For benefits managers and HR professionals who value planning for the future, cracking the puzzle of how to appeal to millennials can be challenging.

This up-and-coming generation of workers, generally defined as having been born between 1984 and 1996, prizes independence as few other recent generations has. But they will still go to work and, for the most part, work for someone else. Data about their habits, preferences and attitudes toward work and money continues to emerge.

A study by the wellness plan provider KEAS sheds more light on what motivates this generation at work. KEAS surveyed employees who work for companies that offer some type of wellness plan, and who participate in those plans. The respondents were asked a range of questions about their health, wealth, goals and workplace values. (Nearly eight of 10 survey respondents were female, suggesting that perhaps more young women than men tend to participate in workplace wellness plans.)