With millennials representing the largest generation in the labor market, employers are now faced with declining employee loyalty. In fact, the 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey reported two in three millennials expect to leave their employers by 2020.
But why are young workers leaving their jobs within two to three years? What can employers do to retain millennials in the workplace? The survey, which focuses on “winning over the next generation of leaders,†assessed nearly 7,700 millennials representing 29 countries around the globe to explore the factors that underlie the loyalty challenge and offered suggestions, based on respondent responses, that could help earn that loyalty back.
Deloitte compiled an in-depth overview of loyalty challenges and potential solutions. Here are a few key points about the survey:
- Lack of loyalty may be a sign of neglect. More than six in ten millennials (63%) say their “leadership skills are not being fully developed.†Regardless of gender or geography, only 28% of millennials feel that their current organizations are making ‘full use’ of the skills they currently have to offer.†Overall, millennials believe businesses are not doing enough to bridge the gap to ensure a new generation of business leaders is created.
- Millennials are not impressed by the buzz around a business. Millennials judge the performance of a business on what it does and how it treats people. For example, among those saying business “means more than a healthy balance sheet,†more than six in ten would reference the quality of its products and services (63%) or levels of employee satisfaction (62%). A majority (55%) focus on customer loyalty/satisfaction. Innovation and efficiency also rank highly.
- Values guide where millennials work and what assignments they will accept. To better understand the values of millennials, the survey asks, “What are the most important values a business should follow if it is to have long-term success?” Their response is that businesses should put employees first, and they should have a solid foundation of trust and integrity. Customer care and high-quality, reliable products also ranked relatively high in importance. Attention to the environment and social responsibility were also mentioned by a significant number of millennials. This emphasis on personal values continues into the boardroom; the rank order of priorities does not change for senior millennials.
- Millennials would prioritize the sense of purpose around people rather than growth or profit maximization. Beyond a good income, being the best possible place to work, improving the skills of the workforce, providing services/goods that make a positive difference to people’s lives and generating and supporting jobs was also noted.