Millennials are perhaps one of the most talked about generations in the history of the world. Articles, memes, posts, blogs, and even billboards have been created to condemn or congratulation people born between the early 80s and the late 90s. They’ve killed businesses, they’ve changed technology, and they’ve made reboots more common than any form of entertainment known to man. And all they want in return is a little work life balance.
According to a recent study from Comparably, which surveyed more 46,000 employees, millennials care more about work life balance than they do about career advancement. Granted, they’re quite close, at 34 percent for work life balance and 32 percent for career advancement, but still, these numbers reflect a shifting trend in the professional world: work life balance is very important to millennial workers.
“Don’t be doing all the time — put time aside to just be. All work and no play is a sure fire path to fatigue,” said Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group.
When you break down the generation even more, you notice a trend, mainly that the younger the millennial, the more concerned they are with career advancement. However, as the overall trend leans towards work life balance as the most important factor in choosing a career, it’s important to remember that 18 to 25 year olds are likely still in the beginning stages of their career, sometimes making less than minimum wage.
As for the other factors that attract millennial employees, a happy culture and environment came in third across the board, further cementing it as an important aspect of successful businesses. Healthcare benefits and company mission tied for last in every age group, showing that big picture aspirations don’t matter unless the essentials are there first.
For more information about what millennials want in the workforce, take a look at the full study here and get a better idea of which factors don’t matter in the graph below:
Read more about millennials in the workforce on TechCo