For millennial employees, money can’t buy company loyalty
When it comes to staying with a company for the long term, a new generation of workers is motivated more by diversity, inclusion, and flexibility than it is by money, a new survey by Deloitte has found.
The findings come from the Deloitte annual millennial survey, which canvassed opinions on work from 10,455 millennials (defined in the study as those born between January 1983 and December 1994) across 36 countries.
The survey found that 43% of millennials envision leaving their current jobs in the next two years, with only 28% seeking to stay beyond five.
The results also show that the proportion of those planning to leave within two years is rising: the current gap between the two groups is 15 points, more than double last year’s seven points.
The report suggests that although financial rewards and workplace culture are important factors in businesses' attracting and retaining millennial workers, the chances of their doing so are improved when businesses and their senior management teams are diverse, and when the workplace offers higher degrees of flexibility.
Discussing the findings, Michele Parmelee, global talent leader at Deloitte, said that “when we examined responses from those who plan to leave within two years and those who plan to stay at least five years, we saw that pay may be the number-one item that attracts a millennial but diversity, inclusion, and flexibility are the key to keeping them.”
This year’s survey also reveals a clear, negative shift in millennials’ feelings about business’ motivations and ethics.
In particular, less than half of millennials believe businesses behave ethically (48%) or are committed to helping improve society (47%). These figures are down from 65% and 62% last year, respectively.
“[Millennials] don’t believe business shares their values, they don’t think business is doing enough to prepare them for the future, and they don’t feel business is sufficiently committed to improving society,” said Parmelee.
Discussing how ethical businesses can encourage commitment in their workers, Mirco Tonin writes that “empirical evidence shows that organizations that support a social cause have an advantage in motivating employee effort.”
He continues that “this is an element in favor of corporate philanthropy or other forms of corporate social responsibility in the private sector. If such practices are deemed beneficial for society as a whole, they should be actively promoted by policymakers.”
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