1. Adina Weisberg
ILRHR 4620
Final Project
How to Hire Millennials
What Hiring Millennials Means for the Workforce
Organizations are encountering cultural differences between generations, and they are
finding that Millennials have completely different expectations from those of the generations
before them. One article by Forbes highlights this idea. In “Gen-Y Workforce And Workplace
Are Out Of Sync” Erica Dhawan discusses new generational friction and why companies need to
address it.1 If employers do things right, they can make their Generation Y employees a lot more
satisfied and gain tremendous productivity as a positive result. Millennials have grown up with a
distinctive mindset because of the way parents nurtured them and changes in the educational
system. The rapid development of technology and its encroachment into our everyday lives has
also affected this generation’s beliefs and perceptions. Millennials, otherwise known as
Generation Y, are open about wanting more flexibility, such as telecommuting and compressed
work weeks. Unlike the prior generation, they want the ability to do demanding work and take
care of their families at home at the same time. This new trend of flexible work offers a path for
diversity and allows more women to gain leadership roles.2 Companies greatly benefit from
increased diversity, because it provides room for all kinds of talent to contribute to the
development of the business. Millennials’ specific desires in the work place mean organizations
need to change their recruitment and selection policies. Additionally, organizations should
1 Dhawan, Erics. "Gen-Y Workforce And Workplace Are Out Of Sync." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 23 Jan. 2012.
Web.
2 "Gender Matters for Generation Y." A.T. Kearney. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

2. determine if their policies are up to par with legal requirements and Generation Y’s perceptions
of what is right.
It is important to accept the changes that Millennials are bringing with them into the
workplace. After all, the majority of the workforce will consist of this generation in just nine
years.
3
Millennials care less about high salaries and job security, and more about flexibility and “me
time.” Millennials contribute to extremely high turnover rates 4
Attracting Millennials
Baby boomers are reaching retirement age, leading to a projected labor shortage. This
paves the way for millennials making the decisions about where they want to work as opposed to
companies choosing them.5 This means organizations need to figure out exactly what millennials
desire from their workplaces.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ng, Eddy S. W., Linda Schweitzer, and Sean T. Lyons. “New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field Study of the
Millennial Generation”. Journal of Business and Psychology 25.2 (2010): 281–292. Web. Page 282

3. Organizations need to restructure the work environment in order to better attract
millennials. One change is increased work/life balance or flexibility in work days and hours,
communication, and holiday time. More companies can also consider enacting programs similar
to ones already in effect at Google, such as allowing its employees to have complete control of
20% of their work week. Additionally, Google has created fitness and wellness centers at the
workplace; these perks have helped Google maintain first place for four consecutive years on
Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For list.6 More companies should heavily consider utilizing
flexibility in any form possible, because they will be able to not only attract Millennials, but
retain them as well, as the following graph represents:
7
Besides flexibility, Millennials are also concerned about good pay and benefits,
meaningful work experiences, nurturing work environment, and opportunities for advancement.
Regarding meaningful work experience, millennials care about finding a company whose values
6 "Gender Matters for Generation Y." A.T. Kearney. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
7 Ibid.

4. match their own. They prefer companies with a strong reputation in social responsibility and
make sure to ask “what the firm can do to help them to lead more purposeful and meaningful
lives” during their interviews. Millennials are interested in both professional growth and being
able to make important contributions; in fact, they perform much better when they are given
challenging and stimulating work. For a nurturing work environment, Millennials look for
constant feedback from their managers and friendly group settings (because of years of group
projects and presentations while in school). For this reason, Millennials are focused on
companies with good quality managers.8
Organizations can highlight mentoring programs in an effort to attract Millennials. They
would first need to improve these programs by choosing the right mentors: senior employees
from the Silent Generation. People from Generation Y are extremely team-centric, just as those
from the Silent Generation are. Companies should utilize this similarity by having the two work
together, thus providing an opportunity for Silent Generation workers to teach the knowledge
and organizational memory they already have to Generation Y. In return, Millennials can teach
their mentors how to use new technology. An additional bonus is that Millennials receive
constant feedback from their mentors, which is one of Generation Y’s desired work attributes.9
Turnover Costs
As shown in the following graph, turnover costs are extremely high:
8 Ng, Eddy S. W., Linda Schweitzer, and Sean T. Lyons. “New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field Study of the
Millennial Generation”. Journal of Business and Psychology 25.2 (2010): 281–292. Web. Page 283
9 Barrett, Betty. “My Generation, Your Technology,and Our Workplace”. Perspectives on Work 13.2 (2010): 19–
21. Web. Page 20

5. 10
The cost of turnover includes not only the price of replacing an employee, but also the cost to
hire that employee, train and onboard them, and then to train someone else after they leave.
Additionally, organizations need to consider the amount of time it takes for a new employee to
begin working at full capacity (and the lower production during that time), which takes between
three and six months. Besides the obvious fiscal concerns, organizations have to deal with
temporary organizational confusion and instability over interim responsibilities.11 These issues
make it all the more important to hire the right employee and make them stay.
A plausible explanation for so many Millennials leaving their companies quickly is the
disconnect between them and their employers. Companies are not offering an adequate amount
of appealing resources for Millennials. Advancing one’s career, along with flexibility, are top
priorities for most Millennials.12
Retaining Millennials
If employers want to get better at retaining Millennials, they may need to change the
internal recruitment strategy. More specifically, companies should accelerate the promotion
process, because 68.5% of Millennials expect a promotion within 18 months of being in their
10 The Cost of Gen Y Turnover& The Importance of Finding “the Right”Candidate.Microsoft Students to
Business,2008. PDF. http://microsoft.message.ch/s2bSilverlight/silverlight/PDFs/cost_of_turnover.pdf
11 Ibid.
12 Gedeon, Kimberly. "Millennials Have The Highest Employee Turnover Rate, Employers Call Them 'Expensive'"
MadameNoire RSS. 08 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

6. first job. Those with better grades and more years of study expect to be promoted even sooner
than the average of 15 months, as shown in a study done by Ng, et al. In order of preference,
Millennials desire opportunities for advancement, good colleagues, good people to report to,
professional growth, benefits and security, good initial salary, and lastly, social responsibility
and employee diversity.13 Compensation is certainly one of Generation Y’s top priorities, as
found in a survey done by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network in 2007.14 Although
Millennials have all these expectations, they do have realistic expectations about their first jobs
and the likely low initial pay. 71% of Millennials in this study would accept a less-than-ideal job
for their first work experience.15 With lower expectations, companies might find some higher
retention, but assumptions are likely not enough to offset the high turnover rate. On top of
accelerated promotions, organizations should consider giving Millennials better benefits and
security and higher initial pay. They should also improve their social responsibility and
employee diversity; because, even though Millennials give these two factors the lowest weight,
they are still imperative when making a decision. Otherwise, Millennials would not ask about
these topics during their interviews.16
Companies may not be able to change their mission and values, but they can determine a
way to find Millennials whose values align more closely with their own. This will likely reduce
employee turnover.
13 Ng, Eddy S. W., Linda Schweitzer, and Sean T. Lyons. “New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field Study of
the Millennial Generation”. Journal of Business and Psychology 25.2 (2010): 281–292. Web. Page 285-286
14 McGinnis, Jasmine. “The Young And Restless: Generation Y in the Nonprofit Workforce”. Public Administration
Quarterly 35.3 (2011): 342–362. Web.
15 Ng, Eddy S. W., Linda Schweitzer, and Sean T. Lyons. “New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field Study of
the Millennial Generation”. Journal of Business and Psychology 25.2 (2010): 281–292. Web. Page 235
16 Ibid.

7. Legal Issues
Social Networking Sites
The use of social media in recruitment is relatively new, and it is still a gray area in terms
of legality. The number of companies using social networking sites for Human Resources (HR)
increased from 21% to 44% in just two years, based on a survey done by the Society for Human
Resources Management in 2008. Additionally, already 34% of companies are using social media
for recruitment and communication, and 19% of companies plan to do so as well in the future.
Organizations are even using social media to screen applicants (13% currently and 18% in the
future).
17
Because Millennials are more technologically savvy and less worried about their privacy, they
may be more open to the use of their social media pages for recruitment than people from
17 Davison, H. Kristl, Catherine Maraist, and Mark N. Bing. “Friend or Foe? The Promise and Pitfalls of Using
Social Networking Sites for HR Decisions”. Journal of Business and Psychology 26.2 (2011): 153–159. Web.Page
153-154

8. previous generations. Applicant reactions aside, organizations need to be wary of fake social
media profiles, especially because there is minimal research done on this. Employers should
determine if they can actually reliably and validly measure job-relevant characteristics from
people’s online profiles. There is almost no way to know if people are faking good or bad, and
the answer depends on their intended audience. It is also difficult to be sure whether or not
people are posting accurate information. The only social networking site that is likely to have the
most accurate information is LinkedIn, because other individuals can verify information on one’s
profile.18
It is not necessarily illegal to use social media to screen candidates. However,
organizations need to consider interfering with people’s privacy rights, possible third parties’
defamation of character, and the potentially of adverse impact as a result of using social media
when searching for any job-relevant information. More research needs to be done on the validity
of social media before organizations decide to put a lot of weight into it, and companies should
also more thoroughly determine the legal framework surrounding this platform.19
Determining the legality of online information that can be used for disciplinary actions
and terminations is even more complicated. Any legal activities an employee participates in
(despite how embarrassing it may be for that employee’s company) are protected under lifestyle
protection statutes in several states. Criticisms that employees make about their companies may
be protected as freedom of speech under the First Amendment. Organizations also need to
consider employees’ perceptions to monitoring of the online presence, especially in regards to
using that information for disciplinary actions.20
18 Ibid. at 156
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.

9. Display of Body Modification
Another extremely important legal issue to look at is discrimination against piercings and
tattoos. Employees have been using religious discrimination claims to fight the prohibition of
tattoos and piercings, because companies typically prohibit these for everyone, regardless of race
or gender. Employees can file claims under religious discrimination, because religion can, very
generally, mean ‘“all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an
employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate an employee’s or
prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct
of the employer’s business.”’ One such case where the employee won was EEOC v. Red Robin
Gourmet Burgers, Inc. The employee only had to prove that his tattoos fell under religious
observance and that it would be a sin to intentionally cover them; he did not have to prove how
sincere his religion is. Additionally, his tattoos did not impose an undue hardship on the
restaurant.21 In another case, Cloutier v. Costco Wholesale Corp, Costco demonstrated that
accommodating the employee would be an undue hardship because her job entailed a lot of face-
to-face interactions with customers, and Costco had to maintain a “neat, clean, and professional
image.”22 Tattoos that are (racially) offensive to other employees will most likely never be
permitted in the workplace, as one instance was determined in Swartzentruber v. Gunite Corp.
An employee had a KKK tattoo and tried to justify it as a religious observance, but the courts
21 Kramer, Ronald J.. “Generation Y: Tattoos,Piercings, and Other Issues for the Private and Public Employer”. The
Urban Lawyer 38.3 (2006): 593–611. Web. Page 593-594
Employees have to first establish a prima facie case by demonstrating: “(1) a bonda fide religious belief, observance,
or practice which conflicted with the employee’s job duty, (2) notice to the employer of the belief and conflict, and
(3) that the religious practice was the basis for an adverse employment decision. Second, if the employee
demonstrates a prima facie case, then the burden shifts to the employer to show that it ‘initiated good faith efforts to
accommodate reasonably the employee’s religious practices or that it could not reasonably accommodate the
employee without undue hardship.”’
22 Ibid at 596-597

10. decided his tattoo contributed to a hostile working environment.23 Companies have to be vigilant
in making sure their tattoo and piercing policies are justified in order to avoid potential lawsuits
like these.
Legality aside, companies may want to reconsider their policies on body modification. As
mentioned earlier, Generation Y will make up the majority of the workforce by 2025. Millennials
generally have a more positive opinion on tattoos and piercings. As one Millennial wrote in her
blog, ‘“We expect to be able to work in corporate America and have pink hair; to be doctors and
have tattoos; to wear fishnets and be librarians. Our generation doesn’t like our personal
expression to have to conform to the Baby boomers expectations. Generation Y loves their media
and won’t be penalized for it.”’24
Considering all the factors as described above, organizations should immediately begin
reexamining their policies and enact new ones. Doing so will greatly improve their likelihood of
attracting the right Millennials and later retaining them. The current situation of dramatically
high turnover rates among Generation Y and the high costs associated with replacement can only
be fixed if employers become more creative and work harder at retaining workers. This means
approving accelerated promotion programs, providing more opportunities for career exploration,
being much more flexible about work days and hours, and possibility creating wellness facilities
in the office. Generation Y employees will take to these new benefits very well because these are
priorities on their lists of necessary work-related attributes. Determining the legal framework
surrounding policies along with everything else will simultaneously result in lower turnover rates
among Millennials while helping with recruiting and selecting the best candidates.
23 Ibid at 598
24 Barrett, Betty. “My Generation, Your Technology,and Our Workplace”. Perspectives on Work 13.2 (2010): 19–
21. Web. Page 20