Millennial workers are increasingly becoming the largest population of workers in the U.S. workforce (Carter & Walker III, 2018), and the manufacturing sector is the fifth most common employment sector for millennials (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). Demographic shifts may alter employee values and beliefs, which can impact the need for performance and manufacturing leaders to discover the relationship between millennial views and employee engagement. This phenomenological study of millennial workers intended to discover what might impact employee engagement. This article describes five main themes that can have an impact on millennial engagement: acceptance, community, education, collaborative environment, and leadership. K E Y W O R D S employee engagement, millennials, phenomenological methods 1 | INTRODUCTION Today's organizations are composed of a multigenerational workforce. A generation is a group, typically by age, that shares mostly common experiences and has similar values and beliefs shaped by life experiences. Generational differences can impact employee attitudes, opinions, and even how individuals work (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011). The differences between generations can impact organizational performance. An organization should recognize that, "In today's diverse workforce, it is necessary for different generations to work side by side and interact effectively together" (p. 349).Understanding effective employee engagement (EE) calls for urgency due to employee commitment and retention. Younger generations have a tendency to change employers and roles frequently (Chaudhuri & Ghosh, 2012). To

Purpose This paper aims to look at how participant photography can be used in human resource development (HRD) as a research method that is innovative and inclusive. In published work on traditional photo elicitation methods, the participant is shown previously prepared visual images to create knowledge. This can provoke an inaccurate depiction due to the images being previously prepared. Participant photography differs greatly from the traditional photo-elicitation method. In participant photography, the participant is provided with the opportunity to capture their own visual images of the surrounding environment, allowing for data to be captured through their own eyes. More notably, participants voice their own experiences after taking the photographs as a means for providing rich data for researchers. Design/methodology/approach Participant photography is an innovative qualitative research method where the research participant is encouraged to document their lived experiences through images taken by the participant. Additionally, the participants take part in individual interviews and group individual sessions to further explain the images. Findings The research findings can lead to deeper insight into the research topic and even accommodate potential issues related to literacy and language barriers. By introducing a new qualitative research method to HRD, the lived experiences can be documented and examined in a new, different and arguably more accurate way. Research limitations/implications Literature discussing participant photography in HRD is limited. Although this limitation puts constraints on this study, it creates an opportunity to further define how participant photography can be used in HRD. This method offers a means for HRD researchers and practitioners to focus on the voices of participants to improve organizations. Practical implications This study addresses how participant photography can be used in the field of HRD by describing the process of participant recruitment, implementation of the method, participant interviews, group discussion and analysis. Specifically, this study focused on the practical application, including the method’s strengths, potential weaknesses and ethical challenges. Social implications The method of participant photography has been commonly used in community-based studies, public health projects and medical research projects, yet in ever-changing HRD needs, there are many advantages for the field of HRD to implement this method. Originality/value Although the concept of participant photography is still in its infancy in HRD, this study explains how participant photography can be used for both researchers and practitioners to gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of topics related to HRD.

There are many diverse demands and pressures on institutions of higher education. We are now at a time where innovation is required for many higher education institutions' survival and sustainability. However, university leaders should not look to old archaic change models to determine a way forward. Institutional leaders should look for methods to engage all generations of their workforce and decrease the level of resistance to the proposed change. This chapter looks at employee engagement and provides a model that higher education leaders can deploy to stimulate employee engagement and innovation. Framing Your Future is a model that can easily be deployed at a team, department, or even organizational level.

Purpose As human resource development (HRD) seeks to develop organizations and unleash human expertise (Swanson and Holton, 2009), leaders should be encouraged to consider every employee as a complex individual with unique needs and aspirations. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of equity leadership (EL), which identifies individual employees’ personal and professional resource, relationship and opportunity needs in an effort to support employees in reaching their fullest potential in the workforce, therefore increasing positive organizational outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical foundations of EL are social exchange theory (SET; Saks and Rotman, 2006) and the ERG theory of motivation (Alderfer, 1969). SET recognizes the give-and-take relationship between leaders and employees, while ERG theory of motivation considers an individual’s personal and professional existence, relatedness and growth needs. The theories provide a foundation for EL’s definition. Findings EL posits that leaders’ attention to employees’ resource, relationship and opportunity needs in the workplace could result in a positive effect on the social exchange between leaders and employees. EL provides a framework for these exchanges to occur and for employee needs to be considered, thus resulting in increased employee engagement, productivity and retention. Research limitations/implications EL can take a significant amount of time, especially when starting with new employees; however, the relationships and positive organizational outcomes provide justification for engaging in the leadership style. Practical implications This paper seeks to advance the field of HRD by defining EL, exploring the theoretical underpinnings of EL and providing actionable steps for leaders to put EL into action. Social implications The nuanced theory of EL encourages organizations to evolve from the factory model of expectations to a model that considers the unique needs of individuals in organizations. Grounded partly in SET, EL promotes positive relationships between leaders and employees. Originality/value There are many leadership theories; however, EL, unlike any other leadership theory, uniquely considers the individual needs of each employee through consistent one-on-one conversations between the leader and individual employees to discover employee needs and also strives for positive organizational outcomes as a result of the social exchanges.