If you want to retain your millennials, ditch the office hierarchy

Millennials don't stick around because they know they will have slower career progression by staying put. People, in general, are more amenable to collaboration within the boundaries of their work than answering to controlling micromanagers. Quelle surprise.

Hierarchy is a red herring. Hierarchies aren't a problem in and of themselves. Hierarchies that decide everyone below certain boundaries should be treated like fry cooks are. I guess you could call the opposite "challeng[ing] lines of management and overcome hierarchical bureaucracy" but that framing just makes me think you have something to sell.

It's not like millennials are more anti-establishment than generations before them (they're frighteningly obedient). It's that people with a decent work life don't realize how bad the "professional" jobs taken by the generation can be.

Also, ditching hierarchy risks royally pissing off older workers that have worked for years to ascend, and in some cases these are the very people whose knowledge is indispensable to the functioning of the company. Finally, at some point these millennials will get older, and some may stay at a company for years. How then to reward loyalty if hierarchy is ditched? Isn't loyalty worth rewarding via hierarchy given the cost of hiring new people and having them learn the business?