What Millennial Employees Really Want from HR Software

If you were expecting a trickle of millennial employees entering the workforce, you were wrong. It’s more like a tidal wave.

As of last year, millennial employees officially comprise the largest generation in the U.S. labor force. It’s no wonder so many small business owners and HR departments are diving deep to understand what makes this generation of workers tick. Spoiler: it’s not avocado toast, a kombucha tap in-office, or even unlimited PTO.

Growing up with technology and the internet at their fingertips, hard-working millennials expect accessible information as well as meaningful communication across organizations. That goes double for the HR software you choose.

Fast access, transparency, around the clock communication– these may be some of the values you’d expect from a millennial employee. Turns out, that’s also how those workers want to engage with your HR policies and the software used to engage in and regulate those policies.

So if you’re planning on appealing to that new wave of millennial talent, here’s what they’re looking for:

Make benefits simple.

This has to be your number one priority when choosing between HR software. Millennial employees need to understand what benefits and health insurance packages they’re signing up for, in an intuitive, transparent, useful platform to assist in tasks to get from point A to point B with no headaches — i.e. bringing tasks like gathering insurance coverage information, tallying paid time off days taken, and reconfiguring direct deposits under one roof.

This sends a strong, coherent message to millennials that you’re actively trying to demystify benefits. And that’s powerful.

Requesting paid time off and sick days should be easy.

This goes for both millennial employees and millennial managers. If it takes more than a few clicks and a couple minutes to request a vacation day and to have that approved on the managerial side, it’s taking too long– all parties involved are losing time.

Small businesses might regard real-time PTO requests as “nice but unnecessary,” though it actually relates back to what most millennial employees value most. A recent study revealed that Millennial employees tend to value work-life balance over both wealth and leadership opportunities. Generous paid time off policies and a smooth PTO request process are both means to demonstrate that your company values their work-life balance.

Prioritize a mobile experience.

Millennials have very little tolerance for phone trees to track down their secure benefits information and don’t want to rely on mailed documents as much as their parents and grandparents when much else these days is ready on-demand.

A constant in their lives (and being honest, all of our lives) is their cell phone, so if they can access their benefits and insurance documents securely from a mobile app, they will be satisfied. In fact, a survey conducted by Zenefits found that the difference between having smartphone access to HR functions widened heavily based on generation. While 29% of non-millennials said it was important to them to have access to medical, dental, or vision benefits info on their mobile phone, that jumped to 54% for millennial employees.

As millennials grow in numbers and gain experience in the workplace, it’s becoming increasingly more important to provide HR software that is intuitive, easily accessible, immediately satisfies PTO requests, and full-time, and mobile.

When selecting a solution, it’s always best to consider all your employees. But with a growing cohort of millennials moving into the workplace, make sure whatever you choose matches what they value most. Investing in a well-executed solution will pay off for years to come.