Small businesses are the perfect fit for millennials. Millennials are enthusiastic, creative and open to change. Startups are known for their progressive outlook, so being able to rely on staff who are ready to embrace change is vital. It’s the perfect love story.

Nothing’s ever easy though, and one of the troubles companies face is how to keep their millennials loyal. With growing opportunities for young workers all the time, it can be difficult to hold on to a good employee. So we’ve provided a few ways you can keep millennials working for your small business, short of locking them in the office (which we advise against).

Be Transparent

You can’t expect any employee to work for a business that are keeping secrets from their customers. Keep your brand tone up front and honest, and make it a true reflection of how your business really is. This isn’t just a good idea for employment – it’s a great way of keeping customers loyal too!

By creating an honest work environment you open doors of communication with your employees. This means you’ll be able to pool their ideas rather than having them shy away and being worried about the criticism they might receive.

Be Open to Change

One of the great things about having a millennial in your workplace is their ability to adapt to change. While they won’t be able to rapidly evolve with gills if you put them underwater, they are great at implementing new ideas. For small businesses who are trying to engage customers new ideas are incredibly important in order to grow the business.  Millennials will be your ticket to reading and interpreting data effectively – leading to improved growth and customer engagement.

If you want change to go well it’s vital to open a line of communication between your employee and yourself. This is the best way of letting millennials be creative with their ideas, and if you allow a comfortable environment for them to do this in, with or without beanbags – your choice, you’ll reap the rewards of their creative marketing plans *queue evil laughing*.

Think About Environmental Impact

Millennials have grown up in a time when environmental impact was at the forefront of society’s issues, and continues to be today. Because of this millennials tend to be more environmentally conscious than older generations, and enjoy sporting long beards to demonstrate that they are ‘at one’ with nature. With an estimated 12 percent of millennials being faithful vegetarians (compared to 1 percent of baby boomers) it’s clear that the beards speak the truth.

Your company should be aware of this is you’re hoping to build a millennial-friendly business. Add some recycling bins, vegan friendly food options and be considerate of your energy usage. Not only will this look good to millennials, it will make your business more environmentally-friendly, which definitely isn’t a bad thing!

Offer Honest Reviews

One overlooked difference between baby boomers and millennials is the need for review. Baby boomers are a generation built on experience, trial and error. These guys know what works best and rarely like to vary from their tried and tested methods. Meanwhile millennials crave review from their management, especially after a new project idea or marketing campaign.

Rather than considering reviews as a waste of time, as the owner of a small business you should focus on how it will improve you employee’s performance and your company’s growth. During the review don’t just focus on negatives. This is a time to applaud your employees for their good work and thank them for their dedicated work to the company. Chocolate rewards are optional.

Encourage Feedback

Reviews work both ways. That’s why allowing your staff to review your company and how you run it should be an option you offer. It might scare the bejesus out of you, but it’s all for the good of the company – at least that’s what you should tell yourself!

To create a business where employees don’t feel scared to share opinions, you need to open yourself up for a roast too. Not that that’s what you’re going to get, but proving that you can be just as vulnerable as your employees gives them the ability to be able to talk on the same level – without worrying how you’ll react because you’re their boss.

Are you hoping to employ millennials in your small business? Drop a comment below or Tweet us @Pandlecloud!