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The manufacturing industry lacks job appeal to millennials entering the workforce. While most industries are revamping their company culture and benefits to accrue these new, demanding employees, manufacturing will need to work doubly hard to meet their needs and appease wary stakeholders. But what do millennials really need?

Our executive chairman, Dan Campbell, shares his insights in an article for Industrial Equipment News, “Are Millennial Must-Haves a Myth?” These are excerpts from the article on IEN.com written by Anna Wells. The full article can be found here.

Dan Campbell, [former] CEO of Hire Dynamics, a staffing agency that specializes in IT and manufacturing, office work and call centers, believes that some of the more highly publicized must-haves for Millennials are getting more air time than they deserve. Does every potential worker really require flexible work schedules or a ping-pong table in the break room?

“Sometimes there is a disconnect between what people say they want and what they really need,” says Campbell. “What are the things that they really need in order to be proud and stay with an organization? It’s more about having a voice and making sure they’re heard and the company is attentive to them.”

Dan talks about how the perception of manufacturing created decades ago isn’t what it’s like today. “I think there is still a misnomer that manufacturing is more old school, and it’s not sexy and it’s not state-of-the-art,” he says. “So I think there is still an issue with perception of manufacturing, as it relates to Millennials.”

Dan echoes the emphasis on the role industrial companies play in job retention, specifically.

“Whether it’s Millennials or anybody else, I think sometimes the challenge is you still have old school management techniques that are utilized, even if it’s an advanced manufacturing environment,” says Campbell. In fact, he explains, two main components will directly influence whether a manufacturing business will attract and retain quality employees. One, ensure that the employee is clear as to what is expected of him or her on a daily basis.

“It sounds easy, but most don’t do that,” Campbell says. The second, he says, is whether that individual is able to use his or her strengths on a regular basis. “If you accomplish those two things, I don’t care if you’re a Millennial or you’re a thirty-year person – you will attract and retain at a much higher rate, and the word will spread.”