{"id":48506,"date":"2020-11-17T11:33:56","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T16:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=48506"},"modified":"2025-05-08T07:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:07:10","slug":"truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Managers and HR leaders often grumble about the trouble with younger workers, particularly Millennials, in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>But much of the frustration is based on stereotypes about younger workers, partial truths, and Millennial mythology, rather than fact.<\/p>\n<p>Our book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.ccl.org\/usa\/what-millennials-want-from-work.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What Millennials Want From Work<\/a><\/em>, presents a complete and complex picture of Millennials in the workplace. The book is based on survey data from more than 25,000 Millennials from 22 countries and more than 300 organizations, plus 29,000 people from other generations from the same organizations.<\/p>\n<p>As the book notes, you can provide an environment where Millennials can be both happy and effective \u2014 if you focus on what actually is important to them.<\/p>\n<p>HR leaders, executives, and line managers looking to do a better job of <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/the-secret-to-leading-across-generations\/\">leading multigenerational teams<\/a> should take note of these findings and recommendations, which will help with <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/3-ways-to-engage-attract-and-retain-millennials\/\">attracting and retaining Millennials<\/a> in the workplace:<\/p>\n<h2>Millennials in the Workplace Are Both Entitled <em>and<\/em> Hardworking<\/h2>\n<p>Millennials want to have a say and contribute their ideas. They resist doing repetitive or boring work. They want to have a life outside of work, and expect enough flexibility to allow them to fulfill both their personal and professional commitments. But entitled doesn\u2019t mean lazy. Millennials work long hours, don\u2019t expect work to stop when they leave the office, and are quite motivated. They want to contribute beyond their job descriptions and move up in the organization.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minimize repetitive work and engage Millennials in the workplace to improve processes so everyone\u2019s work is more efficient.<\/li>\n<li>Make use of their willingness to work long hours, but don\u2019t take advantage of them.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage employees\u2019 desire to contribute ideas, and appreciate their willingness to speak up. <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/what-is-psychological-safety-at-work\/\">Promote a psychologically safe culture at work<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Millennials in the Workplace Are Both Needy <em>and<\/em> Independent<\/h2>\n<p>Younger workers are often scorned for being needy \u2014 hanging on to parents and seeking constant praise and approval. While Millennials in the workplace do want support, feedback, mentoring, and to feel appreciated, that doesn\u2019t make them dependent. They actually are being quite strategic. They think about what they need to be successful, and that\u2019s what they ask for.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Let them know how they are doing \u2014 frequently. Provide them with mentors and frequent feedback.<\/li>\n<li>Provide support when things get tough.<\/li>\n<li>Let them control as much as possible. Don\u2019t micromanage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Millennials in the Workplace Are Both Determined to Do Good <em>and<\/em> Do Well<\/h2>\n<p>Do Millennials want to save the world? Yes. But doing good isn\u2019t a higher priority than doing well. Millennials in the workplace want work that both enables them to contribute to society in positive ways <em>and<\/em> that rewards them appropriately. One isn\u2019t a substitute for the other.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be a good corporate citizen.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure Millennials understand how your business is having a positive impact and how their work directly contributes. Younger workers in particular <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/your-workers-care-about-social-responsibility-you-should-too\/\">care about corporate social responsibility initiatives<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Pay them what they are worth. Millennials in the workplace know what standard compensation is \u2014 so don\u2019t try to hide pay information from them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"callOut\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shop.ccl.org\/usa\/what-millennials-want-from-work.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"floatRight\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/want-millenials-want-from-work-book-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg\" alt=\"What Millenials Want From Work\" width=\"150\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nGet <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.ccl.org\/usa\/what-millennials-want-from-work.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">practical advice for managing, leading, and working with Millennials<\/a> to improve teamwork, increase productivity, strengthen organizational culture, and build a robust talent pipeline.<\/div>\n<h2>Millennials in the Workplace Are High Tech <em>and<\/em> High Touch<\/h2>\n<p>Millennials are comfortable with technology. They have grown up with it and it\u2019s woven into their friendships and everyday activities. Millennials love technology at work because it reduces drudgery and saves them time. But just because they spend so much time attached to their devices doesn\u2019t mean that other people aren\u2019t essential. In fact, feeling like they have a community at work is a determining factor in Millennials\u2019 organization commitment, job satisfaction, engagement, and retention.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Let Millennials use their preferred technology to support their work, if possible.<\/li>\n<li>Consider setting up <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/whats-reverse-mentoring\/\">reverse mentoring<\/a> programs so your digital native Millennials can help more experienced, but less tech-savvy, workers.<\/li>\n<li>Communicate with them in person and often, especially for anything related to compensation, development, or performance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Millennials in the Workplace Are Both Committed <em>and<\/em> Leaving<\/h2>\n<p>The research shows that Millennials are committed \u2014 they\u2019re mostly getting what they need; they don\u2019t want to leave; they want to move up in the organization. But being committed isn\u2019t blind loyalty or staying no matter what. <strong>At least 1 in 3 Millennials are assessing the environment for better options.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Help Millennials in the workplace get development, especially if they\u2019re new to management roles. Provide them support and training to help them <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/your-frontline-managers-need-these-6-skills\/\">develop the critical skills frontline managers need<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Give good reasons for them to stay. People don\u2019t leave \u2014 Millennials included \u2014 if they don\u2019t believe they can get a better combination of pay, responsibility, development and advancement potential, and work-life control.<\/li>\n<li>Reduce overload and work-life imbalance \u2014 they are real issues that will drive Millennials away.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What This Means About Millennials in the Workplace<\/h2>\n<p>Fundamentally, Millennials want to do interesting work, with people they enjoy, for which they are well paid \u2014 and still have enough time to live their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Which makes them pretty much like everyone else.<\/p>\n<h2>Ready to Take the Next Step?<\/h2>\n<p><strong><em>Many Millennials in the workplace are new leaders. Show them support and equip them to succeed with <a href=\"\/leadership-programs\/frontline-leadership-impact\/\">Frontline Leader Impact<\/a>, an online training program specifically designed to develop large populations of new managers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Managers often grumble about the trouble with Millennials. Don&#8217;t fall for myths or stereotypes. Learn what our research found that Millennials in the workplace really want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":48507,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48506","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categories-engagement-motivation","categories-generational-differences","categories-leadership-skills-competencies","impact-level-first-time-frontline-managers","region-global","article-type-leading-effectively-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace | CCL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don&#039;t fall for partial truths, myths, or stereotypes about younger workers. Learn what our research found that Millennials in the workplace really want.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don&#039;t fall for partial truths, myths, or stereotypes about younger workers. Learn what our research found that Millennials in the workplace really want.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CCL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T11:07:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/millennials-in-the-workplace-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CCLdotORG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace | CCL","description":"Don't fall for partial truths, myths, or stereotypes about younger workers. Learn what our research found that Millennials in the workplace really want.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace","og_description":"Don't fall for partial truths, myths, or stereotypes about younger workers. Learn what our research found that Millennials in the workplace really want.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/","og_site_name":"CCL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","article_modified_time":"2025-05-08T11:07:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":864,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/millennials-in-the-workplace-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@CCLdotORG","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Helton","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec"},"headline":"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace","datePublished":"2020-11-17T16:33:56+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-08T11:07:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/"},"wordCount":891,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/millennials-in-the-workplace-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/","name":"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace | CCL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/millennials-in-the-workplace-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-17T16:33:56+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-08T11:07:10+00:00","description":"Don't fall for partial truths, myths, or stereotypes about younger workers. Learn what our research found that Millennials in the workplace really want.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/millennials-in-the-workplace-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/millennials-in-the-workplace-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","width":864,"height":483,"caption":"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/truths-about-millennials-in-the-workplace\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"LE Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/article-type\/leading-effectively-articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"5 Truths About Millennials in the Workplace"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","name":"CCL","description":"Leadership Development Drives Results. We Can Prove It.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization","name":"Center for Creative Leadership","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","width":864,"height":483,"caption":"Center for Creative Leadership"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CCLdotORG","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ccldotorg\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/center-for-creative-leadership\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec","name":"Carrie Helton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Carrie Helton"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/author\/carrie-helton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/48506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/48506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}