March-April 2009

WANTED: Young Guns

Refreshing your image to lasso in Millennials.

“Nobody wants to work for a utility. It’s old, boring, and terrible for the environment. I mean, what would it be like to tell someone at a party that you work for a utility? It’s like something my grandpa would do.” —Anonymous Millennial in the professional sector

This reflects the attitude Millennials (those born between 1979–1994—also known as Generation Y) within the professional world hold concerning employment at an energy utility. Organizations understand the importance of recruiting young talent to backfill the mass migration of the baby boomer segment scheduled to retire within the next 10 years, but this negative perception dominates the minds of the key recruiting demographic.

According to the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees aged 20–24 comprise 3.3% of the utilities industry workforce, while the same age range comprises 9.6% of all industry workforces—almost triple the amount of fresh college graduates as utilities. Similarly, employees aged 25–34 represented within the utilities industry workforce compared to all industry workforces is 15.5% to 21.5%, respectively.

Unsuccessful attempts (or a lack thereof) to onboard Millennials pose a serious threat to not only the physical industry-specific skilled labor, but also intellectual capital and critical knowledge retention—the bonding, ultra-adhesive gel of an organization. Without this, a company can crumble. But there is hope. Energy utilities that practice self-awareness, glean insight from other industry role models that have re-imaged themselves, promote recent college graduates’ interests, and plan sustainability initiatives stand a solid chance at refreshing its image and lassoing in Millennials.

Take Three Paces, Then Draw!
First Pace—Who You Lookin’ for, Cowboy? 
Clearly, common perceptions about the energy utilities industry present a serious obstacle in recruiting young talent. Millennials view the industry as old, antiquated, and hierarchical. Awareness of this perception, as well as Generation Y qualities, is the first step in formulating a solution to encourage an influx of junior employees.

Like any generation, Millennials are characterized by a unique set of traits that can be attributed to societal, relational, and environmental factors that impacted the world in which they were raised. For example, Generation Y participates heavily in extracurricular activities. Increasing competition to enter institutions of higher education spurs this involvement. The National Admission for College Admission Counseling claims that 75% of colleges reported an increase in the number of applications for fall admission from 2005 to 2006, while 7% reported no change, and only 18% reported a decrease. Nowadays, high engagement outside of the classroom is a well-known asset to achieve college admission. Needless to say, this generation stays busy. And they do not know what it is like to not be busy, thus mastering the art of multitasking.

High involvement in extracurricular activities also fosters Millennials’ desire to work collaboratively to achieve common goals. Whether it is soccer practice, community volunteer initiatives, or the next school play, all such activities share a highly collaborative nature. These experiences transfer directly to their professional expectations. Recent college graduates search for a team-oriented work environment where groups of employees realize shared objectives together, sometimes even debunking opportunities which reward individual performance over that of the collective team. 

In these collaborative groups, this generation seeks the guidance of experienced employees via mentorships. Whereas previous generations traditionally strive to demonstrate their individual capabilities independently, Millennials actively look for mentors and demand role models from which they can soak in knowledge.

The current green movement reflects another characteristic of Millennials—their concern for a healthy globe. Environmental consciousness was not introduced yesterday. The oldest group of Generation Y learned the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling during elementary school science classes. College graduates prove to be the most passionate supporters of environmental preservation initiatives that continue to grow momentum today. One recent study shows that 78% of Millennials believe companies have a responsibility to join them in efforts to better the environment, and nearly 80% of Millennials want to work for a company that cares about how it contributes to society.

Finally, this generation loves cutting-edge technology. Throughout their youth, they have seen history’s greatest technological advancements. Millennials observed the Internet’s transformation from Al Gore’s café napkin invention to the complexities of search engines, e-mail, file sharing, and instant messaging. These constant innovative improvements with regard to the availability, sharing, and analysis of data and information support their optimistic approach for viewing the sky as the limit to how technology development will make the world a better place. Recent college graduates cannot imagine life without these technological advancements and demand hands-on involvement in the latest and greatest on a daily basis.

Second Pace—This ‘Aint the First Time the Rodeo Came to Town
The retail banking industry offers great examples of innovative organizations in a mature, highly-regulated industry traditionally known as stodgy and antiquated (characteristics similar to energy utilities) that diligently carried out initiatives to re-image themselves and increase the appeal to young talent. Not long ago, retail banking’s attempts to recruit college graduates and young professionals stumbled as the target audience often selected Wall Street’s investment banking fast-pace and cash-cachet to start their careers. But forward-thinking utility leaders can glean insight from retail banks that planned initiatives to successfully attract a new generation of employees and customers.

A leading example of creating such a rich environment is Umpqua Bank’s exceptional growth from a 40-person community bank to a 128-branch entity with a strong western United States presence. In his book, Leading for Growth: How Umpqua Bank Got Cool and Created a Culture of Greatness, Raymond Davis (co-written by Alan Shrader) explains how his creative leadership approach facilitated this success, including hiring a top-of-the-line design firm to revamp the retail layout and modernize its appeal. Employees are required to answer the phone with a cheery “World’s Greatest Bank,” and between 8:45 a.m. and 9 a.m. every day, every employee at every branch congregates for a “Motivational Moment.” A different employee leads the “Motivational Moment” each day, and the meeting could consist of a funny story, a quiz, a craft, or a companywide call with Davis. No matter the activity, it is a creative method for everyone to start the day focused together and kick it off on a positive note; an attractive element to Millennials who seek culture-rich, highly collaborative work environments.

ING Direct provides another account of re-vamping its environment to promote a fun, lively culture. The Dutch-originated bank stays true to its roots with the use of orange as its main color and has infused this electric color’s energy into its customer and employee programs. One prime initiative of making its branches colorful is the bright orange cafés in major cities across the nation where customers can sip lattés, surf the Internet for free, and discover ways that ING can help them save money.

Such approaches to challenge the current thinking, find new ways to motivate employees, and attract customers extend into credit unions and other industries. Boeing’s credit union, BECU, incorporates “Neighborhood Financial Centers” into its branches to support its mission in building stronger communities and enriching the lives of its employees and members. 

In the airlines industry (another highly regulated industry like energy utilities and banking), Southwest Airlines veered from the industry’s conventional attitude—extremely formal and serious. Vibrantly transforming everything, from company colors to flight attendant uniforms to television commercials, it created an environment where employees have fun and truly enjoy themselves—essential requirements in attracting and retaining talent.

Third Pace—Keep Your Eye on the Prize and Take Aim
Millennials’ multitasking nature suggests they prefer involvement in multiple initiatives at once. They seek dynamic roles—not consistent, ongoing, day-in, and day-out tasks. Of course, any role within any organization requires repeated tasks, especially operational versus project-based roles. With this in mind, utilities should stress any project-based work that is included in entry-level positions. If the role’s anticipated amount of project-based work is low, companies must highlight any additional initiatives that provide participation opportunities for all employees.

The last thing junior employees want to do is sit in their isolated cubes all day staring at a computer screen. With views shaped by the common goal achievement credo of group activities, Millennials need assurance that their work environment is collaborative. Any form of anticipated teamwork deserves recognition in recruitment messaging.

In addition, does the physical workspace in the organization’s offices foster collaboration? Is the layout conducive to groups of employees working in teams? Does the interior visually appear as a time warp back into the 1970’s? Rearranging an office space often requires a large investment, but the vintage adage of “a picture is worth a thousand words” really hurts a utility that features offices that suggest institutional attitudes exist.

Establishing a formal mentorship program early on, scratches a Millennial’s itch to seize the day with guidance. Management involvement in setting expectations and kicking the program off increases the rate of success. As an added benefit to establishing a mentorship program, these relationships serve as a medium to passing down critical industry knowledge that is in risk of exiting the organization entirely upon senior resource retirement.

A twist on this idea is a reverse mentorship program. Companies such as Procter & Gamble, Siemens, and General Electric have established programs to facilitate both collaboration and interaction amongst generations, and continue the technology learning process for middle-aged executives. In addition to providing first-hand exposure to company leaders, such an initiative gives Millennials an opportunity to refine presentation and public speaking skills in front of an acclaimed audience.

Millennials have already demonstrated their capability of reverse mentoring to company leaders, including me, as they have formed relationships with a wide range of friends and acquaintances through social networking tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn. At first, I hesitated to participate, but now understand the business value these devices offer and have learned to embrace them.

Energy utilities also need to address Millennials’ dedication to preserving the environment, highlighting investments in conservation technologies, and efforts to generate more energy through renewable sources. Recent college graduates may at first dismiss the notion of such companies contributing to a greener globe (and can you blame them with the historic dependence upon fossil fuels?), but they can be convinced. If they want to dedicate themselves to a job where they can contribute to the environment, then they can become a utilities team member who builds business cases to increase investment in renewable energy sources.

In addition, energy efficiency/reliability/conservation initiatives provide an opportunity to fulfill Millennials’ desire to work with cutting-edge technology. Perhaps no other industry is experiencing the rate of technological advancement and revolutionary change as energy utilities. Nationwide Smart Grid initiatives are converting the traditional method of electricity transmission and distribution that we have known since power was first discovered. Advanced, two-way, broadband communications, and sensors technologies and the data and information they create play an integral role in current and future solutions. The whole face of energy is transforming—from automating the measuring, collecting, and analyzing of energy usage to the demand response market shift that grants innovative consumer purchasing power and a new level of energy ownership. Organizations must ensure that Millennials know this is not their grandpas’ energy utilities industry.

DRAW!
Time for the showdown against the competition. The unique, unwavering characteristics of baby boomer retirement doom saviors have been discovered. Organizations in similarly mature, highly regulated industries have employed techniques to battle the same image issue and cater to Millennials’ professional desires. Practicing self-awareness to evaluate one’s own organization uncovers current practices that recent college graduates prefer as well as do not prefer.

Most importantly, after considering all of these aspects, opportunities may be revealed where an initiative here and there can drastically improve a utility’s youth appeal and attract this much-needed talent, leading to the development of a rich, vibrant environment that Millennials prefer in order to retain and develop the utilities’ next generation of leaders.