Ashley Eddings, MBA, SSGB

Alright – let’s just get this out of the way. I am a millennial. And a proud one at that. But if we’re honest, millennials tend to get a bad rap, especially as it pertains to the workplace. Many labels exist; however, organizations must think about how they can work to understand this generation and their impact, and once that understanding occurs, take steps to meet millennials where they are. In doing so, it can increase their engagement and likelihood of staying with an organization, which in turn impacts the organization’s bottom line. Small steps should be taken to tap into the mindset of millennials and create ways of appreciating them to ultimately achieve success.

In Gallup’s (2016) report on how millennials want to work, it details their findings of millennials as employees. It is increasingly important for organizations to work to better understand millennials as this generation has topped Baby Boomers as the largest population segment at 73 million (Crbkovich & Clarin, 2019). The percentage of millennials in the workforce will continue to grow over the years, thus organizations must act now to restructure their business models and workplace culture to appeal to this rising generation.

Furthermore, Gallup’s report indicates that 55% of millennials are not engaged at work. When employees are disengaged, there is ample opportunity for high turnover, low staff and patient satisfaction scores, poor morale, and deterioration of profitability and innovation. Moreover, “millennials’ lack of engagement costs the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually in lost productivity” (Gallup, 2016, p. 10).

If there is no movement to understanding millennials, the economy, the workplace, and even worse, the millennial generation, could suffer as a result.

What do we do with this information? It is vital to not only know the current landscape, but to also learn ways to navigate toward understanding millennials as employees and keeping them engaged. Many organizations and leaders make a valiant effort to seek to understand this generation and try to interpret what they are looking for, so the workplace thrives. To help in this endeavor, here are some highly prized workplace attributes that are valued by millennials (Gallup, 2016):

1. Frequent feedback and interactions: Ongoing, continuous feedback, recognition, and communication are key for this generation’s relationship with their leader. This goes beyond an annual performance evaluation. Research proves when leaders regularly meet with their millennial employees, the employees are more engaged. Likewise, even non-millennials felt more engaged when they had regular meetings with their leaders. While a leader’s day is often jam-packed, frequent, meaningful, and even brief, daily interactions with employees can have a considerable impact on engagement. Whether face-to-face, email, or phone, leaders should take the steps needed to communicate more with their team. Additionally, consistent coaching opportunities to enhance the development of these employees is critical.
2. Focusing on strengths: While it is important to be aware of weaknesses and limitations, these should not be the focus. Far too often, employees feel that their weaknesses are maximized while their strengths go unnoticed. Leaders can work with their employees to develop strengths and see how these can be brought to new heights for the advancement of the employee, team, and organization. In fact, “Gallup has discovered that weaknesses never develop into strengths, while strengths develop infinitely” (Gallup, 2016, p. 4). 
3. Purpose over paycheck: Earning a sizeable paycheck is not the main driving force. Instead, this generation wants to be connected to a larger purpose. Millennials want to find meaning in their work and seek organizations with missions they believe in. While compensation is essential, it is not the determining factor of whether a millennial will join or stay with an organization if purpose is lacking.

Recognizing who millennials are as people and employees, and avoiding stereotypes, is crucial. Knowing who they are as individuals helps increase understanding of how this incredible group wants to be regarded in the workplace, how they select organizations and roles, how they will perform, and how engaged they will be. Gallup (2016) attests to this by stating “When companies fail to understand and value the millennial mindset, they fail to create work environments that attract and retain this group” (p. 17).

As a leader, consider how you can better serve your millennial employees. Can you have more frequent, meaningful interactions with them? Can you recognize them more often for a job well done? Or maybe, can you help them develop their strengths and find a greater purpose in their role? Let me know how you intend to reach this rising, purpose-driven generation. 

Crbkovich, P., & Clarin, D. (2019). How millennials are reshaping healthcare’s future. Retrieved from https://www.kaufmanhall.com/ideas-resources/ebook/how-millennials-are-reshaping-healthcares-future.

Gallup (2016). How millennials want to work and live. Retrieved from https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238073/millennials-work-live.aspx

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Dr. Bonnie Clipper, DNP, MA, MBA, RN, CENP, FACHE

Once again, the alarms have sounded regarding the impact that burnout is having on our clinicians. This is incredibly important to our health care system. There has been much agreement about how we define burnout, the effects of burnout and even recommendations on how to reduce burnout. It has been stated multiple times that burnout decreases a clinician’s quality of life, their performance, and even the likelihood that they will stay in their job. While burnout continues to be a top challenge among clinical professionals, there is a shortage of evidence regarding the tactics to change our cultures in order to make scalable and sustainable changes. In a study of more than 400 nurses across 11 hospitals in Jordan, the nurses showed evidence of burnout and the researchers worked to identify ways to mitigate its effects (Mudallal, Othman & Al Hassan, 2017).

While this study was not unique, it demonstrated that an increased level of trust by staff, of their leaders, and an increase in empowerment can improve satisfaction, quality of care, and positively impact the effects of burnout. As we know, when leaders use behaviors that are more likely to empower their team, it creates a positive work environment. The authors describe leadership empowering behaviors that are perceived positively by employees. While the study describes the impact of an organization in Jordan, there are lessons that can be applied universally. There are some great takeaways that can be introduced into the workplace that will make it more positive. These are easier said than done, however well worth a try.

• Enhancing the meaningfulness of work: leader behaviors that infuse employees’ work with purpose and give meaning to their contributions, thereby increasing employees’ sense of worth and motivating them.
• Fostering opportunity to participate in decision-making: leader behaviors that allow employees to express their opinions and share in decisions related to their work.
• Expressing confidence in high performance: leader behaviors that demonstrate confidence in employees’ abilities to fulfill expectations of high performance and that recognize employees’ accomplishments.
• Facilitating the attainment of organizational goals: leader behaviors that improve employees’ skills and knowledge and provide required resources for effective performance.
• Providing autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic restrictions: leader behaviors that minimize the constraints of rules, restrictions, and commands to allow efficiency and creativity.

(Mudallal, Othman & Al Hassan, 2017, para. 5)

Consider the impact on work environments when we, as leaders, find ways to make micro-changes to our own behaviors to allow our team to feel a more positive work environment as a result. Some of these changes are as simple as asking for more input or insight prior to making a decision, while some are more difficult behaviors to change. In order to reduce the unsustainable effects of burnout, we should determine which of these behaviors we are going to try first and begin testing the impact on us as leaders, on our work environments, and ultimately, in our organizational cultures. I too am a work in progress. As Mahatma Gandhi stated, let’s make the commitment to “Be the change that you wish to see…”.

Mudallal, R.H., Othman, W.M., & Al Hassan, N.F. (January 1, 2017). Nurses’ Burnout: The Influence of Leader Empowering Behaviors, Work Conditions, and Demographic Traits. Inquiry. 54. Accessed on November 22, 2019. Accessed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5798741/.

[Philadelphia, PA] – December 05, 2019 – Wambi, LLC has been named the winner of a Silver Stevie® Award in the Fastest Growing Company of the Year category, and Wambi’s Co-founder, Alex Coren, has been named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the Young Female Entrepreneur of the Year category in the 16th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees, and the companies they run– worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world’s premier business awards.

Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards were presented to winners during a dinner event attended by more than 550 people at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The event was broadcast via Livestream.

More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration. “Wow!” exclaims Coren. “It’s been a wild ride from inventing this solution to building a company to winning awards like this. For the co-founder of a platform emphasizing the importance of recognition, the recognition of our hard work from the Stevies judges certainly carries enormous weight.”

Wambi CEO and Co-founder Rebecca Metter says, “Over the past few years at Wambi, we felt our growth rate alone spoke volumes in terms of the market for gratitude into which we tapped. Now, this third party acknowledgement adds another layer of credibility and further strengthens the Wambi story. Congratulations to all the Stevie Awards winners!”

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 150 business professionals around the world, working on eight juries.

This year’s Stevie Awards for Women in Business was complemented by the Women|Future Conference, a two-day educational and networking event also at the Marriott Marquis Hotel on November 14-15.

Maggie Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, said, “In its 16th year, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business received an outstanding body of nominations from women in organizations of all types, in 25 nations. We are gratified by how meaningful it is to women to win a Stevie Award, and how impactful it can be on the futures of their careers and their organizations. We congratulate all of this year’s Grand, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners for their achievements.”

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Finalists in all categories are available here.

Wambi delivers an employee engagement and recognition platform informed by real-time patient and family feedback. Through its gamified digital platform, Wambi creates a real-time feedback loop between patients and healthcare workers. This arms individual employees with their own performance data, fueling meaningful recognition while promoting autonomy and inspiring behavioral change. With Wambi, hospitals and health systems have demonstrated improved employee engagement, decreased turnover and burnout, and elevated patient experience. Watch Wambi’s Story told by Inventor, Alex Coren here, and view our video of a day in the life of a nurse using Wambi here.

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the new Middle East Stevie Awards. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.