Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Work

Beyond Work is our line of resources for people and community leaders looking for something new and innovative outside, be it a new job, career change, or personal development outside of work.

Harnessing the Entrepreneurial Spirit of the Millennial Generation

I’ve heard millennials called many things. Lazy. Entitled. Spoiled.

Then I came across an article on Today.com that reminded me millennials aren’t the first generation to be labeled negatively. Writer Tom Wolfe dubbed the Baby Boomers as the “Me Decade” in his article The “Me” Decade and the Third Great Awakening. Paul Begala referred to Boomers in Esquire magazine as “the most self-centered, self-seeking, self-interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing generation in American history.”

Gen Xers were also the targets of such negative monikers. I still have a letter to the editor that graced my local paper my senior year of high school from a “concerned citizen” that dubbed my generation as “functional illiterates”. And yet many of us Gen Xers are successful. We are well respected leaders. We are innovators in our fields.

So, I asked myself if what is said about millennials is really true and I did a little research.

A 2014 study by Forbes Magazine showed that of the 80% of millennials who owned a smartphone, 87% checked their work email after hours on a regular basis and 37% always did. That same study showed that while only 13% aspire to climb the corporate ladder, 67% hope to start their own company.

That doesn’t sound lazy to me. It sounds like dedication, and it sounds like they have goals. Those goals are just different than those of the generations before them.

Unlike the generations before them, they are not content to work the nine to five, put in a day’s work, and leave it at the door when the whistle blows. They don’t believe in a work-life balance, they believe in a work-life integration. And achieving that work-life integration means having to think outside of the box. Sometimes, way outside of the box!

The Forbes article called millennials the True Entrepreneur generation. But while 67% aspire to start their own business, a 2014 report by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy shows that only two percent of millennials, compared to 7.6 percent of Gen Xers, and 8.3 percent of Boomers have actually started their own companies. Why? In part due to their lack of experience in the workforce and lack of business acumen. But also in part due to those pesky student loans that followed them out of college, and those loans often keep them from being able to gain the startup capital needed to get a business off the ground.

The plight of the millennial generation is something companies should take advantage of and view as a potential asset. There is an entire group of young, eager to learn individuals out there just waiting to find the right opportunity. They are an often-untapped recruiting market for organizations. Yes, their ultimate goal now might be to own their own company down the road. But goals change. I know mine did. If you can get them in the door, give them a great opportunity, you might just show them the benefits your organization can offer them long-term.

They want to be a part of an organization where they can truly make a difference, be a part of the bigger picture, and soak up as much knowledge as quickly as they can.

If organizations can harness the energy that millennials have it can be a win-win. Remember that millennials are driven by purpose and want social connection. I found it interesting that according to an article on Time.com, 51% of millennials still want face-to-face interaction over other forms of communication. But they want that interaction to be meaningful, not just wasted time.

Find a way for your organization to benefit from the entrepreneurial spirit of millennials and you may find them to be some of the greatest contributors to your organization.

What is your organization doing to tap into the millennial market and harness their entrepreneurial spirit?

Like this post? You may also like:

Tiny Homes, RVS and Millennials- What this all means to your employee benefit and engagement strategy

Is the role of the millennial male changing the way they lead at work?

Millennials – Seekers of a Professional Development Fix

August 29, 2017
5 LinkedIn Tips for Job Seekers
Now more than ever, companies are utilizing LinkedIn to seek out job candidates. They aren’t looking at the ones who have “job seeker” in their profile. Organizations are seeking passive candidates that have desired skills, endorsements and connections to reputable individuals and organizations.

Here are 5 tips for getting the best out of your LinkedIn profile:
- Tell your story. Your summary should include a brief history of your career emphasizing your key skills and accomplishments. I often recommend using the “summary of qualifications” from your current resume.
- Include all key skills that a potential employer might be looking for. Do your research here. For example, if your dream job is to be a CFO for a large company, search for job announcements and make sure you include the “required skills” (those that you have) in your list of skills.
- Endorsements are important. Remember, you often “get what you give”. If you endorse others, they will often return the favor.
- Get a new profile pic, already! A professional photo is must for your LinkedIn profile. If you are unable to use a professional photographer, no worries. A good camera will work as long as you have a solid background and are dressed in what you would wear to an interview.
- Recommendations are a bonus. This is one area where I think it’s okay to ask previous employers or coworkers to provide a recommendation. And, you can offer to do the same for them.
You can let recruiters know that you are in the market for a new career while keeping it confidential. Check out How to Find a Job Using LinkedIn for more details on this along with other tips.
August 24, 2017
Tiny Homes, RVS and Millennials- What this all means to your employee benefit and engagement strategy
The demand for tiny homes and RVs is on the rise. And millennials are driving these sales. As an article in USA Today stated,

Trailers, not motor homes, make up a large part of this growth, now accounting for 87% of the units sold, the association says. Buyers are likely to be Millennials, those in their 20s or early 30s, including a lot of young couples who don’t have kids yet….

For Buckles and many other first-time RV buyers, the focus is more on the short term. She and her husband Josh hope to use their new trailer to drive to barbecue competitions and enjoy the outdoors in her local area, which means that summer — and the freedom that comes with it — is just an RV purchase away.

And from thetinylife.com:

What are tiny houses? The tiny house movement? Tiny living?

Simply put, it is a social movement where people are choosing to downsize the space they live in. The typical American home is around 2,600 square feet, whereas the typical small or tiny house is between 100 and 400 square feet. Tiny houses come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, but they enable simpler living in a smaller, more efficient space.

People are joining this movement for many reasons, but the most popular reasons include environmental concerns, financial concerns, and the desire for more time and freedom. For most Americans 1/3 to 1/2 of their income is dedicated to the roof over their heads; this translates to 15 years of working over your lifetime just to pay for it, and because of it 76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

So what is the alternative? One solution might be to live smaller. While we don’t think tiny houses are for everyone, there are lessons to be learned and applied in order to escape the cycle of debt in which almost 70% of Americans are trapped.

The trend in different ways to live, travel and find leisure for younger Americans also points to trends in lifestyle preferences that are important for employers to take note of, especially when it comes to employee benefits that lead to engagement and retention:
1. Keeping up with the Jones’ isn’t as much of a priority as it once was. This isn’t your baby boomer generation that desires above all else income and traditional benefits from their employer. This isn’t the day and age where employees are as concerned as previous generations about competing with the Jones to buy the two story house with the 2 car garage and 2.5 kids that a steady pay check and a climb up the corporate ladder can help facilitate.
2. Experiences are extremely important. RVs allow us to get out and see the world. Tiny houses create a unique living experience for the owner. Millennials value experience and the flexible work arrangements that facilitate experiences.
3. Debt is an issue. Many younger workers have racked up college debt that their parents and grandparents never would have imagined dealing with before they even started a career. As the cost of a college education continues to rise, it’s important to think about how the debt equation affects worker benefits and engagement.
With all these trends, employers would be wise to revamp benefits packages around them. This would include more flexible and experience-based work arrangements (for candidates and employees), packages that focus on helping to pay off college debt (even over retirement savings packages like your traditional 401ks), and al a carte benefit options that allow employees the flexibility to choose what they need when they need it.

Have you rethought how to revise your benefits structure to meet the needs of today’s worker?
August 22, 2017
Is the role of the millennial male changing the way they lead at work?

If you still watch TV these days and don’t fast forward through the commercials, you’ll begin to notice a trend. More and more consumer products commercials are now geared towards men, not women. Men are washing the clothes, buying the groceries, making purchases for their children and making the decisions that we typically associate with females/mom.

A CBS Sunday Morning piece recently cited that 80 percent of dads born after 1980 are the primary grocery shopper. The piece goes on to highlight the changing role of men in the home:

“A father would come home, read the newspaper, not pay much attention to the kids really, and still be considered a good father because he was making the family financially stable,” said psychologist Ray Levy, who grew up in the 1950s, when dads were expected to be breadwinners and disciplinarians, but not much else.

“Nobody actually believed that fathers could be warm and soft. That was an unusual father,” he said.

We know now kids that get time and attention from their fathers do better in school, on the job, and in their own relationships — that’s according to research that barely existed a generation ago.”

What peaks my interest in this is not the hype over the millennial spin, but the thought that an increasing role for men in caregiving in the home leads them to be more caring leaders at work. (Thanks Trish McFarlane and Steve Boese of HR Happy Hour for sharing this thought on their Mr. Mom podcast.)

Breadwinners and disciplinarians in the 1950s can be tied to the idea of command and control management of that time. In today’s world, is a dad now being seen as a nurturing caregiver in the home consistent with the shift to a caring coach as leader in the workplace?

And does practicing these skills at home help male leaders apply them on the job and visa versa?

Of course on any topic related to the difference between men and women in the workplace, I ask my husband what he thinks. On a Saturday morning run, I broached the topic with him.

He is a very caring, nurturing and involved father with our two children, but he- from the way I see it at least- is less of this at the office than he is at home, for a variety of reasons. He also assumes most of the male associated homemaking roles in our home, for example, mowing the grass, whereas I assume the more traditional females roles- laundry and groceries. We divide and conquer usually on the cooking duties.

His initial reaction was that experience in general, whether in the home or at the office- leads a person, male or female- to be more caring. Because working with a variety of people over time, he says, allows you to learn how to read people and respond to their needs accordingly. Servant-based leading is what came to mind for me through his thoughts.

So as I hope we all strive to be more caring, compassionate leaders, maybe it isn’t necessarily having kids to care for at home that creates this for us. Maybe it is seeing needs in the home and at the office and meeting them, regardless of the traditional roles associated with that task. Seeing our personal lives and our work lives as fluid not separate places where needs can and should be met helps to mold us into the leaders that we need to be. And maybe breaking down some gender roles with guys buying groceries and doing the laundry helps us all to break down gender stereotypes at work as well.

Maybe I should get out and mow the grass this weekend…

Where do you best serve at home and at the office?

August 15, 2017
3 Ways to Make your Workplace Harassment Training Successful
I recently attended an HR luncheon where a good question was raised. How can HR ensure that leadership understands the importance of and supports anti-harassment policies?

Many organizations focus their anti-harassment efforts on minimizing legal liability and not on minimizing inappropriate behavior within their organization. Their training consists of annual anti-harassment training, usually in the form of a bland training video that most employees sit through, but don’t pay attention to. In order for an anti-harassment training program to be effective, it must focus on minimizing the behavior and should include a few key components:
- The training must be relevant- Just because it’s a serious topic doesn’t mean it must be a boring topic. Make the training interactive and interesting. I briefly worked as a sexual harassment trainer for a company that designed their training in the form of a game (think Jeopardy). It kept the participants engaged, made them think, and they enjoyed the training. Think of ways to keep your audience actively engaged. The more engaged you can keep them, the more information they will take away from the training.
- Don’t just check the box- many organizations conduct annual training just to mark it off their To Do List. Harassment training should be a year-round endeavor. In addition to your annual mandatory training, schedule quarterly events, whether those are trainings, brown bag lunches with speakers, articles in the company newsletter, or some other form of communication. Provide training to your leadership on their roles and responsibilities. Make sure they understand the importance of taking claims seriously and involving HR in those investigations. Make sure they understand the policy and how to enforce it. Consider having an employment attorney come and speak with leadership. Do they know that not only can the organization be named in a lawsuit, but individuals can be named as well in some cases?
- Back up what you say- review your anti-harassment policy. Make sure it is well written and details confidentiality (to the extent possible), your investigation process, and disciplinary process. Also review your policy on anti-retaliation. You want your employees to know that if they come to you with a claim, they can do so without fear of retaliation, but also that if they make false claims, there will be consequences for that. But remember, your policy means nothing if you don’t back it up with actions. If you have an employee file a claim, follow through with an investigation and appropriate action. If you don’t, your organization will quickly get a reputation for not taking such claims seriously. And make sure your leadership and your employees know these policies. Be sure you’re reviewing them during new hire orientations and touch on them again during your annual training.
Managing harassment claims is never easy. Often times managers minimize the seriousness of claims or ignore claims altogether because they don’t know how to handle claims, they are uncomfortable handling claims, or they themselves don’t see the actions as a serious problem. Developing a strong partnership with your leadership team is key to successfully handling harassment claims and ensuring that your organization is able to minimize inappropriate workplace behaviors. And as always, be sure that all claims and investigations of harassment are well documented.

How successful is your organization’s anti-harassment program?
August 8, 2017