Each generation has its own values, not to mention expectations of the world around them. Nowhere are these differences more apparent than in the workplace.
Millennials have a complicated relationship with work. What some mistake for laziness is very often dissatisfaction with society in general, which has seen wages decrease and hours lengthen since their parents stood where they’re standing now.
Turns out millennials just want a square deal. Thankfully, progressive employers are listening, and lots of them are taking employee work benefits more seriously as a result. If you thought millennials were all about money, it’s time to think again — because below are just four of the things millennials value more highly than a fat paycheck.
There is perhaps no more important employee benefit than healthcare — particularly in today’s noxious political climate. Conservative folks in Washington are trying, as we speak, to rip up the most meaningful bit of progress we’ve made on healthcare in a generation, with no clear idea of what they’ll replace it with. Human health should never be a partisan issue — and millennials know this.
The UN has identified access to healthcare as a fundamental human right, but in America, we’re still dragging our feet. In the meantime, while universal healthcare should be the endgame, successful companies do have a clear mandate to ensure their employees stay healthy.
Millennials think so, too. They want to be able to shop around for healthcare. They want employers who take their health seriously. And why not? It’s well-established that healthier employees are more productive employees.
Only a generation ago, captains of industry even in out-of-the-way backwaters like Johnson City, New York were home to progressive ideals like employer-provided healthcare — plus libraries, profit sharing programs and inexpensive housing. If anybody out there wants to Make America Great “Again,” that feels like a good place to start. Are these socialist ideas? Yes they are — but that’s not a word that millennials seem to fear.
Have you reached an appropriate work-life balance yet in your own life? What would you be willing to give up to do so? If you’re like many millennials, you’d sacrifice the possibility of higher earnings if it meant having more control over your daily life.
In fact, 35% of millennials say they value schedule flexibility over pay. Maybe time isn’t money after all.
If you’re a millennial yourself, you probably know the pressure of the 9-5 “default” schedule all too well. Everybody drives to work at the same time, and everybody drives home at the same time. Doesn’t it seem a bit — well, frankly absurd?
Commuting to work will always be a part of modern life, to one degree or another, but loosening scheduling expectations might relieve some of the pressure, and allow us to stagger our arrivals and departures from America’s metropolitan areas — not to mention make it easier for young people to make doctor’s appointments, visit friends and relatives and vote on Election Day.
If you’ve been watching politics over the last few years, you know the Overton Window is shifting and we’re once again talking about tuition-free public universities — something that was reasonably common until the Vietnam War.
Even so, this is little comfort to the more than 44 million college graduates who are cumulatively saddled with more than $1.3 trillion in student loan debt. If that sounds like an unsustainable system to you, you’re probably right.
Interestingly, one of the trending employee benefits of 2017 is student loan repayment. Companies all over the industrial map, from Aetna to Penguin Publishing, are offering millennial employees a new and potentially life-changing perk: assistance with paying back their loans.
It just makes good sense. Society seems comfortable with the fact that college is a requirement for higher achievement — so perhaps we owe it to our young people to make such an expense a little easier to contend with. Generous and forward-thinking benefits packages will also make your organization more competitive.
Millennials want jobs where they can learn and grow.
And who can blame them? Technology is going to force our hand soon anyway, thanks to automation — this country is going to shed millions of decent-paying, but largely repetitive, jobs after trucks learn to drive themselves, and we finish automating the few large-scale factories still standing on American soil. If there are any employers reading this, it’s time to get ahead of the curve. We’ll all need to build new skill sets before too long.
But even if your organization won’t be one of those that starts outsourcing the bulk of its work to machines, there’s plenty you can do to make sure your employees are always reaching higher and exploring new opportunities. Consider implementing a company-wide learning program. Come up with incentives for those employees who read the books and complete the courses necessary to understand another facet of your business. Engage in cross-training so your teams don’t become walled gardens, forever dependent on one another.
The human mind is truly in its element when it’s being challenged — so make sure you’re challenging your millennial employees to the best of your ability. It’s good for creating a stronger emotional attachment for the work they do, and it’s good for the company, since you’ll be turning over fewer uninspired employees who just want to feel as though their work matters in some way.
Know What to Look For
If you’re a member of this “job-hopping generation” — one of those who will hold down four jobs by your 32nd birthday — you’re probably no stranger to comparing employee benefits packages. You also know employer-matched 401(k)s are the bare minimum these days. From tuition reimbursement to quality healthcare, employers are hearing loud and clear that people want more from their jobs.
Is this “entitlement”? If you like. But 100 years ago, when Henry Ford paid his factory workers the equivalent of $15 per hour, nobody was accused of entitlement — it was just good business.