Even though millennials may be flooding the STEM (science, technology, engineering and medical) fields, that doesn't mean that their opinions on everything from diversity to benefits should be the governing factors in hiring and management policies.

So says a Modis study of more than 1,500 STEM decisionmakers, which points out that there's quite a bit of variation in opinoin among segments of the STEM workforce in everything from age concerns and gender disparity to their choices in benefits.

Decisionmakers say that opportunity for advancement is the top benefit for attracting talent, followed closely by salary. Among the different industries included in the study (health care or social assistance; science/medical; professional, scientific or technical services; and manufacturing), just 39 percent of those in health care/social assistance agree workers are concerned with out-of-the-box benefits, compared to 62 percent who agree they are concerned with salary and total compensation.