Is there something wrong with the millennial workforce?
Why aren’t millennials staying? How to bridge the gap between the millennial workforce and the workplace?
For millennials, everything is connected and they receive information from around the globe in a blink of an eye. Because of this increased possibility for connection and information mainly due to social media and the global network, our geographic locations do not play as significant a part in our culture as they used to. The movements, goals, and dreams become more unified and global.
Millennial goals and dreams are the reality to some of their peers right now, at their age or even younger.
The Millennial Impact Report 2019, research by Achieve, found that millennials are most influenced by their peers and they tend to have their peers as role models. A millennial has another millennial as a role model. Goals are not in the future anymore like they used to be with baby boomers.
When a baby boomer was starting a professional career as a junior lawyer at the age of 25, one might dream of being a partner in a law firm in 15 years, booking the dream holiday to a trendy and exotic destination after 3 years on the job. This is not the case for most millennials. Millennial goals and dreams are the reality to some of their peers right now, at their age or even younger. Millennial dreams are potentially something one could (or even should, one might think) have been achieved already. Being hyper-connected and having peer role models paces up a millennial perception of time.
Millennials are looking to find balance
This circumstance leaves a strain on millennials who now make up the majority of the workforce. Millennials are left with either lot of dissatisfaction and the need to push harder or the desire to get out of the game. This forms a situation where millennials are growing more and more dissatisfied with their jobs and are struggling to find meaning from work. Work has simply not been adapting to these new needs of its major workforce quickly enough. The change has happened fast, and the way the traditional job market operates has been required to evolve from what it was when baby boomers, the previous generation, was the dominating workforce. Anything that millennials feel unfair, unreasonable, or unmanageable might cause them to leave a job. Higher pay is often welcomed, but if the working hours are not suitable the offering will dry out eventually. Millennials can’t be bought.
In a millennial value scale negative offerings weight more than positives ones
In one of our projects at Observ Agency our client, a hardworking team of generation baby boomers, asked us a question: where does millennial dissatisfaction generate? During our discovery project, we found that in a millennial value scale the negatives weigh more than the positives.
Millennials do appreciate higher pay, prestigious titles and advancement possibilities (positive offerings), but if they are not able to work remotely without being questioned, have a true experience of positive impact to the world through work, or have flexibility in leisure time (negative offerings) the typical millennial will soon start looking for new opportunities. Interestingly, there is a lot of research data about millennial motivations, goals, and mindsets everywhere, and yet work-life is still struggling to adapt to this change and new needs. Where does the connection drop?
For millennials, there is a huge gap between expectation and reality
Wendy A. Campione’s article “Corporate Offerings: Why Aren’t Millennials Staying?” shows that baby boomers might think that working long hours is a necessary part of career advancement and proof of organizational commitment. Millennials, on the other hand, are searching for more balance. They do not view the world as ‘go to school, get a job, retire’. It’s more about creating a lifestyle (which includes work) and living that lifestyle till they die (i.e no retirement folks!) — a desire for flexibility and leisure time, such as paid vacation time in turn for delivering results. Many recruiters have become more and more creative in their job offerings, but are still losing their new talents when the months go by. This gap between employer and employee as well as the gap between expectations and reality is a real challenge and something which seems to many to have happened overnight.
Three things to consider, as a decision-maker, if you are struggling with retaining your millennial talent:
1. You need millennials
Millennials are expected to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025. Millennials are more likely to work for themselves than previous generations and by estimation, a significant number will never be employees in the traditional sense — at least if the cultures don’t shift.
2. Millennials need you
Millennials want to work and contribute to society. They aren’t motivated solely by money, rather, they’re driven to make the world more compassionate, innovative, and sustainable. They just don’t always have the means readily available. By creating a warm, trusting, family-like environment to build a career they will be extremely loyal employees.
3. Provide meaningful work and recognition
Being able to answer directly to millennials questions about “why what I am doing is important and matters?” will make millennial employees more invested. Do not underestimate millennials’ need for recognition and affirmation, as studies show that half would consider leaving their current job due to lack of appreciation (American Management Association, “Leading the Four Generations at Work”)
Three things to consider for a millennial if you are struggling with your search for meaningful work:
1. Seek opportunities that inspire you
Think about what excites you and try to seek opportunities that truly inspire you to wake up in the morning. Use more and more of your time doing things that you find purposeful. You can never know where one passionate volunteering can lead you.
2. Follow your own footsteps
We don’t all get excited and passionate about the same things and neither should we, but passion can be contagious. Seeing someone else succeed and be happy with their choice of career might inspire and excite you, but before you start following the same footsteps ask yourself: do you admire their satisfaction, or are you actually interested taking the same path? Discover what drives you personally and go for it. It might help to reflect back to your childhood or teen years — what were you passionate about then?
3. Get to know yourself, really
Know your skills and strengths and think about how they could benefit a specific industry or cause that excites you. People hire and look for skills, and knowing yours will help you to shape the cause you want to work for. If you find a skill needed, which you have not as yet mastered, you can start learning now. And don’t forget your hidden gems — most of us have strengths which we don’t even realize.
Learn more about the millennial workforce and retaining your millennial talent with www.observ.agency
