Millennials and those younger, aren’t that interested in trading their time for money, if they don’t have to. A lot of my friends or people that I meet, would rather not take that promotion if it means working more than 40 hours a week. Others won’t take that promotion if it means having to give up telework and go back into the office. Others, would rather make less money and be their own boss if it means more freedom and taking a vacation whenever they feel like it.
(The road to success looks a bit different for us Millennials and Gen Z. We’ve re-defined Middle Class aspirations as an age cohort. Photo by author.)
I think they’re right. Not only because I write these words, but because I am one of those people. I think that our generation realized the idea of working for that promotion to buy that big house, to then buy a vacation home, and jet skis was a false idol. We saw our parents’ generation work themselves into mental and physical illnesss, largely to buy things they didn’t need. In doing so, they forgot to actually live. As their children, we thank them for their sacrifices, but we don’t want to live like them.
What do millenials (Generation Y) most care about?
Here are three main things Millennials care about most at their workplace and outside of it. While many people consider millennials to be egoistic, lazy, or entitled the things that they care about are not egoistic at all.
Freedom
Personal freedom is one of the biggest and the most important things millennials care about. It is on a spiritual level, in the relationships, at work, or in the financial field. Millennials are one of the most stressed generations due to the economic situation, education and the financial troubles connected to it, and unemployment rate.
• Millennials want to be stress-free and one cannot blame them for it. This is one of the reasons why many millennials are non-religious and are into spirituality. Many millennials are into yoga and similar activities are tend to be choosy with food as they prefer eating healthy and organic food.
• In a relationship, they value their personal freedom as well, as they want their personal freedom, desires, and lifestyle to be accepted and be free in their endeavors. This is true for intimate, personal, social, and family relationships as well.
• At work, Millenials want to be given freedom with their task. As the people in top management (in many cases) are baby boomers, they tend to be more controlling and tend to micromanage things. Millennials have a different approach to the tasks and want to be given the freedom to do things in their own way.
• Financially most of the millennials are not in a very good state due to the economic situation and high unemployment rate. However, they do not want to be attached to the loans and credits and prefer to be free from such financial responsibilities.
Experience
Another important thing that millennials care about is an experience. The previous generation often accuses millennials of bad spending habits and not caring about saving. Most probably you have seen the articles saying “Millennials could buy a house if they were not eating avocados, or were not drinking coffee at coffee shops several times a day” or that millennials could by a house if they didn’t dine out every once in a while and prepare their food at home.
At the same time, many people are concerned that Millennials are not buying cars and similar things. However, for millennials experience matters the most. They do not want to spend all their lives working and worrying about the money but want to experience many things in life such as traveling, enjoying festivals, going out with friends and having a nice meal every once in a while.
The meaning behind the job
Last but not least, millennials seek the meaning behind the job they are doing. To say simply, millennials do not want to do a routine job, which does not create value for the people. They are seeking for the job that matter, and that they themselves consider being important for others. When they end up at routine job (which they know can be done very easily with the new technologies) or at the job that does not have a clear purpose they lose the sense that their work is important for others and tend to leave the job pretty quickly.
What are millennials passionate about?Millennials are passionate about so many things! I’m always amazed by how passionate my Millennials clients are about making an impact and contribution to the world. To be honest when I was in my 20s I was all about myself. What I was going to do? Where my career was going? Is he going to call me (yes call – no texting in my day)?
I wasn’t thinking about the world around me and my carbon footprint or how I can help other cultures or all the injustices in the world. Millennials have gone through a lot and now that we’re able to access information so easily this has allowed them to be exposed to other cultures and countries at an early age.
This early access has made the world feel a little smaller for many Millennials so they don’t think twice about volunteering in South Africa or joining Teach for America to teach children in rural Alabama.