• Friday, April 19, 2024
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BusinessDay

Work culture, sense of pride, inclusive workforce top millennial’s appetite for jobs 

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Nigeria’s youthful population who are working and those seeking jobs say three underlining factors increase their productivity and enable them to stay longer and grow with the firm.
This is according to key findings from a survey by Jobberman, a Nigeria job site connecting qualified job seekers with employers, titled “Millennials and the digital marketplace”
The survey captured responses from 5,380 actively employed Nigerian employees within the age of 18-38 years using a case study of Andela, an African company known to identify itself and develops Africa’s most talented software developers.
Apart from good salary, proximity to home, career prospects and job security, Millennials who responded to the survey ranked improved work culture; ensuring a sense of pride and a diverse and Inclusive Workforce as top three factors that stimulate and increase their productivity in the workforce, without frustrating their interests and ambitions.
According to the report, Work culture refers to shared beliefs, values, ideologies and traditions of an organization. To ensure millennials are productive, employers should encourage improved work culture rather than rigid systems. “An employee-centric work culture boosts job ownership, being innovative, employee engagement and productivity amongst millennials”, the report said.
Some of the components of an improved work culture as identified by the survey include equipping millennials to work remotely, ensuring flexible work hours, group recreation or team bonding activities and extensive healthcare programs.
54.8 per cent of respondents consider flexible working hours as a factor that motivates them the most to accomplish their tasks at work.
Employers need to understand that their employees are their biggest marketing channel and once employer’s vision and goals evoke admiration from the millennial workforce, it will encourage impact, productivity, and customer satisfaction and overall, creates a better reputation for the organisation.
According to the survey, 43.7 per cent of the respondents affirmed that a company’s mission and values are very important to them.
“To ensure a more productive millennial workforce, employers must have strong/relatable company values/goals, commit to social corporate responsibility, encourage open communication channels and also acknowledge and reward millennials”, Ayodeji Adewunmi, President and CEO of Jobberman said.
In recent years, issues of a diverse workforce, gender equality and representation have been at the forefront of topical issues in the workplace. “A diverse and inclusive workforce promotes varied perspectives and solutions, which help boost productivity and competitive advantage in the workplace”, he added.
From the report, 68.2 per cent of respondents consider gender equality in the workplace to be very important. “It is important to millennials the organizations go beyond just having a certain number of women but to also ensure that they are duly represented in leadership positions. Other issues like the gender pay gap and equal opportunities should be encouraged for women and men”, Adewunmi said in Lagos, during the launching of the maiden report
Providing family support, encouraging collaboration over competition and creating a creativity-friendly environment was also deemed important.
In terms of industries, the survey showed that the Information Technological sector was ranked top in terms of destination as 25 per cent of the Millennials surveyed thinks the sector is the best in terms of working conditions.
Non-governmental organisations were ranked second with 19 per cent while the banking/financial and insurance sector came next with 17 per cent.
Engineering, media and communication both recorded 12 per cent response while retail, sales/marketing, education and training recorded the lowest response at one per cent, 6 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.

 

MICHEAL ANI