Because they are the first generation to have grown up entirely with computers at their disposal, Millennials are highly computer literate and, therefore, a great resource for training older, less computer literate employees how to perform basic functions. This is a task that they have probably performed in the past with their parents and grandparents. Employers can satisfy the desire of Millennials to feel like they’re making a significant impact in their organization by giving them the responsibility of teaching computer skills to older employees. Generation Y are very civic minded and like to help out; similar to the Freedom Riders who traveled to the southern United States to participate in the Civil Rights movement, they want to do what they can to make a positive impact on the world around them.

Teamwork isn’t a problem for Generation Y. They’ve been working in teams all their lives, from junior high school through college. They work well in groups, but they also want the independence to work on their own. This sounds impossible when, in fact, it isn’t. Group projects often require one person to be in charge of one aspect of the overall project. By giving a Generation Y employee a specific task to complete while simultaneously staying within the group’s parameters for the project, two purposes are served.

Generation Y is a generation of people who will work hard to get the job done, but at the end of the day, they want to be able to relax with friends or make it home in time to have dinner with their families. Millennials work to live rather than live to work like the stereotypical Baby Boomers. Work-life balance is important to Gen Y employees and any organization that is unwilling to accommodate this should expect a fairly high turn over in their Gen Y workforce.

Gen Y employees anticipate changing jobs several times before age 30, said Erin Baker, a career counseling intern at Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh. One reason for the frequent changes could be lack of job satisfaction. Responsibility and flexibility are important to Millennials, said Baker. She added that they “like to have impact across departments.” While this trait is admirable, it may not be practical in every organization. Where such cross training is possible, take advantage of the opportunity in small doses so that neither valuable human resources nor limited budgets are overextended.