What Do Millennials Expect From Their Workplace?

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Millennials in the workplace
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‘Millennials in the workplace is an increasingly popular discussion as this group is occupying a dominant part of the workplace. When people hear the term ‘Millennials’ most of them categorize them as a group of lazy people who loves shortcuts and are not professional in what they do. While a set of others would argue to this point and give a long list of the benefits of having millennials in the workplace. This would be a never-ending discussion. Whatever your opinion on millennials, certain myths need to be busted regarding this topic.

 

To start with, ‘Millennials’ are a generation born between the years 1981 to 1996. By analysing the year they are born, this generation was the first one to encounter technology as they were growing. Therefore this generation is tech-savvy, enthusiastic, innovative and much more confident. This has a great impact on the outlook of this generation, how they work and what they expect from their workplace. By the year 2025-2030 around 75% of the workforce would comprise millennials. Therefore the impact of millennials in the workforce is huge.

 

Gone are those days when older generations tagged millennials as lazy generation and negatively stereotyped them. In fact, employers prefer millennials to join their workforce due to the following benefits:

 

They are highly educated

The millennial generation is the most educated generation in the workforce currently. Most of them are graduates with bachelor or master’s degrees. In fact, millennials keep upgrading their skills by attending courses. All this will be put to good use when a millennial joins your organization.

 

They are a group of motivated workforce

Millennials do not work just for the sake of it. They want to learn new things, improve their skillset and grow. Therefore they are motivated to learn and succeed.

 

They are Tech-savvy

Most millennials have grown up using the technology in their day to day life and are constantly using their cell phones for small and big things. Hence learning new technology and software is easy for them. Companies prefer tech-savvy employees as it is easy to train them.

 

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They think out of the box

Millennials always look for innovative and fresh ideas. They understand the perspective of younger as well as older generations and thus create ideas that suit all generations. Millennials are always looking for out of the box strategies and ideas which helps the company to stand out and have better brand recognition.

 

With all these benefits, millennials tend to get multiple job offers during their job search and hence it is very important for companies to recruit the best talents. It doesn’t end there. Recruiting the best talent is not the only task for the company but retaining the employees is equally important. Millennials tend to get attracted to other job offers and are willing to leave the current organization for greener pastures. Therefore the impact of millennials in the workforce is huge and companies should understand the needs and expectations of their employees and provide them with the best facility to achieve maximum productivity.

 

Let’s have a look at what motivates millennials in the workplace and what they expect from their companies;

 

 

1. Healthy Work-Life Balance

The millennial generation indulges in many activities like sports, trekking, adventures etc. This generation believes in spending quality time with their family and friends and having frequent outings and vacation time. Having a good work-life balance is very important for employees to reduce stress and maintain a happy work environment. It is not only important for health and relationship but also increases productivity. Hence millennials expect a certain level of support from their employers in this issue. Millennials expect their employers to respect their personal time and have a balance between work and life. Millennials do not encourage work after office hours or during holidays. Therefore organizations should be very particular about their working hours and should not burden their employees with work after office hours.

 

2. Career growth opportunities

Professional growth and development is the top priority for most millennials. They are looking for a job that helps them develop and grow their skillset. Therefore companies should ensure training programs that help the employees develop the right skill set required to excel in their job. Providing career growth opportunities help in attracting and retaining the millennial workforce.

 

3. Flexible work schedule

Gone are those days when employees had to be physically present in the office to perform their day to day tasks. Thanks to technology and internet connection, people can now work from home and be equally productive as they work from an office. More and more millennials are looking for jobs that offer flexible and remote work options, especially during the ongoing pandemic. To cut down on daily commute, have more time with family, maintain social distance during the pandemic etc. are some of the reasons that millennials expect flexible or remote work options. Millennial employees feel more productive at home and expect their companies to focus on the work done rather than where and how the work is done.

 

4. Creative Perks and Benefits

Whether millennial or not, who doesn’t like perks. Decades ago an employee would join an organization with satisfied pay and few health benefits and would spend the rest of their career being loyal to that organization. But now things have changed. Millennials are known for switching jobs for greener pastures. Millennials expectations in the workplace is a major concern for most employers and organizations are finding it tough to earn employee loyalty. Good pay and health benefits are not the only benefits millennials expect from their organization. They expect perks like regular training, maternity and paternity leaves, parental perks, student loan pay downs, remote work options, food coupons, health insurance and many more. Companies should therefore offer exciting perks to attract and retain the best employees.

 

5. Clear and open communication

The gap between the employees and management is often a problem as employees are not able to express their issues or concerns. Millennials prefer open communication where they can freely raise their concerns. They also want to contribute to the success of the business without any hesitation. For this, companies should encourage open communication and trust their employees. By doing this employees feel more engaged and motivated and this increases productivity. Regular feedback from the employees also ensures that employees are not facing any issues and there is a smooth workflow within the organization. Millennials also want a workplace where they can ask for any clarification if they don’t understand their task. This improves employee morale.

 

6. Latest Technology

As mentioned earlier, millennials have grown along with technology, therefore they prefer tools and software instead of excel sheets and other manual work. With the younger generation joining the workforce, companies should remain up to date with their tools as this generation is tech-savvy and prefer a digitalized workspace. For example, HR software is something that brings great relief for HRs as well as employees. This tool has features like attendance tracking, payroll processing, training management, performance management etc. This helps the HR from tedious paperwork and saves their valuable time. Employees can also rely on this tool for a smooth workflow. Therefore it is high time for organizations to embrace such tools to increase employee productivity as well as employee engagement.

 

Whether a start-up or an MNC, companies have now realised that happy employees are most productive and therefore their expectations cannot be ignored. Companies have realised that the impact of millennials in the workplace is huge, therefore from flexible work schedules to creative perks, companies are going out of their way to retain and attract them.

 

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