Employers seek loyalty and dedication from their employees
but sometimes fail to return their half of the equation, leaving millennial
workers feeling left behind and unsupported. Professional relationships are
built on trust and commitment, and working for a boss that supports you is
vital to professional and company success.
Employees who believe their company cares for them perform
better. What value does an employer place on you as an employee? Are you there
to get the job done and go home? Are you paid fairly, well-trained and
confident in your job security? Do you work under good job conditions? Do you
receive constructive feedback, or do you feel demeaned or invisible?
When millennial employees feel supported by their boss,
their happiness on the job soars — and so does company success. Building a
healthy relationship involves the efforts of both parties — boss and employee —
and the result not only improves company success, but also the quality of
policies, feedback and work culture.
Investing In A Relationship With Your Boss
When you’re first hired, you should get to know your
company’s culture and closely watch your boss as you learn the ropes. It’s best
to clarify any questions you have instead of going rogue on a project and
ending up with a failed proposal for a valuable client.
Regardless of your boss’s communication style, speaking up
on timely matters before consequences are out of your control builds trust and
establishes healthy communication. Getting to know your boss begins with
knowing how they move through the business day, including their moods, how they
prefer to communicate and their style of leadership:
· Mood: Perhaps your boss needs their
cup of coffee to start the day. If you see other employees scurry away before
the boss drains that cup of coffee, bide your time, too.
· Communication: The
boss’s communication style is also influenced by their mood. Don’t wait too
late to break important news. In-depth topics may be scheduled for a meeting
through a phone call or email to check in and show you respect your boss’s
time. In return, your time will be respected, too. Some professionals are more
emotionally reinforcing that others. Some might appear cold, but in
reality, prefer to use hard data to solidify the endpoint as an analytical
style. If you’re more focused on interpersonal relationships, that’s your
strength, but you must also learn and respect your boss’s communication style.
· Leadership: What
kind of leader is the boss? Various communication styles best fit an
organization depending on its goals and culture, but provide both advantages
and disadvantages. Autocratic leaders assume total authority on
decision-making without input or challenge from others. Participative leaders
value the democratic input of team members, but final decisions remain with the
boss.
Autocratic leaders may be best equipped to handle emergency
decisions over participative leaders, depending on the situation and
information received.
While the boss wields a position of power over employees,
it’s important that leaders don’t hold that over their employees’ heads. In the
case of dissatisfaction at work, millennial employees don’t carry the sole
blame. Respect is mutually earned, and ultimately a healthy relationship
between leaders and employees betters the company and the budding careers of
millennials.
A Healthy Relationship With Leaders Betters The Company
A Gallup report reveals that millennial career happiness is
down while disengagement at work climbs — 71% of millennials aren’t
engaged on the job and half of all employed plan on leaving within a year.
What is the cause? Bosses carry the responsibility for 70% of employee engagement
variances. Meanwhile, engaged bosses are 59% more prone to having and retaining
engaged employees.
The supportive behaviors of these managers to engage their
employees included being accessible for discussion, motivating by strengths
over weaknesses and helping to set goals. According to the Gallup report, the
primary determiner of employee retention and engagement are those in leadership
positions. The boss is poised to affect employee happiness, satisfaction,
productivity and performance directly.
The same report reveals that only 21% of millennial
employees meet weekly with their boss and 17% receive meaningful feedback. The
most positive engagement booster was in managers who focused on employee
strengths. In the end, one out of every two employees will leave a job to get
away from their boss when unsupported.
Millennials are taking the workforce by storm
— one-third of those employed are millennials, and soon those numbers will
take the lead. Millennials are important to companies as technology continues
to shift and grow, and they are passionate about offering their talents to
their employers. It’s vital that millennials have access to bosses who offer
support and engage their staff through meaningful feedback, accessibility and
help with goal-setting.
In return, millennial happiness and job satisfaction soar,
positively impacting productivity, performance, policy and work culture. A
healthy relationship between boss and employee is vital to company success and
the growth of millennial careers as the workforce continues to age. Bosses
shouldn’t be the reason that millennial employees leave. They should be the
reason millennials stay and thrive in the workplace, pushing it toward greater
success.
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