Employers alert! Hiring millennials? Know what most of them want and how you can improve productivity

Are you an employer, looking to hire youngsters? A recent survey will give you an insight into what your prospective employees want. And, how you may make the best use of their talent and abilities.  At a time when companies have started to realise the importance of retaining top talent, employee satisfaction is emerging as a key priority for HR professionals across the country. No company can become successful by ignoring this aspect these days. A survey by Shine.com - 'Future of Flexible Working Survey' -  has identified the major needs and pain points of new-age Indian professionals, providing in-depth insights about the changes that organizations can make in their HR policies to improve employee satisfaction across the board.

Understanding the need for flexible working

According to the survey, 60% of survey respondents wanted flexible working options to maintain optimal work/life balance. Avoiding traffic was highlighted by 13.88% of the respondents as a key reason for a flexible working policy, while 6.37% wanted to save on the cost of their commute by working from home.

The survey highlights the various flexible working preferences that Indian professionals demand. Over 39% of employees said that they would like their organizations to offer flexible working hours every day. Other options such as work from home are also important to employees, but only 6.36% are looking for this option every day. 

Evidently, a majority emphasized to rather have flexible working hours. In fact, it was revealed that 30.98% would like the option to work from home just once or twice a month. Adopting a flexible working culture could not only help organizations improve their employee retention, but also attract talent to drive new recruitment, shows the survey. Over 77% of employees think that organizations should offer flexible working options such as work from home.

More and more millennials prefer to strike a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives. This was reflected in the survey as 70 per cent of the total respondents fell into the age bracket of 22-30 years. 

The survey highlights that not just IT-based profiles, other roles such as Accounting, Finance, HR, and Admin are also catching up with modern workforce trends and offering flexible work options. 

The survey found that 43% of employees in India already have access to flexible working options. However, over 52% said their organization might not have the adequate culture to provide flexible working options. 

Challenges to working remotely

The survey revealed that 19.83% of employees felt that their bosses and colleagues have perception issues and do not realize how much they really work from home. Without any visibility and appreciation for the work they are putting in from home, such perception issues can bring down employees' morale significantly.

Another challenge that 22% of respondents faced while working remotely was the inability to stop working, even after office hours. While working from home, employees might end up checking emails, attending calls or completing tasks even after the stipulated office hours. 

Since millennials have expressed their desire to maintain a healthy work/life balance, it becomes even more important for HR teams to create more conducive policies around flexible working and bring down such instances of prolonged work hours, the survey said. 

As many as 17.56% of respondents cited the lack of coordination with colleagues as a major challenge of working remotely. Factors like slow data connections or weak phone signals can cause major communication roadblocks for employees working out of the office. 

The survey was conducted with professionals across functional areas including Accounts and Finance, Production, Human Resources, and Sales/BD. 77.81% of respondents were working in full-time jobs, while 74.24% were working in Indian companies.