The 10 Best Workplaces for Millennials

The oldest millennials are now in their late 30s, and this generation is the biggest part of the U.S labor force.

When asked, Millennials are less likely than Baby Boomers to respond that creativity and fun are important to them in a company. What matters to Millennials is how the company will help them grown, learn and expand their careers.

Because of the current low unemployment rate, it is a job seeker’s market. And a good number of these seekers are Millennials – they make up 35% of the labor force. The good news for employers, however, is that 60% of millennials are open to multiple job opportunities.

As the year comes to an end, the question on the mind of everyone is what companies are Millennial-friendly? What do they have in common? Are they progressive? What are their values?

Ideal Workplaces as Defined by Millennials

Contrary to popular belief, Millennials are not just looking for jobs at tech companies or start-ups. As a matter of fact, ideal workplaces for Millennials span across multiple industries. Among these industries are finance, healthcare, travel, chemicals, and securities. In fact, out of the top three companies, not a single one was a tech company, and only one technology company made the top ten.

But what are the similar values shared by these companies that make them attractive to millennials?

Growth Opportunity

As we stated earlier, opportunity for growth is the most important aspect of a job for many Millennials. And that is why companies like Kaiser Permanente, a health-care conglomerate, are on the list. At Kaiser, employees create Individual Development Plans with their superiors to help them grow their careers.

At Pfizer, employees are offered unique short and medium career development opportunities like job-rotation that allows them to experience work in other areas of the company so that they can learn more. EY, who is one of the big four accounting firms worldwide, offers its employees a structured curriculum of over 1,000 courses in addition to external education materials.

Making an Impact

Millennials are generally tired of businesses themselves. According to Deloitte, fewer than half of Millennials believe businesses behave ethically and have a commitment to help society improve.

Also, the same study discovered that about 83% of millennials believe a company’s success should not be measured only by their financial performance, but also by the impact they have on society.

Discover Financial Services, ranked at number two, has Discover Cares, a program that provides support and volunteers for programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and the Boys and Girls Club of America. Kaiser Permanente, who came in at third place, recently unveiled its plans to invest $200 million aimed at reducing homelessness. This is one of the largest ever contributions made by a company towards homelessness.

Prioritizing Flexibility

A Deloitte report credited Millennials for being culture leaders in the workplace. According to the report, Millennials are leading the charge of changing the way work is considered, including asking for flexible work environments that do not have enforced working hours or locations.

The results also showed that a flexible work environment fosters increased loyalty with Millennial workers. Among the Millennial workers who claim to have more flexibility than they did three years ago, 55% have plans to stay with their current employers for at least five years. Among those who have less flexibility than they did three years ago, 17% plan on staying for the next five years.

Because of this, more companies are beginning to adopt a more flexible work environment. All the companies featured within the top ten list boast of flexible work environments as one of their employee benefits.

Prioritizing Health and Family

The trend among Baby Boomers was to basically be a workaholic. But for Millennials, access to quality healthcare is a benefit that they demand from their workplace, followed by a priority on their families.

For example, Discover offers employees on-site fitness centers, access to healthy eating programs like Weight Watchers, as well as access to a mothers’ room at the office. Southwest is ranked at number five and offers its employees and their significant others up to $500 for taking steps toward being healthy.

Technology giant Apple comes in at number eight and the family benefits include a very generous parental leave policy accompanied by an offer by the company to handle the cost of egg freezing should any employee need it.

Here is the top ten list of companies regarded by millennials as an ideal place to work at:

Northrop Grumman
Discover Financial Services
Kaiser Permanente
Delta
Southwest Airlines
Apple
Pfizer Inc.
Capital One
EY
The Dow Chemical Company

It is clear that Millennials care about a lot more than just what their paychecks. When choosing companies to work for, they choose those that value their employees. Millennials are changing the workplace and business is changing. In order to keep up with these trends, companies must stay progressive and foster an inclusive and diverse employee-first culture.