Also known as Generation Y, the Millennials are defined as all people born between the late 1970s and 2000. Some managers have struggled with leading the Millennials because they can be perceived as unusually demanding in contrast with the other three generations currently in the workplace: the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, and Generation X. However, great ideas for understanding and leading the Millennials are outlined in the 2009 book Keeping the Millennials: Why Companies are Losing Billions in Turnover to This Generation and What to Do About It.

Topics range from recruitment, through onboarding and training, through performance management and retention. Below are some action items.

1. Recruitment: seek career-oriented Millennials in resident assistant (RA) positions in college dorms, military positions, and achievement-oriented high school clubs such as 4-H. Note that a significant percentage of Millennials are not interested in the corporate environment, instead planning careers as serial entrepreneurs. Also build your own company’s reputation as a cool place to work, with the latest technology and a presence in “cool” settings such as sporting events or college fraternities.

2. Onboarding: bring newly hired Millennials into the fold as quickly as possible. They tend to place great value on frequent communication, belonging, acceptance, and teamwork. Also spend time giving them clear career paths for how they might move horizontally and vertically through your organization. Millennials might have unrealistic expectations about how quickly they can climb the corporate ladder.

3. Training: provide Millennials with interactive, dynamic, high-tech, hands-on training. They are eager to learn and are typically fast processors of information, so they’re unlikely to respond well to a dry lecture or seminar with an overhead projector.

4. Performance Management: give Millennials regular feedback and coaching throughout the performance management cycle. They are accustomed to hearing quick responses to their text messages, Facebook updates, tweets, and more; they will be seeking frequent communication from their leaders as well.

5. Retention vs. Separation: support your Millennials’ efforts to achieve work-life balance. Survey results suggest that if Millennials are forced to choose one or the other, they will quit their job to enjoy more of life. Also seek feedback from the happily employed Millennials in your organization. What do they enjoy about working at your company? What suggestions do they have for making your business even more attractive to prospective job candidates from their generation?

When working with any generation, understanding the strengths, weaknesses, and general mindset of the average person from that generation can be invaluable in helping them feel comfortable and productive in your organization. A book such as Keeping the Millennials can be very useful in recruiting, onboarding, training, managing, and retaining the new generation in the workplace.