Millennials want better learning and development (L&D) opportunities and experiences at work. In fact, offering engaging L&D programs is usually cited as being the number one way to retain Millennials long term. But unfortunately, many L&D professionals don’t know exactly what to do to make their L&D programs more engaging for this generation.
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Below are five ways to keep Millennials engaged in your L&D programs.
1. Personalize Each Employee’s L&D
With the innovation of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud-based systems and apps, your employees’ L&D experiences should be customized and personalized to their current interests and aptitudes, as well as their future career aspirations or career maps.
The bottom line is that if you want your Millennial employees to be engaged in their L&D programs, make sure those programs are personalized and relevant to them.
2. Implement Microlearning
In today’s fast-paced world, learners don’t have the patience or attention span for tutorials or classes that last hours at a time, especially if those tutorials are implemented online or via mobile devices. So, implement microlearning for Millennial learners via modules that are around 5 minutes long instead.
3. Leverage Social Learning
Millennials grew up with social media, so they will want to engage in social learning experiences. They will want to ask one another questions as they learn and to connect with their instructors, managers, etc., via social learning environments.
4. Offer Regular and Immediate Feedback
To keep your Millennial learners engaged, offer them instant results on their assessments via mobile apps, and use gamification techniques and practices to let them know how they are doing as they learn and navigate their development at your organization.
They will want and expect immediate feedback on how they’re doing as they learn. Don’t wait months to tell them how they are doing with their L&D, or they will lose interest.
5.Use Videos and Interesting Content
Most content on the Internet is video-based because it’s engaging. So, to keep your Millennial learners engaged in their L&D at your organization, be sure to use video content. Also, use learning content that is interactive, interesting, and reliant on storytelling if you want it to be engaging.
Overall, keep your Millennials’ L&D experiences personalized, in the moment, relevant, mobile, social, and interesting to keep these workers engaged.