonstrate ideal scenarios. Specifically, he says to find a group of Millennials in the organization that are progressing well in their plan and hold them out as examples, since they are more likely to trust their peers.
Some common sense answers to a changing generational landscape.
