What Do Millennials Desire For? A Study of Expectations From Workplace

Author Name(s): Dr. Ruchi Sao, Prof. Kanchan Tolani
Author Email: saorn@rknec.edu

Abstract

The study focuses on understanding the expectations of millennials from the organization with respect to performance management, working style, norms and culture. Managing millennials has always been a concern for organizations due to high expectations with respect to flexible working hours, rewards and autonomy at work. They are smart and want to leave their footprint at work. Attracting the millennials for their job is really easy. The difficult part starts when they start working in organization. The expectations of the millennials are completely different from that of the baby boomers with respect to employment experience. Millennials prefer to work on projects which test their intelligence levels and seek challenges. At the same time, they want to travel, explore the world and maintain a good work life balance. Data was collected in the form of checklist of general expectations that millennials have from the organization. Data is captured from 80 post graduate management students who would be entering the workforce as millennials. Eighteen parameters were identified and the millennials ranked their preferences from the expectations. The top five expectations identified in the study are good salary and perks, job security, five day working, work life balance & recognition and appreciation and challenging roles in job & allowed to be innovative. This study will help the organizations to understand the mindset of the new generation coming to work so that their potential can be best utilized. It will also help the organizations to create a workplace environment which best suits the millennials.

Keywords Millennial Expectations, Multi-Generational Workforce, Work Environment

Introduction

The millennial generation are the employees who are born between the year 1981 and 2000 and are still the youngest generation to enter the workforce. They are the one who have high energy, are ready to go beyond the job, have broader perspectives, are confident and want to grow and be successful. The millennials are quite flexible provided their work is acknowledged and appreciated. While the millennials entered the workforce, they got an opportunity to work with both baby boomers and generation X. the rise of college students seeking employment at a young age has seen a drastic growth in the past years. The millennial generations are the one who have high expectations from the organizations with respect to salary, work culture and environment. It is difficult for the corporates to attract and retain the millennials in the workforce. This study explores the expectations of the millennials from the workplace. The job description and cost to company are tailor made during campus interviews and job fairs in order to attract the millennials. The companies today are investing a huge amount of money in infrastructure, indirect benefits and the welfare of the employees.

Conclusion

The paper identifies the top five ranked expectations from the workplace of the millennials which are; good salary and perks, job security, five day working, work life balance & recognition and appreciation and challenging roles in job & allowed to be innovative. The millennials are the youngest generation in the workforce and in the coming years will have the longest job tenure. They are the one who will occupy the higher leadership role in a couple of years. It is the need of the hour that the corporate sector understands the expectations of the millennials in order to be future ready. The current research focuses on understanding the expectations of Millennials from job and the study is undertaken on Management students studying in a college of Nagpur hence the findings of this study cannot be generalized. So similar study can be done in other colleges of other cities, states and countries. In depth study of the expectations identified in this study can be conducted to determine various strategies which can be adopted by organizations to

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