Millennials & Jobs
Millennials values are more practical than they are fun. While companies that offer video games and free snacks to employees may get airtime on social media, the ones that manage to meet the following five needs are the ones that really win with millennials.
1. They Expect Employer Benefits That Fit Match Their Values
Millennials made headlines when they were moving from college into the workplace and disrupting the status quo. It’s been quite a few years since we saw traditional workplace norms crumble. Since that time, millennials have moved from being primarily broke college grads living in their parent’s basement to getting married and having children.
With this change in their life arrangement comes an adjustment to their desires from an employer. Those that have moved into parenthood may still struggling to pay their student loan debt, while simultaneously thinking about how they will pay for their child’s education later in life.
2. They Expect Transparency
Millennials are able to boast that they grew up on a track parallel to technology’s rapid advancement. Just look at how much cell phones have changed society and changed technologically, in the last 15 to 20 years. As a result of today’s constant connectivity, ours is a culture of transparency.
In an age where 140 characters is enough to bring down an entire company, younger workers have come to expect that their employers will be up-front with them at all times.
Buffer is a social media company engaged in driving traffic. Its values statement provides us a great example for how to promote transparency in the workplace. For example, the company leaves no questions unanswered when it comes to employee salaries. Through a public spreadsheet, employees can find the pay rate of their peers by name — from the CEO downward.
3. They Want Retirement Investment Options
Millennials can see the real-life impact investing can have. Only 10% of millennials say they would stay in the same career and current lifestyle if they knew they would have enough money to retire.
The desire to have retirement options from their employer is a basic desire of workers of all generations. Millennials, in particular, lived through the recession of 2007-2008, so they may be even more sensitive to making sure they are planning ahead and saving for retirement.
4. They Expect to Have Innovative Team-building
The team-building tactics that worked on older generations can induce eye rolls from millennials. Growing up as the inaugural digital native generation, this age group is inspired by connectivity.
Its members tend to work best in groups, and team-building exercises should encourage this. In fact, 97 percent of employees and executives believe that lack of alignment within a team impacts the outcome of a task or project.
While there are many ways to approach team building with a millennial workforce, a lot of companies are using interactive virtual games to inspire creativity and collaboration.
5. They Expect the Ability To Prioritize Family
As mentioned above, millennials are starting families and have had to adjust priorities and schedules to account for their new family members. In the same way, millennials are beginning to enter the age range where their parents are starting to need help.
