What Millennials Really Want from Work

Millennials have been burdened with a reputation as spoiled, lazy and entitled. The real questions are, who are Millennials, what do they want, and what can you do about it?

In What Millennials Want from Work, authored by Jennifer Deal and Alec Levenson, the following metrics prove to be the most valuable to working millennials:

Flexibility:  Millennials don't separate life and work.
Support and Feedback:  Millennials like to learn and grow.
Coaching (not Micromanaging):  Millennials value autonomy.
Designing Competitive Salary Structures:  Millennials know what's up.
Providing Opportunities to Give Back to Society:  Millennials care about doing good.

Fundamentally, millennials want to do interesting work with people they enjoy, for which they are well paid and still have enough time to live their lives as well as work.

Millennials believe that their work should make a contribution to the world, not just make them money. In total, 92 percent say that making the world a better place is at least somewhat important to them. These percentages show that millennials want to help. When asked why they choose to volunteer:

79% said it was because they were passionate about the issue.
56% said it was because they wanted to meet new people who were interested in the same issue.
61% said it was to broaden their professional skills.

So even when it's doing good, millennials are thinking about how it fits in with their career strategy and how they as individuals can benefit from the volunteering.  Doing good isn't a higher priority than doing well.

Millennials want work that both enables them to contribute to society in positive ways and rewards them appropriately. One is not a substitute for the other. After all, the primary reason millennials are so focused on compensation is that they have bills to pay.  Debt is a significant concern.

In 2013, 69 percent of millennials graduating from higher education had student loans. Payments on student loans are quite often the single largest monthly expense.

Millennials will look for a new job that raises some aspect of their life to a higher level. Whether it be improving compensation, work-life balance, promotion and development opportunities or finding a sense of belonging to a community, millennials are remarkably similar around the world. 

They like their jobs and their organizations, and they largely want to the same things:  an interesting, high-paying, stable job and working with people they like, trust and feel appreciated by, in organizations that are socially responsible and value them enough to provide flexibility and opportunities for growth and promotion.

Managers of Millennials take note:  Listen, observe, and make your millennials know they are appreciated. Trust and be trustworthy. Set goals and hold millennials accountable. Provide mentoring and support. Be authentic.

Dianne Durkin is with Loyalty Factor.