Negotiating salary and benefits with millennials

- You've found the perfect young person, and now, you're ready to negotiate the salary. You might think it's only about the money, but with millennials, it's not just about the cash. You see, 64% of millennials say it's a priority for them to make the world a better place. So, don't underestimate the power of your company story and non-cash items when you're negotiating with a millennial. So, here are four tips that you can use. First and foremost, create goodwill. Now, I remember I had an early boss tell me, "I don't just want you to come to work here. "I want you to be thrilled to come to work here." Now at the time, I only had two weeks of vacation. I was going from a very big company to a much smaller company, and so, my boss had the flexibility to offer me three weeks of vacation. That one gesture was the biggest deal in the world to me. It said, you're not just a number to us. We want you to be happy. And that extra week of vacation, that cost them nothing because I was in sales so I was still responsible for hitting my number. That leads me to the second thing. Use those non-cash incentives. If you offer flex time or extra vacation or the chance to do one afternoon a month at a charity, bring it up. Tell your millennial hire, "I'd like to go over the entire package with you." Even if the young person is just thinking about the salary, your role as a leader is to help them look at the opportunity in a more holistic way. Now, the third thing, this is really important, you need to spell out the true payoff of any benefit plan that you might have. Here's what I mean. It's easy to say, "You know, we have a 401K-matching program." But that might not mean that much to a 20-something. They may have an MBA, but they probably haven't thought through the emotional impact of compound interest. So, show them a chart. Tell them, "If you save $2,000 a year "and we match it by $1,000, "over time, you will have $100,000. "What would you do with that kind of money? "That's the kind of cash reserve "that can give you the freedom to travel around the world." You want them thinking about the impact. Now, the fourth thing is when you're negotiating, give them time to think about it. Don't try to close the deal on the spot. There are two reasons. One, it's always a good negotiation practice to let the other person walk away from the table and think. The second reason, if they're a millennial, they're probably going to want to call their parents. Yes, it's true. A recent Wall Street Journal article referenced the increase in millennial parents who are involved in their kid's careers. Now, before you start to say, whoa, I never got my parents involved, think about this. Wouldn't it have been nice to have an older, wiser person giving you backstage advice? Now sometimes, their parents go a little crazy and they might be the kind that actually call you, the boss. This happens more than you might think. If it happens to you, be polite, but tell the parent, "You know, I need to deal with Susan on this. "This is her job." And don't hold it against the millennials if their parents call you. Even people my age cannot control their parents. The way you negotiate with a millennial on salary and other things, it sets the tone for your entire working relationship. You want to keep it positive and you want to show that potential employee that you are excited that they are coming on board. And if it doesn't work out, try to remember this. The millennials are the biggest demographic in the workforce, so that means there's a lot of them to choose from.