Even though millennials may be flooding the STEM (science, technology, engineering and medical) fields, that doesn't mean that their opinions on everything from diversity to benefits should be the governing factors in hiring and management policies.
So says a Modis study of more than 1,500 STEM decisionmakers, which points out that there's quite a bit of variation in opinoin among segments of the STEM workforce in everything from age concerns and gender disparity to their choices in benefits.
Decisionmakers say that opportunity for advancement is the top benefit for attracting talent, followed closely by salary. Among the different industries included in the study (health care or social assistance; science/medical; professional, scientific or technical services; and manufacturing), just 39 percent of those in health care/social assistance agree workers are concerned with out-of-the-box benefits, compared to 62 percent who agree they are concerned with salary and total compensation.
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Overall, respondents ranked benefits in order of importance:
- The opportunity for advancement
- Salary/raise opportunities
- The ability to innovate and create new products, projects or ideas
- The ability to create change or have a voice within the company
- The opportunity to work on a world-changing product
- Flat structure/limited hierarchy and bureaucracy
When asked more specifically about which benefits they think appeal most to employees or potential employees, however, the overall results were flexible hours (33 percent); working remotely (19 percent); paid long-term maternity/paternity leave (12 percent); unlimited vacation time and tuition reimbursement (tied at 11 percent); onsite child care (6 percent); and unlimited onsite food and sabbaticals (tied at 3 percent).
Flex hours came out on top in tech, at 34 percent, followed by 33 percent in science/medical and 31 percent in engineering. Working remotely was most popular in tech, at 25 percent, followed by engineering (18 percent) and science/medical (at 15 percent). In engineering, 13 percent went for maternity/paternity leave, while 12 percent of science/medical and 10 percent of tech chose it. Tuition reimbursement was biggest for the science/medical field, at 14 percent; 11 percent of engineering followed, as did 8 percent of tech.
Unlimited vacation time was most popular, at 12 percent, for science/medical, with tech coming in next at 11 percent and engineering last at 9 percent. Other benefits were lower on the priority list.
Approximately 70 percent of decisionmakers say they plan to offer bonuses in 2017, and close to three-quarters plan to expand their employee base in 2018. However, hiring managers also say that hiring is harder due to a lack of of soft skills, especially teamwork and communication.
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