The Hive Mind at Work
What makes GenZ and Millennial workers stay at jobs?
We’ve talked in the past about how bees perform different tasks as they age. With bees, genetics and pheromones dictate their job duties, and it is built into the hive for job changes to occur at set periods of time. But just as bees are under external environmental threats, the future of work for GenZ and Millennials is also tenuous. A recent report from Deloitte reveals many disconnects between GenZ and Millennials workers and the leadership at their companies where they work. These communication breakdowns lead to lower retention and a reduced degree of effort (the phenomena of quiet quitting, Bare-Minimum Mondays), in what might actually be problems related to work/life balance and a lack of opportunities for growth. Whereas current company leaders might see this sort of behavior as disloyal, it reminds us of a similar situation that occurs naturally within the world of bees: the swarm.
A swarm occurs, as we have written previously, when a beehive becomes too overcrowded. Imagine a hive with too many workers, elbowing into each other in the dark. There are not enough resources to go around, and too many mouths to feed. Some bees sense injury or sickness from some in their hive, raising the urgency of the situation. Suddenly, one forager’s pheromones give a signal: a new, abundant source of nectar. Suddenly the bees are activated: the nurse bees begin making new swarm cells, the start of making a new queen to create a new hive. In nature, this potential promise of better outcomes can lead to about half the hive workers leaving with their queen to find a new home. Similarly, 9 out of 10 GenZ and millennial workers surveyed by Harvard Business Review expressed that they were overwhelmed with their workloads in the past month due to extended periods of heavy workload, conflicting communications, or a lack of autonomy; it’s no wonder GenZ and millennial workers are already considering leaving their companies in the next two years (31% of GenZ and 17% of Millennials).
What happens if a beekeeper does not want their bees to swarm? They might intentionally make a “split:” remove the existing queen and a fraction of the workers and transport to a new hive location, while allowing the existing hive to raise a new queen. What’s the equivalent of this in the working world? Here we can again turn to Deloitte’s survey: nearly one third of Gen Zs and Millennials want more of their working time allotted to in-house learning programs, mentorship, and peer learning opportunities. Are there projects that can be given to new hires to facilitate learning, alongside mentorship efforts that might root out the next generation of company leadership? In the hive, you don’t find leadership of a hive, but create it through developing larvae at the earliest stages.
It’s clear then why so few GenZ and Millennials are seeking leadership roles (only 6% of those surveyed by Deloitte). So what else could leaders do to not only retain GenZ and Millennial talent, but help these generations flourish in the workplace? I’d like to hammer home the idea that bees are intentional with their spits and companies should be intentional too:
· Every job should have a ladder. Bees are incredible at moving from simple to more complex tasks as they mature: Larvae focus on their own growth before moving on to hive administrative tasks—wax production, food storage, comb building, nectar processing—then guarding the hive, before becoming strategically-focused foragers. Within your company, is it clear what the next step on the ladder is? Is there even a ladder?
· Keep Communication Clear and Prevalent. Social structure is regulated both by the queen’s pheromones and the workers: the queen sends out signals to the hive that “everything is ok”, and individual bees use pheromones for good news (nectar) or bad (dangers, sickness, or injury). As a company, what signals is your leadership sending out to the company to keep things calm (even during a crisis)? Are you allowing your foragers to call out potential opportunities and threats? Are those signals getting where they need to go?
· Create an environment that is ripe for growth. Leadership in the hive is planned, not sudden or spontaneous. Nurse bees pour resources in a coordinated effort to raise up a new queen. Is your company building mentorship programs that show your workers your intent to move them into leadership positions? How can you show a commitment to perpetual learning that proves you are invested in your work force?
· Acknowledge that values factor heavily into decision-making. At least half of GenZ and millennial populations believe that doing meaningful work is important. More than 60% of each population is willing to pay more for ecologically sustainable products or services; at least 20% of each population research a company’s global or environmental impact policies before accepting a new job. Is your company working to make their mission, vision, and values clear to your laborers in a way that even your “worker bees” can understand? How does your company retain workers who are concerned about the future of the environment?
Undoubtedly the long view of generational changes would assert that every generation has complaints about successive generations, but while some of these items may be superfluous, others speak very much to our deeply held beliefs, which inform our motivation and passion. Often nature provides great metaphors for rethinking business organization and structure, especially when it comes to considering new generators of the labor force.
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