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SAN DIEGO—CovalentCareers, Inc., a career development company for new health care professionals and the largest provider of new graduate health care professional career resources, has released its 2020 Optometry Millennial Workforce Report, which is now available for free for eyecare professionals. Based on data collected from 503 optometrists and optometry students born since 1981, this report covers the values and opinions of Millennial and Gen Z optometrists and what those values mean for optometry hiring, the company said.

“It was important to us to look beyond the ‘Millennial’ buzzword and avoid a simplistic analysis of this demographic,” said Matt Geller, OD, CEO of CovalentCareers. “The oldest Millennials are 39 this year, and that means that many of them have been impacting the work force for over a decade. With that in mind, we segmented data into three five-year age cohorts and tracked how the youngest Millennial ODs are bringing new values and changes that separate them from older Millennials.”

Findings shared in the 2020 Optometry Millennial Workplace Report include the result that the youngest ODs and optometry student—those born between 1992 and 1997—were the only group where the majority was willing to give up PTO in favor of a higher salary. This group was also the most interested in opportunities to socialize with their coworkers both during and after work.

In contrast, the oldest group of ODs (those between the ages of 34 and 39) were least likely to accept a job that required them to work weekends, and was most invested in finding a job that allowed them to be near their family.

Outside of work-life balance, a major theme emerging from the report was an overriding concern among younger ODs for financial stability. While older Millennials were willing to take a job without a 401k, a majority of ODs born after 1992 said that they would not accept a job where a 401k retirement plan was not offered.

“Practices looking to hire ODs should keep all of this in mind when putting together job descriptions and thinking about ways to retain young talent,” said Dr. Geller. “Candidates are able to be more choosy about jobs, and they’re also better educated on the kinds of compensation packages they can expect. With the optometry labor market as tight as it is now, employers who understand what their employees and candidates expect from them are at a clear advantage.”

The full report is free to download here.

CovalentCareers offers scalable talent acquisition and staffing solutions to health care employers, and job placements, education, and mentorship to new health care professionals. The company also provides large-scale inbound marketing and advertising solutions to enterprise clients.