The economy of the 21st century does not trade high on company loyalty. Millennials are not devoted to one employer, and don’t plan to stick around for long.
For college graduates, 64 percent plan to change jobs by 2020, similar to millennial graduates in 28 other countries, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte, a consultancy.
Millennial departure isn’t because they’re flaky, demanding, or lazy. “This is partly due to failure on employers’ part to groom younger workers for advancement,” Bloomberg BNA noted.
When millennials don’t have a path for advancement, they don’t plan to stick around. If employers want to keep them, they’ll have to offer flexibility, mentorship, and skills training. Ironically, millennial desire for flexibility and training is a leading reason that employers report dissatisfaction with millennials.
If a company isn’t willing to compromise, millennials vote with their feet and find another job. Employers might call that attitude ungrateful, but for millennials, it’s an entrepreneurial desire for advancement and better working conditions.
Relatively speaking, the report notes that American millennial graduates are the second-least loyal of developed countries surveyed; 71 percent of millennials in the United Kingdom plan to leave their employer within the next five years. That follows a trend of Anglo-influenced countries where millennials are ready to jump ship. South Africa and India both had 76 percent of millennials looking to leave their employers — the only developing country to report a higher rate was Peru at 82 percent.
The high rates of dissatisfaction should be a hopeful note, however. “Millennials believe businesses are not doing enough to bridge the gap to ensure a new generation of business leaders is created,” the report stated. That might be a sign that millennials aren’t content to follow, but to lead. Entrepreneurship has declined in America, and probably won’t recover until millennials reach their late 30s. Before they can succeed at starting businesses, they’ll require training and experience. If employers start investing in young workers as a way to increase retention rates and boost productivity, that could benefit the economy in the long-run.
Employers shouldn’t worry that millennials will flee once they receive training, either. The Deloitte report noted that the most loyal millennials agreed that they were “actively encouraged to aim for leadership roles” and the company had “support/training available to those wishing to take on leadership roles.”
Boomers running businesses might complain about disloyalty and millennial demands, but millennials will continue to look elsewhere for the employers who recognize the value of investing in them.
