Millennials RisingInfographics are interesting. While they provide a great overview of information, there is a danger in losing context to the statistics. Gaining insight, in whatever form, is always important, and this infographic published by Badgeville delivers a good comparison on Millennials in the workplace and the marketplace.

Millennials: Rising to the Challenges

As I read through the information, highlighted below is caught my attention.

  • The economic challenge:  63% have a Bachelor’s degree yet 48% of employed college graduates work in jobs that don’t require a college degree.
  • The social challenge: 70% have “friended” their managers and/or co-workers on Facebook, and 56% won’t accept jobs from companies that ban social media (Are there still companies that ban social media?).
  • The work flexibility challenge:  69% believe office attendance is unnecessary on a regular basis and 89% prefer to choose when and where they work rather than being placed in a 9 to 5 position.
  • The clarity challenge:  95% are motivated to work harder when thy know where their work is going and 80% prefer on-the-spot recognition over formal reviews. And 80% said they want regular feedback from their manager.
  • The values challenge:  75% see themselves as authentic and are not willing to compromise their family and personal values and 61% are worried about the state of the world and feel personally responsible to make a difference.

Resolving these challenges are essential for many reasons. The primary reason is this is our future! We need to work together to leverage the best of each generation and remove barriers from building a better future together. More practically, there is a business cost to not getting this right: The average cost to replace each Millennial employee is $24,000, and 70% of Millennials say they always come back to brands they love.

Organizations need to understand Millennials from the inside out and outside in. Getting the culture right will help in getting the brand right.

Are you ready to work together across the generations for a better generation ahead?

I am.

Rise of the Millennials Infographic by Badgeville, The Gamification Platform