Engaging Employees Of The Millennial Generation at Your Truckstop
Millennials—typically defined as those born between the early 1980s to the early 2000s—are an important part of the workforce and can provide valuable skills to their employers. However, millennials are often stereotyped as being entitled, unmotivated and difficult to manage, but operators that have learned how to tap into the talent of the millennial generation said they value the traits they bring to the table.
“They bring a level of excitement and energy to the workplace. They bring a different way of looking at things,” said Dustin Trail, manager at Trail’s Travel Center. “I’ve seen them defined as people that want to feel important, that want to feel like they’re serving a purpose or a greater good, but I don’t feel that is a ton different than anyone else.”
Identifying The Advantages
Robin Puthusseril, general manager at Greater Chicago I-55, said she has found that millennials respond well to the vision of an organization, which can help improve the customer experience.
“They bring a level of excitement and energy to the workplace. They bring a different way of looking at things,” said Dustin Trail, manager at Trail’s Travel Center. “I’ve seen them defined as people that want to feel important, that want to feel like they’re serving a purpose or a greater good, but I don’t feel that is a ton different than anyone else.”
Identifying The Advantages
Robin Puthusseril, general manager at Greater Chicago I-55, said she has found that millennials respond well to the vision of an organization, which can help improve the customer experience.
Like Trail, Christine Schoessler, chief of operations at NATSO, said she believes it is the diverse perspective millennials bring that holds significant value. “If everyone on your strategic team is from a similar back-ground, you don’t get the diversity of thinking as if there is a wide array of insight,” she said.
Millennials may also be able to provide insight into locations’ customers, particularly if the customer base is increasingly millennial. “They may be able to connect with your customer base and relate to them from a shared experience,” Schoessler said.
To attract millennials, Puthusseril said she strives to be completely genuine with them. “It is a universal language,” she said, adding that millennials want to work for employers that are honest and open. “If we can be those truth tellers to them, I think they really respect that and gravitate towards it.”
Herb Hargraves, director of fuel and retail sales at Cash Magic, said the 21–25 year olds working at the location are the ones willing to work a schedule of 24 hours or less. “We want to have a good mix of part-time and full-time employees. We try to use our ability to be able to adapt to their schedule as a nugget,” he said.
Differing Communication Styles
Schoessler said that communication can be difficult in any situation. “You have to always communicate to the individual and not your perception of what type of communication that person expects because of their age group. You benefit when you take the time to understand the individual and how that person communicates and communicate on that level,” she said.
Cash Magic often addresses the communication styles of millennials during training sessions with managers, Hargraves said. “We’re asking our more tenured associates to focus more on checking in with our newer people to ensure we’re providing them the information they need in the way that they like,” he said.
Trail said he has noticed that millennials don’t want to be told what to do and instead prefer to be coached. Managers try to work with the millennials to get them to understand things before they have to tell them they aren’t doing it correctly. “One of my managers will even joke that she is using her ‘mom voice’ when explaining something. With an older demographic, I’d just walk over and say, ‘Don’t do it this way. Do it that way.’ That would be it,” Trail said.
Trail said he has found that outside of the workplace, millennials want to text everything, such as when they are calling in sick. “Our managers are an older demographic and are having to adjust to that,” he said.
Addressing The Challenges
While there are benefits millennials bring to the table, operators said there are challenges as well. Corey Berkstresser, general manager at Lee Hi Travel Plaza, said one challenge with younger employees is that they are constantly connected to their phone, which can become a distraction. “Just because you don’t have a customer in front of you doesn’t mean you can’t be doing something for the customer. Don’t just get on Facebook,” he said, adding that it is up to him to help create the vision and provide the feedback to get employees engaged. “It is up to me to notice not just the negative but the good things as well.”
Hargraves said that overall, he has found it challenging to find millennials that want to work at a truckstop. “They might shop there, but it is hard to get them to apply. Once you hire them, it seems more like they’re always looking for another job. If another opportunity comes up that pays more money or is trendier, they’re gone,” he said.
To encourage quality applicants to apply, Cindy Knight, human resources manager at Rochelle Petro, has taken a proactive approach in conjunction with a human resources group she is a part of. “We have gotten together with the schools and talked to them about what is missing and what the kids need to have,” she said. “The schools were very open to that. They want their students to graduate and become productive citizens.”
Because it can be hard to find qualified applicants that want to work at the location, Knight said she frequently reaches out to the high school in her hometown, which is nearby. “It is a small school but it has excellent test scores and the students have good values and character woven into what they do,” she said.
Even though some of the students are going off to college, Knight said they often come home during the summer and will work at the location. “That gives your other employees a chance to get out on vacation and the summer is busier with travelers,” she said.
Photo Credit: Gustavo Frazao/bigstock.com
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