The workforce is rapidly changing as baby boomers retire, leading to a significant influx of millennials who have distinct expectations from employers, including a desire for career growth, meaningful work, and flexibility in the workplace. Companies need to adapt to these changes by offering development opportunities and creating a social office environment in order to attract and retain this generation, which is expected to compose about 50% of the workforce by 2020. Additionally, millennials are more mobile and likely to change jobs frequently, emphasizing the importance for employers to understand and meet their evolving needs to minimize replacement costs.

1. The distinctive trait of business today is the rapidly changing nature of human capital: baby boomers are exiting the workforce, leaving room for
a new generation. Whether you call them Millennials, Gen-Y, or those born in the ‘80s and ‘90s, they’re the up-and-coming colleagues. By the year
2020, employers can expect that approximately 50% of the workforce will be comprised of this new generation of human capital.1 They think
differently, and more importantly, they have different expectations from employers than any other generation in the past. Here’s what you need to
know to gain your “M-factor” and ready your organization for this major cultural shift.
Millennials want to learn and grow within
your company
Just because they’re out of school doesn’t
mean they’re done learning. This new breed
of human capital highly regards training and
development opportunities; a clear career and
development path is essential to attracting
and engaging Millennials. In fact, PwC reports
that 52% of the young professionals surveyed
said good opportunities for career progression
made an employer more attractive.2 Showing a
commitment to their career progression is sure
to engage, motivate, and ultimately, retain them.
Millennials want the whole package, not just
great compensation
Sure, high pay still makes a job offer attractive.
After all, education is not cheap these days,
and they have to pay back the debt somehow.
However, it isn’t all about the money for
Millennials. Research shows that Millennials are
looking for experience, not just a job. Meaningful
work and a sense of accomplishment are top
of mind factors in job satisfaction for Gen-Y.1
Beyond understanding how to do a task, they
want to understand why. Ensuring these young
employees understand how their work impacts
the company’s strategic goals will keep them
motivated and working hard.
Millennials value employers who embrace the
social life (on the web and in the office)
It’s no surprise that a generation that’s known
to constantly be on their phones, Twitter, or
Facebook in their personal life wants the same
sort of social flexibility in the workplace. A
report by Cisco reveals that as many as 56% of
these new professionals will steer away from
jobs in companies that ban social media.3
It’s time for employers to welcome the social
network into the everyday. Don’t think of it as
a waste of time; social media and networking
can actually increase employee productivity
and facilitate collaboration. Further, a social
office atmosphere creates a place where these
young employees will look forward to coming
Copyright © 2014 Nakisa Inc. All rights reserved.
every day. Millennials aren’t just looking for a
relationship with their colleagues that ends
with the workday, they’re seeking meaningful
connections. 71% of Gen-Yers have indicated
that they want their colleagues to be like “second
family.”4
Millennials are ending the 9-to-5 workday
The 9-to-5 workday may soon be an idea of
the past. It’s not only the Millennials who want
flexible schedules, but they are certainly the
ones driving the cultural change. A whopping
89% of these twenty-something workers would
prefer to choose where and when they work,
rather than be placed in a 9-to-5 position,5 and
nearly half of them are willing to take a pay
cut for a more flexible workplace.6 Businesses
are forced to rethink the traditional workday
and evolve their processes to support this
new demand.
Millennials will be required to leapfrog into
leadership roles within the next 5 years
As many as 63.3% of baby boomers in executive
roles will be eligible for retirement in the next
five years.7 The logical replacements would be
Gen-Xers, however, they just don’t comprise
enough of the workforce to sufficiently fill the
large leadership gap. This puts Millennials on the
fast-track to becoming some of the youngest
executives in history. In order to make this
transition seamless, companies need to start
preparing these young professionals for a huge
leap in their careers early.
Millennials are mobile and seek out
international experience
Millennials have grown up in the digital age
where the world is essentially “flat.” The internet
has made cultures increasingly similar, borders
somewhat ambiguous and, as a result, it has
lifted the fear of leaving the nest. Our globalized
world has created a very globalized generation;
66% of Gen-Yers believe international experience
is essential to further their careers2 and seek out
jobs where travel, or even relocation is possible.
Employers have a great opportunity to maximize
on this unique situation, as they have more
skilled talent ready to be deployed than ever
before that can help a business flourish globally.
Millennials are a higher flight risk than other
generations, and are costly to replace
Millennials don’t give as much thought to
job security as past generations. The average
tenure of a millennial is 2 years, compared to 5
years for Ge-X and 7 years for baby boomers.8
Neglecting to find ways to infuse flexibility, fun,
technology and development opportunities into
the workplace can drive the Gen-Y workforce
away. Just helping them identify lateral career
opportunities within the organization can
improve their intent to stay by up to 23%.9
Small, yet significant steps like these can end up
saving organizations an average of $24,000 (per
Millennial) in replacements costs. 10
Sources:
1 Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC: Maximizing
Millennials in the Workplace (2012)
2 PwC: Millennials at Work; Reshaping the workplace
(2011)
3 Cisco: 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology
Report (2011)
4 Forbes: Why Millennials are Ending the 9 to 5 (2013)
5 LinkedIn: 10 Millennial Personality Traits That HR
Managers Can’t Ignore (2014)
6 Millennial Branding: The Cost of Millennial Retention
Study (2013)
7 PwC Saratoga: 2013/2014 US Human Capital
Effectiveness Report (2013)
8 Pay Scale/Millennial Branding: Gen Y on the Job,
Infographic (2012)
9 CEB Human Resources: HR: The Millennial Myth (2014)
10 Experience Inc./Microsoft: The Cost of Gen Y Turnover
& the Importance of Finding “the Right” Candidate (2008)
Workforce 2020 Fact Sheet
Maximizing Millennials

2. Get your “M-factor” with Nakisa’s Millennial-ready org and talent
management solutions
Nakisa® OrgChart™
Nakisa’s OrgChart with SocialLink is an easy to use, mobile-ready
tool that enables Millennials to communicate, collaborate and share.
Copyright © 2014 Nakisa Inc. All rights reserved.
Contact us
Please visit www.nakisa.com for more
information, or email nakisa@nakisa.
com to arrange an assessment of your
Millennial-readiness and book a live
demonstration of the Org and Talent
Management solutions by Nakisa.
About us
Nakisa® Inc. is a leading Organization and Talent Management software company,
providing organizations with the ability to visualize and maintain accurate HCM
data, confidently execute organization design, devise harmonized succession and
career plans, and create an aligned, high-performing workforce. Nakisa’s client
base includes 700+ enterprise customers, with more than 4 million subscribers
from 24 industries, in 125 countries. Nakisa has been an SAP® partner since 2007.
SAP® Organizational Visualization by Nakisa® (SOVN) and SAP® Talent Visualization
by Nakisa® (STVN) are co-developed, supported and sold by SAP. Available in 18
languages, they form a key part of the SAP product roadmap.
• Gain a global view of the entire organization in an easy-to-navigate,
intuitive tool
• Rapidly search and connect with colleagues to share expertise,
find mentors and collaborate on projects
• Demonstrate skill sets and extend the SAP HCM profile by
downloading information already maintained in external social
networking sites, like LinkedIn®
• Build social circles with coworkers by creating common
interest groups, fostering meaningful relationships outside
of the professional context
Nakisa® Goals & Performance™
Nakisa’s Goals & Performance gives HR, managers and Millennials a
new, collaborative way to track goals and evaluate performance.
• Make goal assignment transparent, facilitating the understanding of
one’s contributions to the achievement of strategic objectives
• Align personal performance assessments with larger organizational
objectives by setting measurable individual goals
• Facilitate a continuous feedback loop between managers
and Millennials, making it easy to track goal progression and
improve performance no matter where from and when the
employee chooses to work
• Engage the right talent with the right challenges, keeping the
workforce engaged and excited
Nakisa® CareerPlanning™
Nakisa’s CareerPlanning with DevelopmentPlanning is a robust
solution that allows Millennials to take charge of their careers.
• Review review current proficiencies, explore career opportunities
and compare current competencies to identify areas for
development
• Determine an actionable development plan to reach career
aspirations and maintain a personal log of tangible targets and
activities to bridge skill gaps
• Indicate personal mobility preferences within the employee profile
by listing top choices of places for business travel or relocation
• Build a link between personal career aspirations and the key
competencies needed to fulfill organizational objectives
Nakisa® SuccessionPlanning™
Nakisa’s SuccessionPlanning allows managers, HR and executives to
visualize the talent they have today, and prepare for the talent and
skills the organization will need tomorrow.
• Make succession planning more efficient by proactively seeking
out candidates and creating pools by talent or by their ability to be
a successor for a job family
• Easily access real-time information about the existing workforce for
a comprehensive snapshot of talent inventory and bench-strength
• Visualize and analyze potential candidates for succession
planning against the defined competencies of any
given position
Millennials have particular expectations and skills which must be harnessed to serve an organization’s strategic goals,
while their talent must be thoroughly managed to ensure that individual attributes don’t translate into organizational
flaws. To learn more about the Millennial-ready Nakisa solutions that can help your organization successfully balance
human capital needs and business objectives, get in touch with us to view the solutions live in action.