Millennials’ Work Expectations: What’s Really Different?

Generational differences in the workplace have received significant attention in the business and popular press. Millennials, the members of US workplaces born before 1998 (and also known as Generation Y), are thought to bring significantly different values and work orientations to bear in their employment relationships. Some descriptors are overtly negative (“entitled”) while others take a more positive tone (“socially conscious”).

Yet very little empirical research exists exploring the ways in which Millennials’ work values differ from those of earlier generations.

Two researchers set out to explore potential generational differences in a more systematic way. In a programmed series of interviews with Millennial workers, they found no differences between Millennials and older workers on some of the more basic elements of work life: views of compensation, and willingness to relocate for career opportunities, for example, were both basically the same. The most significant generational differences they found were related to two elements: time spent in the office, and career development programs.

For time spent in the office, preferences were clear: Gen Y workers wanted less required facetime in the office and more schedule flexibility. In fact, the ability to work remotely at least part of the time was a key factor in reported job satisfaction, and many respondents said the ability to telecommute was an important consideration when they considered which job offer to take. There were two reasons for this preference. First, Millennials thought they were more productive and spent more time on-task when working at home or at another remote location, since they were free to listen to music or otherwise tailor their environment to fit preferred work styles. Second, many Millennials responded well to a “task” orientation, where they felt they performed best when they could work on one discrete project at a time without interruptions. It wasn’t that respondents didn’t want to be with their colleagues or supervisors, or that they disliked physically going to work. Instead, the preference was for flexibility: times to work quietly and productively alone away from the office, and times for interaction with coworkers and bosses being recognized as separate activities.

With regard to professional development, Millennials in this study reported a strong preference for learning on the job rather than participating in formal, classroom based training programs. Options such as job rotation, personal coaching/mentoring, and the opportunity to learn as a member of an expert team significantly outranked participation in long-term certification or training classes. This preference was closely tied to a preference for feedback, “the more feedback the better,” on work performance. Gen Y respondents reported that they learned best by doing something, then getting feedback and coaching for how to perform better next time. For this to be successful, learning and coaching need to be “just in time” – in other words, Millennials prefer to learn as they do something, rather than being given knowledge of what they are to do in the future.

Pragmatically, this suggests that supervisors of Millennials need training in order to understand their own proclivities toward work and how those differ from – or are the same as – those of their younger subordinates. For example, Baby Boomers are known to have a penchant for meetings, where face-to-face interaction is necessary to ensure that everyone is “on the same page” on a project. Both Generation X and Millennial workers often report that they find such meetings a waste of time, and that their energy would be better spent actually doing the work the project requires. Personally, I do a lot of training for companies around topics of generational difference, and have found that it doesn’t take more than a 1-2 hour interactive session for people to develop a better understanding of themselves and their co-workers in this context.

Kultalahti, S., & Viitala R. (2014). Generation Y – Challenging clients for HRM? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30, 101-114.