With millennials set to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025, organisations around the world are scrambling to understand the needs and motivations of an age group which has wildly different viewpoints and work ambitions as previous generations.

Often labelled as great disruptors (as well as being disrupted themselves), millennials have entered work wanting more than just a job that delivers a paycheque. They want a purpose to what they do, and to work for organisations that offer great environments and cultures to be part of. 

But the challenges of retaining millennial talent aside, with unemployment rates in the US and UK below 4%, there’s also a challenge for businesses to attract the top younger workers in the first place. 

So, here are four ways to help attract millennials to your organisation. 

Show career progression pathways

Millennials are a highly-educated and career-hungry generation, looking for quick success when entering the workforce. 

The challenge for organisations looking to retain their best workers from this age group face is ensuring that there are enough career progression opportunities in place for their entire workforce. 

But when it comes to attracting the very best talent on the market, it’s important that these career development pathways are in place. 

In fact, research from Penna found that over 65% of employees say that a lack of career development with their current employer would spark a job hunt.

If this is the key reason why they’re leaving one employer, they may be unlikely to then join an organisation that still offers very little in the way of professional development - unless that starting offer comes loaded with a loftier job title and pay to begin with.

Offer flexible working opportunities

Flexible working and the opportunity to work remotely from time to time are now critical perks which millennials are looking for when searching the job market. 

Research from Powwownow found that 70% of millennials want flexible working options, a number that is increasing year on year. 

Meanwhile, over a third would forgo a pay rise to secure a flexible working arrangement. 

Wanting to work flexibly ties into the millennial generation’s key drive to find work-life balance. This generation is more checked-in for more of the time than ever before, and with the lines between work and personal lives blurring, it’s important for this age group to find work that ensures progression opportunities, whilst also maintaining time and space for non-work life to take place.

Showcase a culture of recognition

Millennials have been found to be the least engaged generation in work, as well as being the most actively disengaged with their jobs. 

Gallup has found that just 29% of millennials are engaged, compared to 33% of baby boomers, Meanwhile, 55% are disengaged and 16% actively disengaged compared tp 48% and 19% for baby boomers respectively. 

Recognition, therefore, has two important roles to play. 

First, millennials are the generation that wants and require the most frequent recognition of their work and efforts. In fact, 76% of millennials according to Office Team would quit their jobs if they felt underappreciated. 

Employee recognition also has a key role to play in creating engaged workforces too. Whilst the wider engagement picture and the different areas that create engagement are wide-ranging, creating recognition-rich cultures has been shown to be one of the primary avenues by which organisations can look to engage workers in their work, create more loyalty and deliver steady hits of motivation, too. 

Prove social credentials

For many millennials, having a job is about more than making money. Their job is their identity, and because of this, they want to work for organisations that prove they have a wider purpose beyond making a profit. 

Research as found that 75% of millennials would take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company, whilst 76% would consider an organisation’s social and environmental commitments before deciding where to work next, once critical needs such as working environment and pay requirements had been met.