Photo credit Christopher Michel

We’re digging through the many insights of PSFK Labs‘ 2015 report The Future of Work ($495). Among its four major themes and sixteen minor themes, we recognize many that our clients and colleagues face each day in their businesses.

For us, one of the signature workplace questions of this decade is how best to integrate the new generation of professional workers into teams and companies that may span three generations (even four when customers are included)? This question touches on many key functions like recruiting, staffing, learning & development, recognition, promotion, innovation, collaboration, communication, and on and on.

We recommend reading PSFK’s full report. In the meantime, if you’re responsible for attracting, developing, managing and retaining millennial talent, here’s ten facts to consider in your work:

1. “Millennials see collaboration as an analog to formal education. Ability to collaborate on key projects is as important as support for advanced degrees/additional academic training.” – Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace”, 2011.
2. “Almost half of recent college graduates wish they had done more internships or worked part-time to be successful in the workplace.” – Source: Rugers Hedlrich Study, “Unfulfilled Expectations: Recent College graduates Struggle in a Troubled Economy”, 2011.
3. “74% of Millennial workers are either actively searching for a new job or open to new opportunities.” – Source: CareerBuilder, “Candidate Behavior Study: The Myth of the Passive Job Seeker”, 2012.
4. “93% of Millennials want a job where they can be themselves.” – Source: MTV, “No Collar Work Study”, 2012.
5. “50% of Millennials say their managers don’t understand the way they use technology at work.” – Source: “Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace”, 2011.
6. “89% of Millennials agree that ‘it’s important to be constantly learning at my job’” – Source: MTV, “No Collar Work Study”, 2012.
7. “Feedback should be: constant, immediate, a lot of it, and constructive.” – Source: Dr. Elisabeth Kelan, London Business School, “The Reflexive Generation: Young Professionals’ Perspectives on Work, Career, and Gender”, 2009
8. “75% of Millennials want a mentor.” – Source: MTV, “No Collar Work Study”, 2012.
9. “’Loving what I do’ outranked salaries and big bonuses, as millennials are looking for something besides money. The vast majority (83%) are ‘looking for a job where my creativity is valued.” – Source: MTV, “No Collar Work Study”, 2012.
10. “95% of Millennials are motivated to work hard ‘when I know where my work is going’.” – Source: MTV, “No Collar Work Study”, 2012.