Steal this idea: 'Bring-your-parents-to-work' day
Looking for a fun event to have at your company this year? How about offering your employees a chance to bring their parents to work. That's what Amazon.com recently did. And, as reported by a local TV station, everyone seemed to have a blast.
Millennials - defined as those between the ages of 18 and 34 - now make up more than half of the U.S. workforce. And as tough as they'd like us to think they are, we all know they're still young at heart. I always hear of the challenges faced by small businesses looking to attract and maintain good people from this generation. So here's one good idea: what could make an employee more appreciative of where she works than by impressing her parents?
In a twist of the decades-old "bring your son/daughter to work" day that has been popular for thousands of companies, Amazon opened up its doors to the parents of its employees. And it turned out to be a hit. More than 5,000 parents attended the event at its Seattle-area headquarters, some from as far away as China and India. Mom and dad got the chance to explore special exhibits, listen to speakers, have a bite of lunch, ask questions about their child's workday and, of course, check out all the latest company initiatives, from drone-delivery to warehouse robotics. (Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
"The inside joke was that maybe (our employees) would clean up their desks a little bit, because mom and dad were coming to work," said Ardine Williams, a vice president for talent acquisition at the company. Williams' father seemed to have a good time - but was hard-pressed to explain his own daughter's job there. "She's vice president of some wizardry ... I don't know," he admitted when asked by an editor at GeekWire.
I'm not sure how many, in the end, got a chance to see the tidiness of their kids' desks. But I'm sure of this: a "bring your parent to work day" is a great idea for keeping those millennial employees happy at work ... and impressing their parents too.