| August 12, 2008 |
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Millennial Workplace
by Sarah S. Pare
To retain employees from Generation Y, companies are considering benefits packages that encourage work-life balance.
At 70 million people, Generation Y is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Born between 1978 and 1989, these twenty-something professionals — also known as "Millennials" and "the Echo Boomers" — are suddenly grown up and have a strong impact on today's workplace.
Generation Y is the fastest growing segment of the workforce and has surprised many in upper management and human resources by asking for benefits packages focused on accommodating families and personal lives. Many companies are responding to such demands, despite the poor economy and the common fear that jobs are scarce. Flexible schedules, telecommuting, day care, fitness centers — even dry-cleaning and free on-site lunch and dinner — are becoming increasingly common at [larger] companies wanting to attract this fresh new wave of workers.
When attorney Hannah Renfro, 30, a UW-Madison graduate and mother of a two-year-old child, first considered joining the law firm Godfrey & Kahn, she knew that flexibility was important to managing the demands of a full-time job, motherhood, community service and a social life. "Having flexibility is really important to help support individuals in their own individual lives, whether you have a family or whether you just have other things going on in your life," she explains. "It's recognizing that our lives are bigger than our jobs."
Renfro's feelings echo those of Gen-Y nationwide — research and industry experts agree that young professionals are seeking flexibility above all else, in recognition that work-life balance is vitally important. And there is reason for businesses to take note: according to a 2005 survey by the staffing company Spherion, "need for work-life balance" ranked among the top three retention factors for new workers.
Madison generational expert Sarah Gibson (Accent Business Communication) agrees. She says Gen-Y is interested in flexibility and skill-building because they're not necessarily looking to stay with a company for a long time. They are much more interested in developing a set of skills that will help themselves and others. "Skills are transferable," Gibson says, "And that makes them more mobile. But it doesn't have to be more mobile to another company, it just has to be more mobility within your own company or new responsibilities."
Perhaps the new American dream includes fulfilling work that leaves plenty of time for the other things in life. And because Generation Y represents the workforce of the future, that dream may have a real chance of coming true for many young professionals.
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