Utility Aging Workforce Part II – The Millenials are Coming!

After decades of “who wants to work at a utility”, the energy industry is a cool place to work. And just in time.

Starting after the dot com bust, the stability of working at a utility (California utilities aside) became a relatively attractive employment alternative. 2000 brownouts and the 2003 blackout reminded people how we get our lights, and there is a need to improve transmission system reliability. It also highlighted the complexity of the power grid.

In 2006, it became painfully obvious that we don't have an infinite supply of oil, and 2007 became the year of CO2 awareness. Electric utilities are on the hook to do something about it.

Starting a couple of years ago, renewable energy companies became the hot new startups. Leading the renewables resurgence are dot-com survivors who are working on significant new technologies and services ranging from photovoltaic manufacturing methods to next generation electric vehicles. Larger energy companies are are also looking towards renewables - and are starting to identify what these new technologies are, and planning how to integrate them into their business.

It is clear that utilities need to start hiring and training now to solve the future utility problems. Integrating new renewables is a part of this, but upgrading transmission infrastructure, adding new large-scale generation including nuclear, implementing “smart” meters, managing the fallout of huge rate increases, and improving online customer service are all on the top of the minds of utilities.

Fortunately, there are a slew of smart, young, motivated “millennials” about to enter the workforce who can help. The question is, how to get them, and how to work with them?

Generational consultants will tell you that Millenials tend to be a coddled, image-conscious, technically savvy, and confident bunch. They will bring to utilities new technology, and environmentally forward thinking views with them.

As a stereotypical Gen X’er, I don’t identify closely with this generation which has more values in common with boomers than us, but during my dot com detour (see part 1) , I did market to them. I was surprised how my generation's punk-era rebeliousness and angst didn't resonate like I thought it would with this generation. But, I did find that some elements of the dot com experience set the bar for what millenials expect in a job.

He are are my top 10 ways to recruit and retain recent grads:

1. Pay attention to the image. Remember when it was hard to believe that a company named Yahoo! Would go anywhere? Today’s entry-level engineer has been using Yahoo! since she was 10 years old, so funny names and cool colors are the standard.

2. While not everything from the dot com model worked, one thing stuck - let employees know that the workplace isn’t just a place to work, it’s a second home. And it should feel like home. This doesn’t necessarily mean spending a ton of money, but at a minimum lose the old wooden paneling that I've seen still exists at many utilities.

3. Give them a laptop on day 1. It doesn't matter that they don't travel, these young men and women are not only technically savvy, they have high expectations of the technology they get to work with. To millenials (and X'ers, for that matter), a desktop may as well be a ball and chain.


4. Every new employee, but especially millenials, want to be treated like a VP, or at least a VIP, on their first day. Giving a new employee a cube with the last guy's bent paperclips in the drawer and pointing to the supply cabinet just might send the high-expectation employee in a tizzy. Not to mention how would a millennial deal with a supply cabinet? Would they know what to do with that bottle of white out?

5. Speaking of feeling at home, having a stocked kitchen is pretty much the norm in Silicon Valley. If you're competing with Google for jobs, be sure to at least offer decent coffee and maybe even soda.

6. “Team building” experiences have changed over the years. The old standby -after work dinner and drinks - doesn’t work anymore. Not because it’s a bad idea, but schedules prohibit it. Millenials are busy every night of the week - classes, volunteering, sports, family commitments (with their folks, not their kids). Activities that incorporate those interests are a better bet for apres-work get togethers.

7. Find them where they are, and communicate using their media. Millenials get their information online – and they spend a lot of time in community sites. They communicate via IM and email. Anticipate that their work and non-work life will blend together – they will be IMing friends from work during the day, but finishing up a project from home at night.

8. Expect to coddle. Although bright, expect that many 20-something employees are still deep in debt – and still live, and may continue to live, at home. They haven't fully broken away from their parents, and are still highly influenced by them. Parents may be very involved with the employee ranging from navigating through first day paperwork, all the way through talking to company personnel to help their child choose a job.

Provide close mentorship, support, and group interaction. Unlike the generations (including my own “latch-key” generation) that learned to work independently, this generation is familiar with working in teams and collaborative groups, and have wide virtual networks of friends. This may affect how some are able to cope with figuring out an assignment on their own.

9. Don’t go overboard on outdated training. This is not a generation of kids who differentiate between gender or race. Unlike the predominantly white male generation of boomer engineers who sometimes needed reminding on everything from how to treat female coworkers to non-discriminatory interviewing techniques to keep from getting sued, this generation is largely blind to color, gender, and sexual preference.

10. Train in new ways. Millenials spend their time on the web. Leverage that as a training tool. Rather than limiting their training to archaic procedures that your company doesn’t have the time or resources to keep current, have employees check out information websites such as EIA, or Enerwiki. (Shameless self promotion here: Enerwiki is a wikipedia for energy. It can be used for both reading and learning – and also contributing.)