What Millennials want from the workplace

When it comes to life on the job, Millennials, who are slated to become half of the workforce in a matter of years, have markedly different goals from their parents. These include a demand for greater social responsibility on the part of their employers.

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It's not about the money

Millennials aren’t as focused as their parents were when it comes to direct compensation, pensions and benefits. That concern is, instead, replaced by a greater concern over whether their work is meaningful. As Jason Rezepka, vice president of public affairs at MTV, told TedxPresidio, ”There’s a growing hunger, particularly from Millennials entering the workforce, to engage in meaningful work that doesn’t just make old, rich, white guys richer. If you don’t offer your employees this opportunity, someone else will.” In this photo, a visitor stands in front of the painting "200 One Dollar Bills" by Andy Warhol on display at an auction house in London.

Sang Tan / AP

Perkplace vs. Workplace

Millennials don’t want to work in their parents’ office spaces. This means doing away with the traditional cubicles, 9-to-5 punch-clock scheduling and neutral-themed walls. These younger workers may not expect a huge pay day, but they do expect a working environment with perks. Companies that have been rated as doing this well are among the nation’s most innovative, including SAS, Google, Zappos.com and Dreamworks, according to Fortune magazine. In this photo, scooters sit in a hallway for use by Google employees at the Internet company's office space inside historic Chelsea Market in New York City.

Spencer Platt

Really, another meeting?

“Contrary to their reputation, the data supports that Millennials are quite committed to their work,” said Lauren Rikleen during a Dec. 12 interview with Fortune magazine contributor Dan Schawbel, “but they do not value face time the way other generations do.” In other words, unnecessary meetings do not a happy Millennial workplace make. In this photo, the conference room at the Innovation Center funded by Montgomery Co. laboratory is seen in Germantown, Md.

Jeffrey MacMillan / For The Washington Post

As healthy as the most unhealthy employee

Millennials are likely to be more sensitive to the health of their fellow employees, directly tying the health of the business to that of other employees, according to a December 2011 Boston College Center for Work & Family Executive Briefing. “As leaders, they are likely to be more sensitive to ways to develop healthier work-life integration,” the study read. In this photo, dental students get some shut-eye after covering the dental equipment tables with paper sheets for the night at the annual Remote Area Medical open-air medical clinic at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia.

Michael S. Williamson

What about social responsibility?

Younger workers are eager to make a difference. According to a 2006 Cone Millennial Cause Study, 79 percent of Millennials want to work for a company that cares about how it impacts and contributes to society. In this photo, Blake Mycoskie, 30-year-old Los Angeles entrepreneur and founder of Toms Shoes, left, and his Argentine partner Alejo Nitti, 27, are seen as they head to the first "Shoe Drop 2006," at Buenos Aires soup kitchen Los Piletones.

Ali Burafi / AP

Their world has always been "flat"

New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas Friedman’s “The World Is Flat” flew off the shelves when it was released, and is repeatedly cited by analysts as the handbook for understanding today’s global economy. But Millennials see the book’s thesis as a given. According to a 2010 IBM study, Millennials’ first experiences with economics and the social sciences taught them of the world’s “flat” nature early on. This, in turn, has made social responsibility a must-have quality for companies hoping to hire Millennials. In this photo, Friedman gives a speech during the 2009 Swiss Economic Forum (SEF) in Thun, Switzerland.

Peter Schneider / AP

They want to consume their values

The world for Millennials is incredibly not only flat but small, thanks in large part to the hypercommunication made possible by social media. This means they are keenly aware of products’ cost not only in terms of the cash coming out of their wallet, but the potential cost to the environment and labor in other parts of the world. In this photo, two children wearing their new Toms Shoes share some food at Los Piletones soup kitchen in Buenos Aires.

ALI BURAFI / AP

A generation of technologists

Networking is not new to Millennials. This generation spent their school years in a world where they could access a trove of data that grows exponentially every minute. Many of them grew up with a personal computer, with colleges all but mandating that every student have a laptop. They’ll expect to have the same tools at their fingertips in the workplace. In this photo, visitors check out the 15-inch Macbook Pro laptops at the Apple store in New York.

Bebeto Matthews / AP

When is it time for community service?

Social responsibility is important to Millennials, but it’s not enough for companies to do so merely in their consumer-facing activities. Millennials want to be hands-on when it comes to community service and the workplace. A June 2011 Deloitte study found that Millennials "who frequently participate in workplace volunteer activities are far more likely to be proud, loyal and satisfied employees compared to those who rarely or never volunteer.” In this photo, members of the Toms Shoe team deliver shoes in "Shoe Drop 2006" at Buenos Aires soup kitchen Los Piletones.

Ali Burafi / AP

Get ready for trouble

According to a 2009 Ethics Resource Center study, Millennials are, like previous generations, prone to be a “ ‘trouble spot’ when it comes to misconduct.” The study found, however, that this trend was more pronounced among Millennials than previous generations around the same period. “All younger workers — but Millennials especially — are a significant area of vulnerability in terms of observed misconduct.” In this photo, Amber Hope, 24, of Pittsburgh chants during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration while wearing body paint in Zuccotti Park in New York.

John Minchillo / AP

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National

What Millennials want from the workplace

When it comes to life on the job, Millennials, who are slated to become half of the workforce in a matter of years, have markedly different goals from their parents. These include a demand for greater social responsibility on the part of their employers.

Featured Photo Galleries