What Millennials Look for in an Employer (and Why Everyone Else Does too)
By Annabelle Baxter, Senior Manager, External Communications, Alliance Data
Earlier this week, Alliance Data was named by Fortune Magazine to its inaugural 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials. The news came on the heels of our LoyaltyOne business being named one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People for the third year in a row. As a company with more than 16,000 passionate associates, 41 percent of which are millennials, we were obviously honored to know that our culture resonates with our fastest-growing employee age group, especially since Gen Xers (like me) and baby boomers also agree that Alliance Data is a great place to be. With all of the press about what millennials are looking for in an employer, I reached out to a few of them to find out whether they really are that different. Here’s what four of Alliance Data’s millennials had to say:
Lisa Walker, Content Marketing Manager at CJ Affiliate by Conversant (now part of Epsilon): “As a millennial growing up during the “Internet boom”, my life has been marked by fast-paced technological advancements. After college, I wanted to take advantage of that industry growth within the marketing sphere; yet, being from a small town in Hawaii, I also value an easy-going lifestyle. During my recent job hunt, I looked for an employer that would fulfill both of those personal objectives: cutting-edge digital marketing opportunities and a healthy work/life balance. I was fortunate to find that here at CJ!”
Nincy Mathew, Marketing Communications Specialist at Alliance Data: “It’s important that a company values its talent – millennial or not. A great employer understands that while an associate may spend the bulk of their day at the office, he or she also has priorities and passions outside it. That’s where Alliance Data gets it right – I have flexibility to pursue those passions and the trust of my employer that I’ll still deliver results. In fact, it makes me work harder!
As a millennial, I can also say we are always hungry for knowledge and new challenges. We want to use our strengths in ways that make high impact, but we also want to continue growing in those strengths and find other skills we can add to make ourselves more valuable. A great employer makes those tools and resources available at work through training or by makes it easier to access with benefits like tuition reimbursement.”
Rick Stephan, Marketing Specialist (B2B), Digital at LoyaltyOne: “Employers today need to keep up with the creativity and innovative mindsets of today’s young workforce. As a millennial, it is very important to me that my employer encourages innovation as part of its values, and gives me the time to explore better and more efficient ways I can contribute to the overall mandate of my role, team and department. LoyaltyOne does a great job at allowing me to branch out to learn more about what others are doing, both internally and externally, by utilizing technology that is out there to enhance my work. Companies that embrace this type of culture and encourage collaboration will find that their associates can come together to enrich existing processes and overall business objectives.”
Katie Weintraub, Product Marketing Manager at Epsilon: “For me, it all comes down to the people. Working for and with good people who believe in your talent and support your growth is the foundation of job happiness. I look for an employer that is able to attract and retain good people – particularly in management roles – and actively seeks to position its employees for career advancement through training and development programs. That’s why I came back to Epsilon. I missed the people and the culture of collaboration and opportunity.”
Millennials may get a lot of the media’s attention, but at their core, they seem pretty similar to the Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Great opportunities, work/life balance, feeling valued and challenged, being offered the chance to be innovative and collaborative, a strong culture with great people… I would argue the other 59 percent of Alliance Data’s associates who aren’t millennials would say that these are just a few of the characteristics they look for in an employer as well.
What do you think? Are millennials truly different than the rest of us more ‘seasoned’ employees?
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