What millennials want from work: Freedom and flexibility not salary

 

In this blog I wanted to dive deeper into corporate leaders and why there is a rise of millennials wanting to work in a flexible environment rather than working for a high-paying salary. With millennials making up the largest workforce this change in values has caused corporate leaders to adapt their leadership styles to accommodate an evolving workforce. This new digital native workforce prioritizes a work-life balance with high levels of compensation. A study by flexjobs concluded that only 7% of the workers say they’re most productive in the office. This same study shows that millennials are starting to rank a work-life balance as more important than compensation alone.

But why is this? Why is flexibility better than salary? Another recent study performed by pentegra shows that over half of HR hiring agents have noticed an increase in candidates within the interview process asking about benefits. These benefits are important to millennials because benefits are slowly becoming a thing of the past as expenses are too high for companies to give all their employees benefits. Although it could a good tool to keep employee retention rates high. This paired with a more flexible environment works to minimize employee turnover and maximizes productivity and overall job satisfaction. Turnover costs on average 20% of a mid-level employee salary, which gives the company a pretty good incentive to minimize employee churn.

Although millennials want a flexible work environment with benefits, corporate leaders need to understand that competitive salaries are still a factor but don’t necessarily hold as much weight. In this new age it's important that leaders adapt and have a modern leadership style. Millennials are looking for a leader that is mission-based, has an attention to detail, and acknowledges that there is a life outside of work. They encourage their employees to work on something greater than themselves.