Gen Y Seeks New Benefit Trends
Student Loan Assistance
According to Student Loan Hero, Americans owe nearly $1.5 trillion in student loan debt – $620 billion more than the total US credit card debt. With average monthly loan payments of $351, it makes sense that a large portion of millennials would like to work for a company that helps them combat their staggering student loan debts.
Career Development
Regardless of your views on the work ethic of millennials, one thing that can be said about them is that they have a strong desire and ability to learn. Millennials grew up in a day and age where technology has advanced at such a rapid and exponential pace that they have been forced to adapt on the fly. Whether it be a cell phone, a car, a type of software, or an electronic device, there’s always a newer and better version that comes out every year, if not more frequently. No other generation is as accustomed to learning new technology and processes then Gen Y. Not to say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but millennials are inherently programmed to be quick learners. As such they want their employers to give them the means to acquire new skillsets and the freedom to explore new ideas.
Opportunities
Often dubbed as “Job Hoppers,” depending on how you look at it, millennials have been cast as an impatient bunch. The truth is millennials do in fact seek long-term job stability, they are just less willing to commit to an employer who isn’t committed to them. Fair enough, right?
Not only that, but they’ve been conditioned to project their career path more so then their predecessors. If they don’t see a viable path for advancement in their company regardless of how hard they work or their skillset, don’t expect them to stick around. One might call that impatience, others might call it perceptive forecasting. Companies who value what millennials can bring to the table and who promote from within are more likely to retain their workforce. That’s precisely why companies nowadays should provide respectful health benefits for their younger employees.
A New Kind of Healthcare
Millennials are no different than the generations before them in that they want employer sponsored health care. The difference is that Gen Y expects a company’s benefits package to be a key selling point. Perhaps no pitch is as effective as offering 100% employer paid healthcare. As we discussed earlier, with more than half of millennials making less than their parents did at their age and with their hefty student loan debts, you could see why not having to pay any employee healthcare deductions would be highly coveted. Second to that, millennials want options when it comes to their employer sponsored healthcare. Generally speaking, young employees have less health issues then their elder counterparts. That’s not news, that’s just life. Therefore, millennials are less than enthusiastic about paying high employee contributions for benefits they won’t use nearly as much as some of their colleagues. Companies that offer multiple levels of health care options, or who offer Age Rated plans are more likely to get the stamp of approval from millennials.
Flexible Scheduling & Work-Life Balance
Perhaps there’s no more glaring difference between Gen Y and previous generations of the workforce then their desire for a work life balance. Commuting five days a week with only two weeks out of the year of paid time off holds scarce appeal to millennials. So much so that a FlexJob survey found that more than a third of those surveyed have left a job due to a lack of flexibility in their schedule.
