The word ‘millennial’ is currently being thrown around to describe the generation born between 1982 and 2002 and the connotations are not especially flattering. Millennials are lazy, entitled, and narcissistic; unfortunately, data is not on our side. According to research conducted by the National Institutes of Health narcissism levels are rising amongst millennials, in fact those scoring higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 was 58% higher than in 1982. But give us a break, who isn’t partial to a flattering filter every now and then. And as for entitled, we are a generation who is facing unprecedented competition amongst unrealistic expectations; to quote Tyler Durden from Fight Club: “We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact.” Although the less said about Fight Club the better, obviously.
Fictional anarchists aside, the fact is that a lot of millennials are fed up; a survey conducted by Deloitte found that two-thirds of millennials have expressed the desire to leave their current company by 2020. This apparent lack of loyalty could present a problem, those aged 16-35 make up over a quarter of the UK population; high staff turnover is expensive and can be inconvenient. This lack of loyalty seems to be born, in part, from feelings of neglect.
Millennials are feeling dissatisfied at the opportunities for development that their employers are offering, according to Deloitte: “…Millennials believe businesses are not doing enough to bridge the gap to ensure a new generation of business leaders is created. Of great significance in the current survey results is the finding that 71 percent of those likely to leave in the next two years are unhappy with how their leadership skills are being developed”. In order to maintain millennials companies therefor should look to invest more in their development.
Millennial or not, if you are looking for a new opportunity please take a look at our job vacancies; we would love to help you find the perfect role!