Wesley Chapel, Florida - Employers spend a lot of time puzzling over what they need to do to attract millennials and how to retain those young employees once they hire them.

Many organizations even adjust their corporate culture to better appeal to the generation of young adults who are expected to make up half the global workforce by 2020, and who are said to be uncomfortable with rigid corporate structures, expect rapid progression and want constant feedback.

But could it be that companies desperate to recruit millennials are looking at the situation all wrong?

"When companies talk about how to attract and keep millennials, they take a surface approach," says Brad Deutser, president of Deutser LLC, a culture consultancy that advises leaders and organizations facing transition, growth or crisis.

"They are treating millennials uniquely, but that’s not the way they should do it. There’s not one approach you should take with your overall workforce and a separate approach to take for millennials."

In fact, Deutser says, companies will enjoy more success if they remain true to themselves rather than try to be all things to all millennials.

"An organization will do fine if it’s willing to get to the core of what it believes in and then hold true to those beliefs," Deutser says. "That’s providing a sense of organizational clarity that millennials and others will appreciate. When companies aren’t true to who they are, they become lost. They will be disconnected from their workforce and that’s when millennials are likely to look elsewhere for jobs." 

He says to attract millennials and keep them around for the long haul, companies should be:

• Clear about their vision. The most critical ingredient to achieving business success is clarity, Deutser says. That means an organization needs to be clear about its purpose and its vision, as well as clear about the roles of those who carry out that purpose and vision. This remains true whether employees are millennials, baby boomers or part of another generation.
• Willing to communicate. It’s important that a company explains to employees and job candidates how things are done at the company and what is expected of them. "Once they are told how things are, people can opt in or they can opt out," Deutser says. "And usually they will opt in. But if you are unclear about the expectations or your beliefs, they will opt out or there will be problems."
• Able to keep things positive. Deutser is a proponent of positive psychology, so he believes keeping an upbeat atmosphere is essential to a company’s culture. "You want your employees to be happy," he says. "If you can find a way to encourage a positive outlook and attitude, employees from every generation will be more motivated and will perform their jobs better."

"You can have things in your company that will engage millennials, but there must be a holistic view of who the company is and what the company culture is," Deutser says. "That itself hooks millennials in. You don’t have to change your company culture to bring them in."