Liberty News | February 10, 2016
How Liberty Keeps Its Millennials Happy
Have you seen our latest post on Business News Wales regarding employing millennials and maintaining office culture? No? Well, you can give it a read here . Alternatively, here’s a quick summary along with some cheesy photos of young, grinning digital marketers, not to mention some tasty looking food.
Motivating Millennial Staff the Facts
Deloitte has recently reported that it predicts millennials (anyone born between 1980 and 1999) will account for 75% of the UK’s workforce by 2015 and in industries like ours, this is already a reality. For the companies who aren’t quite there yet, there should be a few essentials addressed now in order to attract and retain younger staff in the future.
Here at Liberty we employ more than 30 staff, all of which are millennials. And throughout our six year company history we’ve learnt a thing or two about what this age group wants and requires from an employer and a job.
Millennials aren’t motivated by the same factors as older employees. Pay is important, of course, but a healthier work-life balance and more involvement in the company are particularly high on the list.
Our Story…
Here at Liberty we recognise the importance of empowering our staff and have introduced a number of initiatives over the years to motivate and enthuse our loyal team.
As Kris Davies, our Operations Director, says:
“This process of change started in 2014 when we moved into our current office. Every member of staff was encouraged to contribute their own ideas and suggestions regarding the design, layout and décor of the building.
As a result of this the kitchen and dining area includes picnic benches, AstroTurf, PlayStation, Xbox and an array of white goods all requested by the staff.”
We also gave our meeting rooms a makeover with themes chosen by the staff. One of the more popular rooms has its largest wall plastered with framed images, each one chosen personally by a different member of staff.
Our main office is open plan and tables are grouped into specific teams to allow close group work, yet cross-company conversation. In our previous office, the staff were split across two floors, something that restricted face-to-face interaction and was high on the list to combat with our 2014 relocation.
We don’t have stuffy, separate offices for managers, directors or our MD and founder either. Instead they sit on their own table amongst the throng of lively conversation and hard work in the open-plan, main office room.
Liberty quickly recognised that food (and the occasional bottle of alcohol) can go a long way in keeping our millennial staff happy too. We have a daily healthy breakfast club where staff take it in turns to dish up a delicious and filling buffet of fruit, yogurt, pastries and granola.
This, along with regular social events, bi-annual company outings and great foodie rewards for good work means staff will never go hungry working here. And should the food get a little too much, we even have a personal trainer visit the office during the summer months to run keep fit classes on our grassy outdoor space.
The team ethos here at Liberty relies mostly on respect, freedom and flexibility. As Kris continues:
“Staff are encouraged to devise their own personal learning programs, have more of an input into the day to day running of the business, decide which client accounts they would like to work on and which prospects they think the business development team should introduce the company to. We also allow our staff to work from home or remotely as we use secure cloud based hosting and software.”
A Few Words of Wisdom…
So, should other businesses consider adapting to meet the requirements of millennials? Yes, but how you do this is up to you.
“Obviously it depends upon the company and the industry they operate in but for companies it is essential that we attract and retain the best staff by providing a workplace that fulfils their needs and requirements as well as those of Liberty as a business.”
He concludes,
“The changes we have made have certainly worked and although I cannot say our employee engagement programme is the sole reason we have grown and developed faster in the last two years that at any other time in our history, it has certainly been of benefit and we now have a settled, talented team of digital marketing professionals who are proud to work for Liberty and delivering fantastic results for our clients.”
Tweet us @_libertydigital with your questions and opinions on keeping millennials happy.