Ryan Englin on Pest in Class: Attract, Hire, and Retain by Understanding What Motivates the Modern Workforce

I went on FieldRoutes' Pest in Class podcast to talk about what actually motivates different generations in the workforce and why most business owners get it wrong.

Here's the thing. Every generation of twenty-somethings looks the same to the generation running the companies. We make fun of Millennials for wanting experiences. We make fun of Boomers for being slave drivers. We make fun of Gen Z for being entitled. And we forget that Socrates said the exact same thing about young people 3,000 years ago. The quote is almost word for word what people say about Millennials today. "The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority." That was 3,000 years ago. We are not special. This is not new.

But here's where it matters for your business. Recruiting is a marketing activity. Marketing 101 is understanding your audience. Meeting them where they are. Knowing their pains, hopes, and goals. If you don't understand who your target market is, you can't attract them. The same principle applies to attracting employees. And if you lump an entire generation into a stereotype instead of treating each person as an individual, you will repel the exact people you want on your team.

I walked through the generational differences on the show. Boomers grew up with parents who survived the Great Depression and world wars. They were taught to find a company, work hard for 30 years, get the pension, and ride off into the sunset. Millennials? Their Boomer parents looked around and said life is short, enjoy it, create experiences, you have a seat at the table. I use the analogy of a head-of-the-table household versus a round table. Boomers grew up where mom or dad sat at the head and you did what they said. Millennials grew up at a round table where everyone got a vote on vacation. Then they walked into workplaces run by Boomers who still operated with a head of the table. That collision is where so much friction comes from.

Gen Z is entering the trades at higher rates than we've seen in a long time. Apprenticeship enrollment is up significantly. They watched their Millennial siblings drown in student debt and struggle to find jobs, and they made a different choice. What I'm seeing from Gen Z is hunger. They want to know you have a plan. They want to know that if they start at $18 an hour and do X, Y, and Z, they get to $22. Then $25. Then a leadership role. They want to see that you have your act together. That's not entitlement. That's clarity.

Amanda and I talked about how entrepreneurs constantly ask me how to get employees to care more about the business. Here's the flip. Your employees are sitting there asking the same question in reverse. "Why don't you care more about me?" If you cared about them as much as you care about the business, they'd care about the business more. Because the business becomes the vehicle that helps them take care of their family, build the life they want, and achieve their own goals. That's when people fight to stay.

We got into the fuzzy file, which I call a ninja tool because it can backfire if you don't use it right. The concept is simple. There are things you know about your employees that are fuzzy. You know they're married but you don't know their anniversary. You know they have kids but you don't know their names. You ask four or five easy questions during onboarding. Favorite restaurant. Anniversary date. Then a week before the anniversary, a gift card to that restaurant shows up. That one gesture changes the relationship. But here's the warning. If you do it for John and forget Steve, Steve will notice. And now you've made it worse. The system matters more than the gesture. If you don't have the discipline to do it every time, don't start.

I also shared the broom handle story. A janitor at a massive warehouse company noticed broom handles kept getting destroyed by forklifts and doors. He drilled a hole in each handle and hung them on nails. Saved the company around $200,000 in one year. That's what happens when you give people a voice instead of operating from the top of the org chart.

The biggest thing I want people to take away from this conversation is simple. Most people in the trades love people. They care about their families. They care about their crews. It's okay to say that out loud. It's okay to be vulnerable and tell an employee "I care about whether or not you get what you want in life." The machismo, the rough-and-tough act, that clouds the real issues. You can still be tough. But be there for your people. Let them know you're going to be there for them. That's what builds teams that row in the same direction.

If you liked this, I go deeper on building teams people don't want to leave on Titans of the Trades.