The 3 Surprising Things That Matter Most to Millennials at Work
Being a young twentysomething can be scary. College is over and the big bad workforce awaits. As daunting as the task may seem, now is actually a great time to break into the professional world. With startups ruling the marketplace, the realm of business is more millennial-friendly than ever before. In fact, by the year 2025 millennials will make up almost 75% of the global workforce. So, to help better understand this shift in dynamic, Bentley University’s PreparedU Project conducted a survey to uncover what exactly it is this demographic wants from employers — and their answers might surprise you.
1. They want to talk in person. While millennials are notorious for being buried in their phones and computers, it seems their habits tend to shift while on the job. Bentley revealed that 51% of the people they surveyed prefer to communicate with colleagues in person. 19% are partial to email and 14% like texting.
2. They value health-care benefits over pay raises. 96% say when choosing between two otherwise equal jobs, great healthcare benefits would be the most important factor in their decision. Susan Adams, a management professor at Bentley, points out that millennials are a group that grew up during tumultuous events like 9/11, the war in Iraq and the Great Recession of 2008. She says, “This is a group of survivors and they are looking for security in this insecure world wherever they can. In this respect, having great healthcare benefits is appealing to them.”
3. They believe that flexible work schedules will make them more productive. While a strict 9-5 type job would have been the norm 20 years ago, times have changed. With the seamless integration of tech into our lives, we’re often online even when we’re not at the office. 89% of people admit they regularly check email after work hours so it only makes sense that over 77% of them say they feel a flexible work schedule is the way to reflect this new sort of work ethic.
What’s the most important factor to you at work? Share with us on Twitter @britandco.
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