Millennials are really the job hoppers, as people say. As per a research, those born between 1980 and 1996 are most likely to change jobs frequently. They made headlines when they moved from college to workplace and how they disrupted the status quo. Since that time millennials have moved from being college grads to starting a family. This change in the life arrangement calls for an adjustment with respect to their desires from an employer as well.

A lot has been written about the group – from being self-centred to collaborative, while the most visible differences can be seen at the workplace through their habits and aspirations. Many organizations have been spending money and hiring recruitment consultants to find out how to attract this group. Their mind set and free-spiritedness puts exciting experiences before loyalty – which has created a challenge for companies that want to attract only the best talent.

What do millennials want?

As per a research, millennials want flexible work schedules, non-stop feedback and continuous career advice from their managers. Moreover, a study by Gallup shows that millennials tend to apply their mind set of ‘change’ to any workplace. They prefer old practices to be in place and expect managers to adapt accordingly. Notwithstanding what research studies state, LinkedIn has also gathered data on the topic, revealing what most of the millennials actually want.

For all employees, the focus is more on learning and growing opportunities along with the quality of their manager – attributes which are more important for millennials. Millennials fundamentally think about their roles as the foundation for more professional growth. Furthermore, they also want to feel committed to their role and also look for a manager or a mentor who can invest in their professional development – which is similar to what people from other generations also want. However, millennials tend to place more importance on getting opportunities to grow and learn for advancement.

Contrary to the popular belief, millennials prefer knowing how and when can an organization help them develop professionally instead of getting free beer or ping pong table. Income also matters to them when applying for jobs, and when looking for jobs. Organizations must pay attention to the fact that millennials have a high amount of student debt and are living in a wage growth era, hence, they don’t hesitate taking up another offer for a raise of 20% of less. It is, therefore, understandable that they are ready to make better use of their qualifications and knowledge and increase their salary accordingly. However, companies should also pay attention to the fact that millennials value other job attributes as well such as advancement of career, learning, etc.

If you want to retain millennials, you must understand what motivates them in the first place and what doesn’t and ensure that you can strike a balance between the two to keep them engaged. While they seem to look for the same things essentially as the baby boomers, when organizations provide additional attributes to them, they may be able to keep their employees from continuously looking for the next best thing elsewhere.

Other than these, millennials also want and value things that are relevant to strong work culture, inclusiveness, and getting involved with businesses that work towards social causes. The following are a few more things that can keep them from looking for jobs every now and then:

• Flexible work time: employees want to be in control of when they start and finish their work.
• Flexible role: they want to selectively choose the roles they want to take on at the same workplace.
• Flexible recruitment: they are more open to trying types of contracts, talent, crowd sourcing, etc.
• Location: they also want to choose a location from which they can work – from home, office, or any other location.

Thus, it is clear that the companies offering such flexible environment to millennials are twice more likely to hire and retain them. This is because for millennials, work-life balance is a priority and personal well-being has a huge impact on organizational growth as well. So, recruitment consultants need to take these points into consideration before hiring millennials.