When it comes to careers, millennials have very different priorities compared to their Boomer parents. If you are looking to attract millennials to work in your veterinary practice, or reduce turnover among the young staff you already have, you need to consider what this new generation of veterinarians needs to achieve job satisfaction. Here are a few tips you can use to give your millennial veterinarians a sense of purpose to make them feel happy in their jobs.
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Training
Studies show that millennials consider training and career development opportunities to be high priorities in their working experience. Always provide your millennial employees with training opportunities that allow them to obtain new skills and improve the ones they already have. For example, train your younger employees to use the latest veterinary technologies so your clients can benefit from the best in cutting edge care. Consider offering funding and flexible working hours to help your millennial veterinarians take specialist training courses or attend conferences.
Work-Life Balance
Compared to Boomers, millennials often place a higher priority on work-life balance. Both men and women are committed to caring for their families. Millennials are also likely to have hobbies and fitness activities that they do not want to give up when they start a new job. Be prepared to work with your millennial employees to find schedules that allow them to maintain a fulfilling life outside of their jobs.
Career Advancement
Simply having a secure job is not enough for many millennials. To be satisfied by their careers, they need to feel that they are making progress toward a long-term goal. Talk to your millennial employees and potential hires to find out what they want out of their careers. Do they want to run their own practice one day, or become a leading specialist in a particular area of veterinary medicine? Ask what you can do to help your millennial veterinarians achieve their dreams. The answer might be to allow millennials to take on more responsibilities to prevent them from becoming bored in their current roles.
Direct Feedback
Millennials thrive on feedback. Raised on an expectation that they will be able to publicly review every service they use, they expect the same direct consumer feedback when they enter the workforce. Always pass on client feedback to millennials, as well as letting them know that you appreciate their efforts and giving them tips to help them improve their performance in future. Millennials also like you to be able to give their own feedback. Regularly ask your veterinary employees how the environment and working conditions in the practice could be improved.
Supportive Culture
Compared to previous generations, millennials are much more clued up about mental health and well-being. They expect employers to take their well-being into account when designing working processes and environments. Work on creating a supportive culture in your veterinary practice, where all employees feel comfortable raising problems and asking for support whenever they need it.
By following these tips, you can increase your practice’s ability to recruit and retain millennial veterinarians and support staff. Millennial employees are looking for an environment that supports their health, well-being, and career aspirations. If your practice can provide this kind of working environment, as well as providing ongoing training for every employee, you can increase job satisfaction and reduce turnover among millennials.