Millennials ideas about their jobs are wake-up call to businesses

Millennials are demanding their employers step up their efforts to make a positive impact on society, a recruiter says.

Frog Recruitment’s director Jane Kennelly said it was common for millennials to become disillusioned when they join the workforce.

“Businesses with a social conscience is important to millennials but once they get into the cold hard world of real work, they see profits drive businesses,” Kennelly said.

“The secret is for businesses to offer flexibility and opportunities for career development.”

She said transparency was also key, as was “demystifying” how the senior leaders and decision makers worked.

Deloitte’s seventh annual global millennial survey found less than half (48 per cent) of the millennials felt businesses acted ethically, a big drop from last year (65 per cent).

It showed millennials overwhelmingly felt that business success should be measured beyond financial performance.

They believed business’ priorities should be job creation, innovation, enhancing employees’ lives and careers, and making a positive impact on society and the environment.

However, when asked what their organisations focused on, they said generating profit, driving efficiencies, and producing or selling goods and services— the three areas millennials felt should have the least focus.

Deloitte New Zealand director Lauren Foster said the stats were a “wake-up call” for businesses and were influenced by rapid social, technological and geopolitical changes of the past year.

“These cohorts feel business leaders have placed too high a premium on their companies’ agendas without considering their contributions to society at large,” Foster said.

“Businesses need to identify ways in which they can positively impact the communities they work in and focus on issues like diversity, inclusion and flexibility if they want to earn the trust and loyalty of millennial workers.”

Millennials make up over a third of our New Zealand workforce, making it critical for organisations to tune into their wants, needs and challenges.

About half of the respondents said they would leave their jobs within two years.

Among millennials who would willingly leave their employers within the next two years, over half regarded the gig economy as a viable alternative to full-time employment.

But 24-year-old Courtney is one millennial who has struck a relationship with her workplace she is happy with.

An analyst working in the government sector, Courtney has been in her job since she graduated from university three years ago.

“The most important thing for me is career development, and learning new skills. And then I would have to say pay is next.”

Kennelly said businesses should try to maximise the time millennials spent with them.

“They are agile and flexible workers by nature and there’s a lot they can contribute, they need stimulation.”

She said businesses that recognised how to connect with millennials would succeed going into the future of work.

Article courtesy Stuff.co.nz