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Martina K. Vannevel
Dianne Lancaster
Victoria Narkon
BA235
11/22/2018

The Influx of younger employees: How to attract Millennials to work for you

The working world is experiencing extraordinary generational exchange. Even though

Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964 ) are reaching the retirement age, but many
choose to work into their 60s and 70s. Gen X (born 1965-1976) are Millennials (born
between 1977-1995) are advancing and beginning to take on leadership positions at
their companies. This is the first time the workplace is consisting of three generations
working side-by-side.

According to Nicole Smith, the NASPO Issues coordinator, the employers, especially in
the public sector are experiencing challenging workforce shrinkage. This challenge is a
result of two generations emerging: aging workforce, and fewer younger available to
continue in their footsteps. The government (state, federal and local) workforce has
already outpaced the private sector by employing employees eligible for retirement
(Table 1).
Table 1: Age Distribution of Government and Private Sector Worker, 2001

Source: Abbey, Craig W. and Boyd, Donald

J. The Aging Government Workforce. The
Nelson A. Rockafeller Institute of
Government. July 2002.

Additionally, the number of

younger employees (under 35)
working in the private sector is
significantly higher than in public
agencies. “The combination of an
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increasing percentage of older workers (eligible for retirement) and the limited number
of younger replacements clearly states a significant problem).”
In 2002, 46% government employees were 45 years and older, compared to 31% in the
private sector. The percentage of older workers is continuously growing. (between
1994 to 2001 the number of employees older than 45 increased by 7.3%, while in
private companies for the same period increased by 5%). (Smith)

“Knowledge Workers”

The U.S. Census Bureau calls employees higher in occupations, with specialized
training, education, and skills, the ‘knowledge workers.” Over percent of government
employees fall into “knowledge worker” class. Within the private sector, it’s only 29
percent. Examples of “knowledge workers”: legal professionals, educators, engineers,
managers, and healthcare professionals. Adding that older “knowledge workers”
working in government cover 49% (only 34 in the private sector). Federal, state and
local government is facing the challenge of replacing a higher percentage of their
“knowledge workers” that the private sector will.
These conditions will considerably affect government agencies, especially in situations
when additional efficiency and performance will be needed. To address rising issues,
we need to recognize that the traditional procurement is changing. The first part of this
change is to find talents with the right set of skills-knowledge, capabilities, and skills.
The second is how to retain these employees. (Smith)

According to Dr. Peter Viechnicki, the conventional wisdom about millennials is that they
have higher turnover rates than prior generations, but the data proves this is a false
misconception. (see Table 2). Dr. Viechnicki points out that the method used to
calculate turnover rate is based on tenure-how long the employees have held their jobs,
which gives out false accusation. Age-specific tenure rates are both by how old the
employees are and how long they hold onto their jobs. On average Millennials are
staying in school longer and starting to work at an older age. This fact brings down age-
specific tenure rates.
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Table 2: Turnover rates for Millennials cs. those of Gen Xers. 2013 turnover rates

Source: Viechnicki, Peter. Understanding Millennials in government: Debunking myths about our youngest public
servants. Deloitte University Press.

Second biggest misconception, according to Viechnicki is that Millennials are less

passionate about their jobs in government. This is based on believing that Millennials
see too few opportunities for personal development and that they aim to have a
meaningful impact from day one.

Table 3: Pride in employer unchanged for Millennial government employees

Source: Deloitte analysis of National

Opinion Research Center General Social
Survey, 2002-2014. Deloitte University
Press.

From collected data, we can

see that Millennials are as
engaged as all previous
generations were. Federal workers engagement declined since 2010, caused by
repeated pay freezes, government shutdowns, and fiscal uncertainty. Table 3 shows
that Millennials working in government are about the same proud than previous
Generation X. The survey was done on 20-35 years old public employee that agreed
with the statement “I am proud of my employer.” Almost 95% of Millennial government
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employee reported they agree or strongly agree with the statement “I am proud to work
for my employer (nationally representative poll).

The third misconception is that it’s harder to recruit Millennials for the public sector than
previous generations. According to Dr. Viechnicki, the jury is still out for this belief, but
data is proving it being wrong. More Millennials are choosing undergraduate and
master’s degrees in public administration and social services (Table 4). Some are
experiencing problem finding jobs in government: the unemployment rate for (25-2) with
a bachelor’s degree in public administration was 7.3 %, while the national average for
all bachelor’s degree holders was 4.8%.
Table 4: More Millennials choosing to major in public administration and social service

Source: US Department of Education National

Center for Education Statistics, Table 325.85

New Challenges and Roles in Procurement

Finding qualified employees with adequate skills set, capabilities and knowledge are
becoming very challenging for public procurement managers. Smith states, that “proper
allocation or rating of positions typically involves the consideration of a combination of
factors generally defined by human resources rules and regulations. These
considerations often include factors such as the range and impact of decisions,
complexity in the analysis and judgment exercised in the profession, the nature, and
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purpose of the contacts between the employee and the stakeholders” (Smith). The HR
departments and the recruiting processes are (will be) necessary to alter, to reflex the
trends and needs of the candidates, and this will have an impact in recruitment and
retention. Public procurement (like private supply chain operations) is moving away
from traditional purchasing, into a more strategic role in government and business.
Policies and procedures are no longer the primary focus of procurement officers; their
roles evolved into more complex and centralized organizational performance type of
positions.

Skills needed for New Procurement Professionals

According to Smith, the role of procurement changes and it requires a specific type of
person or set of skills that HR should look for when hiring a new procurement officer.
Smith states that having strong communication skills is crucial whether it is negotiation
with a vendor, giving a presentation, drafting a solicitation or just simply writing an email
to a coworker. Successful procurement officer should have adaptation skills (Smith).
Officers must understand the changes in society and adapt to meet new areas of focus,
such as domestic products and services, immigration laws, “green” purchasing shelter
workshops, etc. Government agencies are under the pressure to supplement rising cost
of education and healthcare and the demand is to “do more for less”. Thriving
procurement employees should have analytical skills and strong problem-solving
mindset. They should be capable of thorough research when needed and be able to
demonstrate strategic critical thinking.

Strategic sourcing is an emerging trend in procurement and it will continue to be a part

of the procurement processes. This is when the “thinking outside of the box” becoming
a powerful project management tool. New professionals should be capable to acquire,
monitor and manage strategic sourcing initiatives. These are some of the critical skills
and personal attributes that HR managers should pay attention when seeking new
procurement hire. New hires should possess the forward-thinking attitude, understand
the industry, and ask themselves-is there a better way of buying this item?
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Strategies how government agencies could strengthen their relationships

with Millennial employees:

As I stated earlier in this research, there are several popular misinformation regarding
Millennials and their work ethic, but as I stated earlier, many of them are misleading or
wrongful. However, society is changing, government policies and trends are changing,
needs are changing, and the way procurement is being handled is in transformation too.
These changes might not be only one generational. Following are three suggestions on
how to adjust to these changes and maintain productivity:

1. Don’t focus on generational differences, but embrace differences in Human

Capital: previous research (Viechnicki) proves that Millennials don’t behave
much differently than the previous generation, however because of wrongful data
and misinterpretation, they gain negative publicity and are often judged before
they have a chance to shine. I myself am Millennial, and I have been harshly
judged during interviews because of my age, not because of my abilities. Once
millennials “settle down”, buy a house, start a family they opt for a stable job.
These milestones might be coming later in their lives than it was with previous
generations, but that’s because of economic factor beyond their control. Different
benefits and work-life balance might be attractive for different groups.
Governments should offer more work-place flexibility as part of benefits.
2. Make sure that Millennials can access existing benefits programs: one
difference between millennials and previous generations is the high student debt.
Governments could offer programs to help with this situation but offering student
re-payment plan, which can be a motivation to attract and keep young workers.
3. Be proactive and don’t wait for candidates to find you. Examples from other
states: Utah hires a headhunter dedicated to senior IT positions, North Carolina,
Alabama or Oregon, and many others, use internship programs and partnership
with local universities to find and train talented students to job positions.
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Works Cited

Smith, Nicole. "Responding to an Aging and Canging Worforce: Attracting, Retaining and

Developing New New Procurement Professionals." Research brief. 2008.

http://www.naspo.org/dnn/portals/16/documents/Responding_to_an_Aging_and_Changin

g_Workforce_-_FINAL_compressed.pdf. 22 November 2018.

Viechnicki, Peter . "Understanding Millennials in goverment:Debunking myths about our

youngest public servants." n.d.

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/pa/Documents/human-

capital/201603_Pa_Millennials-in-govt.pdf.

Vinik, Danny. "America's goverment is getting old." 27 September 2017. Politico.com.

https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/27/aging-government-workforce-

analysis-000525. 22 November 2018.