Recruiting, Growing, Retaining, and Maximizing Your Millennial BA Workforce

Transcription

1 Recruiting, Growing, Retaining, and Maximizing Your Millennial BA Workforce Building Business Capability Conference November 3, 2016 Spencer Riley & Brett Larter 1

2 About Us Spencer Riley University of Alabama class of 2014 Business analyst supporting a customer relationship management tool Brett Larter Penn State University class of 2014 Business analyst on an agile store planning project 2

3 Lowe s Information Fortune 50 retailer headquartered in Mooresville, NC We help people love where they live Serves more than 17 million customers per week Employs over 285,000 employees 3

4 Lowe s IT Information $1 billion IT shop supporting internal efforts Over 120 Business Analysts Employees in Mooresville, Bangalore, San Antonio, Winston-Salem, Seattle, and Canada 4

5 Who are Millennials? Also referred to as Generation Y Entering the workforce between 2002 and million millennials in America By 2020, an estimated 46% of the workforce will be millennials 5

6 Generalizations About Millennials Millennials are entitled Millennials are easily distracted Millennials have different personal values than older generations Millennials are more likely to leave your company Millennials value work/life balance 6

7 Millennials vs. Gen X Career Goals HBR has reported millennials are more likely to want to: Make a positive impact on their organization (25% vs. 21%) Millennials are equally likely to: Work with a diverse group of people (22%) Become an expert in their field (20%) Become a senior leader (18%) Millennials are slightly less likely to want to: Manage work-life balance (18% vs. 22%) Work for the best organization in their industry (21% vs. 25%) 7

8 Millennial Retention Rate 8

9 What will your incoming talent know?

10 University of Alabama Crimson Tide Management Information Systems (MIS) program Technical course work Company relationships Capstone Program with real world projects 10

11 Penn State Nittany Lions Management Information Systems (MIS) within the Smeal College of Business Case competition opportunities with many large companies Career preparation provided to all students 11

12 Lowe s Infrastructure for New BAs

13 Lowe s College Talent Program 18 month rotational program for BAs, developers, project managers, and QA hired out of college Yearly classes of people, including BAs Works as a liaison between recruiting team and IT managers 13

14 Lowe s College Talent Program Recruiting from a diverse set of schools and programs Involving IT in hiring process Finding programs that fit well with Lowe s Utilizing the internship program Getting involved through career fairs and information sessions Onboarding a group of new hires on an annual basis Providing relevant and efficient training Placing new hires in relevant positions quickly Setting up rotations that make the most sense for the new hire and organizational needs 14

15 Lowe s College Talent Program Assembling a cohort of employees that are like-minded Establishing a self-led group of employees Opening a channel for feedback for the program and organization Creating networking opportunities between cohort and leadership Fostering a relationship between the new hires and their leaders Introducing new employees to the organization 15

16 Community of Practice Business analysis community of practice at Lowe s for IT BAs Source of education for the BA role and industry practices Made up of four committees Skillbuilders Trendsetters Public Relations Social 16

17 How Lowe s Recruits, Grows, Retains, and Maximizes Young BAs

18 Recruiting Rating system to decide which schools to recruit from, and how many resources to dedicate Leverage long term relationships with selected universities Many top companies have college leadership/rotational programs for new hires Internships can be used as a way to earn a positive reputation 18

19 Mindset Change College Mindset There s a right way to do things My success is only important for me My weaknesses are expressed as bad grades I m working towards getting a job I don t know everything I need to know Workplace Mindset There is no single right approach to a situation My success contributes to the success of my team, and the whole company My weaknesses are opportunities to improve I m working towards getting better at my job I can get experience to learn what I need to know 19

20 Growing Integration into corporate life through CTP trainings Consistency in the BA toolbox through introductory trainings Training begins in easier environments with other young BAs, then evolves into group trainings with senior BAs 20

21 Growing Young BAs benefit from mentors they can trust Peer review process provides a safety net for hesitant, inexperienced BAs Peer review process can show a young BA how an experienced BA does their job Community of Practice for additional business analysis insights The number one way to grow your BA: throw them right in 21

22 Retaining Most common complaint from new hires is: I wish I had more to do. Positive culture is valuable; highlight that as much as possible CTP networking and cohort creates a comfortable environment 96% of millennial BAs still employed at Lowe s since

23 Maximizing Young BAs can make ideal flexible resources and have less inhibition about trying new things Fresh insights can be provided to multiple projects through a peer review process Experienced BAs can benefit from knowledge sharing with incoming BAs 23

24 Maximizing New hires who rotate have high cross-functional knowledge and have a higher change resiliency The cohort works together to share knowledge with each other and provide feedback for future classes of CTP hires Your company gets first choice of the next generation s leaders by hiring the best ones out of college 24

25 Key Takeaways Young BAs graduate with valuable insight and experience Consistency and planning is the basis for a successful onboarding of new BAs Keep in mind differences between the mindsets that are successful in college and what mindsets you need in a successful company The best way to train a young BA is to let them be a BA 25

26 Questions and Answers

27 HBR Mindset Chart 27

28 Sources What percentage of your workforce will be millennials by Harvard Business Review reporting on millennial career goals FiveThirtyEight reporting on millennial retention rate index.html One of many opinions on the age of millennials 28