What You Need to Know to Hire, Manage and Market to Millennials

The world (and your business) is turning toward millennials as the future power brokers, valued workers and targeted consumers, but what do you really know about them? Sure, they come after GenXers and before GenZers. They are in their 20s and early 30s, but what patterns do they follow?

Gamification company Badgeville set out to learn more about this critical demographic, piecing together research from many sources to come up with a data-packed infographic about millennials in the workplace and at the shopping mall.

Millennials grew up with expectations of higher education, but have also had adapt to the effects of a recession and an economic recovery that continues to stumble along. This means many millennials are over-educated and under-employed.

Millennials Are Homeward-Bound

According to Badgeville’s study, 63 percent have a bachelor’s degree yet one in four has had to move back home because they couldn’t afford to make it on their own.

The average millennial makes $39,700 and carries $45,000 in debt.

While the generation that lived through the Great Depression tended to hoard their money, millennials are spendthrifts. Millennials love to travel, buy clothes and dine out with friends more so than any other generation. Moreover, they’re expected to surpass the buying power of baby boomers by 2018.

Can’t Trust ’em, Can Sell to Them

As big-time shoppers, millennials are faithful to brands but not so loyal to employers. They are ready to jump to other companies more often. The cost of this turnover: $24,000 to replace each millennial worker. Nevertheless, they’re highly coveted in Silicon Valley.

[Related: 5 Millennials-in-the-Workplace Myths Busted]

[Related: Why Managers Need to Stop Worrying and Love Millennials]

[Related: Millennials in the Valley: Inside the Gen Y Mindset]

Millennials have also made social networking a part of their business and personal lives; in fact, the blurred line between business and personal is a hallmark of the millennial. For companies, this can be a huge problem. More than half of millennials won’t take a job that bans social media, 71 percent don’t always obey social policies at work, and 40 percent think it’s OK to blog about workplace issues.

For more about millennials, check out Badgeville’s infographic:

Tom Kaneshige covers Apple, BYOD and Consumerization of IT for CIO.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn. Email Tom at tkaneshige@cio.com