Teenagers are the workers that keep many businesses afloat, offering them affordable labour at flexible hours (especially during the holidays). The one thing that business owners forget about though is that teenagers are getting smarter over time, and it can be difficult to keep them engaged in the workplace.
We’ve all been young at one point and would have loved to do anything other than work at our part-time jobs. The problem is, most of us understand that it’s a must for anyone in life. Regardless of what you want to do as a teenager, working a part-time job and having more money is always going to be your best option.
With that being said, we’re going to look at three tips you can use to keep teenage workers engaged and ready to do great work, regardless of the industry.
Tips to Help Motivate Teenage Workers
Make Them Feel Like Their Voice is Heard
Teenagers struggle with feeling like their voice is being heard. Whenever they come into work, it can feel as if they’re just looked at as “grunts”, which is a problem for obvious reasons. Make them feel like what they do at work is important and helping the business grow! Listen to what they have to say, and if they have any good ideas, consider implementing them at some point.
Some ways that you can help them feel “more heard” would be:
- Communicating in group meetings to get a feel for how your teenage workers are currently feeling
- Communicating with one-on-one meetings so that your teenager workers aren’t influenced by others and say what they truly mean
- Give them a few different scenarios in which they can work, providing teenage workers more flexibility
Assign Reasonable Shifts
Shifts are always going to be a breaking point for some teenagers. They want as much free time as possible because they are young and have things to do, which is where being a business owner who focuses on employee satisfaction will work wonders. Shift scheduling software has become the norm these days, as it allows owners to assign shifts without needing to overcomplicate things.
Teenage workers aren’t going to go out and find work to do on their own, but if you assign shifts properly, the only thing they’ll have to do at work is focus on the task at hand. Using scheduling software also allows you to easily swap, cancel, and replace shifts for employees that are ill or just cannot come into work for some reason.
Your teenage workers can sign into the scheduling software application to not only see their schedule for the week/month, but also bid on shifts and swap with others if they feel fit. There is so much that can come from properly assigning shifts, that most successful businesses have turned over to shift automation entirely.
Show Them the Money!
Just because they are teenagers, does not mean they don’t want to be paid properly for their work. While most companies will use them for cheap labour, others will give them bonuses and other incentives to keep them motivated throughout the work day. For example, let’s just say you’re a teenage worker at Dairy Queen because you love ice cream – you get a free Blizzard every shift, and you’re going to work anyway; why not at Dairy Queen?
Sometimes you’ll find that teenagers are keen on even the most trivial things. When you give them a gift card for doing a great job, it means the entire world to them – remember, they’re still growing professionally and it’s up to you to show them how the workplace operates.
All In All, Show Them Some Respect
These teenage workers are doing everything they can to thrive during a pandemic, and it’s likely putting a lot of pressure on them. If you can do anything to alleviate the pressure at all, not only will you be lending a helping hand for now, but you’ll also help with building a better future for our society.
It may not sound like much now, but the happiness of your teenage workers is much more important than you may think.
