6 Benefits That Millennials Desperately Want in the Workplace – And That You Should Add If You Want to Attract Them [Data included]

 

Why make the workplace Millennial friendly?

The concept of Millennial-izing the workplace has aggravated a lot of employers. Many questions arise such as, ‘why should we change if it already works?’ or ‘why are people just not content with a job anymore?’. Just like technology in the consumer market, the needs and demands in the workplace shift as well. Each generation has their own unique wants and desires when evaluating a new job or career opportunity.

The reason why many employers don’t take this seriously, is attributed to the mindset that employers fail to see as their company as a product in a market. Instead, they see recruitment as a separate part of the business where the laws of marketing don’t hold truth. The unfortunate reality is, it does.

When companies offer new perks and benefits in the workplace, it works the same way as when a company launches a product with a new set of features. The product competes with others on the market and where consumers evaluated each product feature set. Just like the consumer market, instead of features, a company offers benefits to potential hires.

Recruiting for a candidate is like marketing for a product

In addition to comparing different jobs, are there any other areas where marketing laws apply to recruiting? Most definitely!

For instance, where do they go consumers go to purchase products? And what do they do when looking for them? Consumers go online and try to dig up any dirt when trying to evaluate the product. The same concept works with companies, where internal employees to write reviews about companies where the general public can learn about how the internal company works.

Understanding how to cater to the new generation has become more difficult than before due to the massive shifts and politicalization of the workplace. Master these six aspects for what Millennials desperately want and you will find it tremendously easier to attract Millennials to your workplace.

 

Aspect #1: An Humanized Workplace

What is it?:

• The ability for a workplace to convey a human friendly aspect to work. This rivals the previous grey suit corporate workplace that had an anonymous face to it.

Where is the data:

• Studies reveal how Millennials feel they do their best work when their are emotionally connected to their coworkers. This involves companies leaning on more human learning principles, than anonymous corporate ones.

A Good Example:

• Southwest, not only in the top ten best companies to work for in 2019, but also showcases amazing employee testimonial videos.

How to Implement it:

• Leveraging videos online with people who work at the company. This can include videos on the website, employee testimonial videos on social media, or on job descriptions. When videos are embedded in a job description, candidates are 800% more likely to engage with the ad.

 

Aspect #2: Career Opportunities

What is it?

• The ability for an employee to join a company and grow in both an intellectual, but also title sense, during their tenure at the company. Essentially, avoiding dead end high paying jobs.

Where is the data:

• Pew Research, find that Millennials are more focused on career opportunities than previous generations.

A Good Example:

• Eventbrite, a company that helps plan events. This company provides their employees enormous amounts of autonomy and growth opportunities to keep their careers moving forward. On Glassdoor, Eventbrite is considered one of the best places to work for when considering extensive career opportunities.

How to Implement it:

• When putting together your recruitment strategy, reveal the career path and the opportunities that employees will receive when working at the company. Make sure to make the career milestones tangible and concrete to avoid skepticism. For instance, avoid using the jardon, ‘abundant career opportunities’ and instead map out for the position you are recruiting for and include the yearly skill progression.

 

Aspect #3: Hybrid Workspaces (Open/Closed Floor Plans)

What is it?

• The way an internal workspace is laid out. A closed floor plan traditionally has cubicles, and closed off walls. An open floor minimizes closed off spaces like separate offices and maximizes open areas where people sit at the same table to work.

Where is the data:

• Building Design and Network Magazine, wrote an amazing article that contains several surveys of how Millennials prefer open work spaces for collaboration, but also closed for individual focus. It’s a myth that Millennials solely prefer open workspaces.

A Good Example:

• Nokia, having a mix of individuals cubicles, they made sure to foster individual collaboration in general areas by opening up common areas as well.

How to Implement it:

• Its an option to give employees their individual spaces, in addition to having common areas for them to work. Don’t make the mistake believing these are the same thing.

 

Aspect #4: Diversity and Inclusion Focus

What is it?

• A company that shows a variance in the workplace ethnicities and underrepresented demographics in their workplaces. Essentially, representing physical appearance diversity.

Where is the data:

• According to the Institute of Public Relations, 47% of Millennials consider diversity and inclusion in their job search.

A Good Example:

• Bain and Company, they have really pushed diversity in their recruiting process to the point where they rank as one of the top companies to work for on Glassdoor.

How to Implement it:

• This is a multi-part process, part of the initial recruiting process would be evaluating photos and film and showing how to represent greater variation of demographics. The internal aspects of how to hire go beyond this article, but can be explored more extensively here.

Aspect #5: Flexible Work Options

What is it?

• The ability for someone to work from home and exercise greater control on what hours they can work during the day.

Where is the data:

• A research company in the UK, found that after interviewing 1000 participants, that 75% of Millennials look for Flexible Work Options at their prospective company.

A Good Example:

• Invision, not only do they have in house employees, but they operate a 100% remote sales team that brings in millions of revenue each year.

How to Implement it:

• Training managers on how to manage remote employees, and adding new policies in order for employees to exercise more control over when they have to work.

 

Aspect #6: Volunteering Time Off

What is it?

• An employee who takes a day off of work and volunteers in the community.

Where is the data:

• Deloitte research has linked Millennial retention to job satisfaction, and other sources have linked volunteering to increases in job satisfaction.

A Good Example:

• Salesforce, has 7 days a year where employees can be paid to volunteer in the community. They also boast some of the highest retention rates and positive public relations in the United States.

How to Implement it:

• Adding policies that allow employees to volunteer at their day job at some community activity. If that is too much, simply organizing volunteering groups is a great way to build team camaraderie according the research firm Project ROI.