Abstract
The reengineering of operations in predominantly traditional workplaces due to the emergence of the millennial employee as a leader, inherently dissimilar to the older generational cohorts currently dominating the world of work, to promote balanced workplace methods reflective of multi-generational workforces has called for an in-depth exploration. The primary aim of the paper was to establish the degree to which the millennial employee is a catalyst for balanced workplace methods in a Local Government in Eswatini (LGE). The mixed method was applied and triangulation administered to ascertain corroborations between the qualitative and quantitative results. A questionnaire to quantitatively evaluate the impact of millennials in the LGE was completed by 30 randomly selected participants who equally participated in the survey. N= 17 of the completed questionnaires were viable for analysis. Purposive sampling was utilised to select the HRD (Human Resources Director) to participate in the in-depth interview, administered to qualitatively ascertain the observation of millennials by LGEs. The correlation and regression analyses, revealed that the relationship between progressive workplace practices, workplace culture flexibility, work requirements preferred by millennials, a balance in traditional and non-traditional workplace methods, leadership priority and the success of the millennial employee in the workplace is significant, with a P-value less than 0.01. The thematic analyses of the qualitative data identified recurring themes which confirmed the practical work related activities applied by LGEs to address the needs of millennial employees in the workplace. The sentiment analyses exposed the perceptions and experiences of LGEs in so far as the millennial phenomenon was concerned. All null hypotheses were rejected and the qualitative and quantitative results corroborated each other thus validating that millennials are a catalyst for balanced workplace methods in an LGE. The objective of the study was met in establishing that workplace methods integral to the success of the millennial employee exist and the absorption thereof into the prevailing status quo of the LGEs will promote balanced workplace operations. New approaches to engaging employees, expanded views of collaboration and personalised recruiting will empower the LGEs in effectively managing multi-generational workplaces.
Keywords: Millennial employees, balanced workplace methods, Local Governments.