By Steve Moran

Actually this is not true . . . in fact just the opposite is true, but it is something I hear in various forms way too frequently.

Several weeks ago I came across an article titled  “Mythbusters: Millennials and Gen Zers Aren’t that Different, According to this Data” that inspired this article.

Here Are Two Key Findings . . .

Both of which will likely startle you . . .

    • “Both Gen Zers and Millennials reported a similar (and higher) levels of job satisfaction as compared to their older peers.”
    • Gen Zers and Millennials rank “pay” and “benefits” as the #1 and #2 most important factors when choosing a job”. – Purpose not as important as the myth suggests

I want to add my own,not survey-based, but common sense, myth-busting . . .

    • Every single organization out there has lots of slackers, not very good team members who are boomers, but since most high-level leaders are still boomers we have a hard time admitting that a bunch of our own suck.
    • Mostly, good or bad team members are made by the quality of the organization’s culture and attitude toward their team members. You, as a leader, are mostly responsible for how good or bad your team members are.
    • To the extent that millennials are more demanding, mostly what they are asking for will make senior living organizations better.

Not Much Different, If At All

Here are the top 5 things Millennials want when picking a job:

    1. Pay
    2. Benefits
    3. Job Location
    4. The values/mission of the company
    5. The ability to grow their career

At least to me . . . not a single one sounds unreasonable or entitled.

Being A Smart Employer

Being a great employer . . . the employer of choice is really simple, but oh so hard to implement. It requires that you really care about your team members, their needs and wants. But this is really hard because often they don’t know what they want, and you don’t know what they want and they don’t all want the same thing and . . . and . . . and . . .

And last of all, we get so busy that we don’t spend the time we should, building those great relationships.

Millennials . . .

Want the same thing you want or at least you wanted when you were young . . .

    • To have a nice life
    • To have some significance in the world
    • To have some security
    • To be trusted
    • To be listened to 
    • To have some fun

Maybe it’s just me, but I am excited that when the time comes for me to live in senior living, I will be in the hands of a bunch of millennials.