Employee Engagement Among Millennial Cross-Cultural Ministers: Insights for Recruitment and Retainment

Abstract

Western mission agencies are in a period of transition as baby boomers enter into retirement leaving personnel voids millennials and younger generations will need to fill.  Millennial values and expectations are different than previous generations and these differences affect their level of employee engagement.  Additionally, millennials have a reputation for being difficult to manage.  As a generation though, they possess characteristics that would benefit cross-cultural ministry endeavors.  Mission agency leaders need to understand their unique values and expectations affecting millennials' level of engagement in order to attract and retain them in cross-cultural ministry positions. Nine factors were gleaned from a literature review that significantly impact millennials' level of employee engagement.  Method of Empathy-Based Storying (MEBS) was used to present a positive and negative scenario to existing millennial cross-cultural ministers (MCCMs).  They were asked to rank these nine factors in order of importance as they saw them affecting the protagonist of the scenario's level of engagement. Forty-nine MCCMs took part in the survey.  A statistically significant consensus was reached as to the level of significance four of the nine factors hold for MCCMs.  Meaningful and challenging work and feeling valued and affirmed by leader was viewed as most important, and access to up-to-date technology and frequent feedback from leader was least important. These results can be used to gain insights for the recruitment and retention of millennials for cross-cultural ministry.

Keywords: millennial, employee engagement, cross-cultural minister, job crafting, recruitment, retainment.