Bentley University’s Millennial Preparedness research study raised a number of issues about millennials in the workplace. Each week the PreparedU Project, in a series entitled Generational Voices, presents opinions from millennials and non-millennials alike on a wide variety of these issues. These views may contrast or coincide, but each provides perspective designed to enhance insights resulting from the PreparedU data.
The Millennial Point of View
Maggie McAteer, Advertising Supervisor
In a world where the motto “With just a click of a button” is demonstrated daily, millennials have joined adulthood and the workforce simply seeking the instant gratification they have become accustomed to.
Success, recognition and knowledge should all come soon after setting foot in your new company’s open floor plan, right?
I’m not sure.
But I do know that patience, a virtue that seems to have escaped my generation completely, is a driving force behind the lack of loyalty possessed by those who have most recently started their careers.
Job hopping is a well-known game to millennials. My last job of almost four years was considered “a good run” in my industry, and my millennial peers strongly encouraged me to seek new opportunities within the advertising community.
Similar to many young people my age, leveraging my salary and escaping what I began to consider monotony were the primary reasons I put company loyalties aside and jumped ship.
Our generation seeks change, new experiences, constant excitement and, above all, we never want to feel the curse of boredom.
Unfortunately for us, the reality of a successful career involves a great deal of routine and dedication in order to move forward.
The lack of millennial loyalty and my generation’s widespread acceptance of job hopping has not gone unnoticed.
Developing office culture and at-work life has become a primary initiative for many businesses. Companies like Google and Facebook, for example, try to build lasting relationships with employees by providing amenities and opportunities that break the mold of any traditional work place. And, understanding millennials’ need for change and excitement, these companies have built experiences into the office culture to divert any sense of boredom or monotony. In return, the push for strong office culture has helped retain talent and made recruiting easier.
Having said this, for the majority of millennials, free meals and spa days at the office in Silicon Valley are simply not the reality. And that’s why, once we feel that we’ve served our time at our current desks, we’ll fire up the Indeed app and seek adventure in our next office space.
Another Millennial Point of View
Casey Hagerman, Operations Manager
The average millennial looks for a few specific things from his or her workplace:
- A fair wage (often comparable to friends and other workers in their field/age group)
- Flexible hours/vacation time ultimately, but not necessarily right away
- Support for creativity/personalization/improvement in the workplace
- Personal/professional knowledge and growth
- Health benefits/subsidies
- Acknowledgement of good work
- Knowledge they’re making a difference
- Stability
These values may not be deal breakers, or makers, for all millennials. But, speaking for those specifically working in the Bay Area and other metropolitan areas, we often see friends and colleagues receiving these incentives, or feeling very fulfilled in the companies they’re in for these reasons.
The typical millennial is part of an ideals-driven group that has grown up believing that it deserves to feel content — at the very least — in the workplace. We strive for proper compensation and the ability to enjoy our lives outside of the office in exchange for hard work and dedication.
Stemming from this notion, millennials feel loyal to employers who acknowledge us as more than just cogs in a wheel. We want to be with employers who offer some of the incentives listed above as well as an environment that supports both our personal and professional lives. In a perfect world, we would also feel fulfilled in the work we do.
The Gen X Point of View
Allison Wedell Schumacher, Author of Shaking Hands with Shakespeare: A Teenager’s Guide to Reading and Performing the Bard, Corporate Communications Manager
To Stay or Not to Stay — That Is the Question.
I vividly remember sitting in the St. Olaf College chapel during freshman orientation week, listening to then-president Mel George telling us what to expect, both from college and from that mysterious region popularly referred to as “the real world.” George told us we could expect to change careers — not just jobs, but careers — an average of eight times in our lives. To a girl who had grown up in one house, and whose father still worked at the job he got upon graduating from med school, this was a bit daunting. I told myself then and there that I had every intention of getting a job and sticking with it . . . just as soon as I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up.
But by the time I finished graduate school, jobs were floating from the sky like maple leaves on a crisp fall day (weren’t the ’90s lovely?) — which was how I ended up as a salaried editor with nothing more than an undergrad degree in English and an innately decent feel for proper grammar. I didn’t even know proofreaders’ marks. Heck, I didn’t even know there were proofreaders’ marks. But it paid the bills while I did what I really wanted to do (and what I got my BA and MFA in), which was act professionally.
I’ll admit, acting seems an odd choice for a girl who promised herself she’d stick with one job. When you’re working the professional theater circuit, you have a new job every three months or so — that’s if you’re talented and lucky. But I did it — and loved it — for several years. There was even a year or two in there when I didn’t even have to have a day job, because acting was paying all the bills.
Just as an exercise for this blog, I did something I’ve never done before: I counted the jobs and careers I’ve had since college, and was rather amazed at the numbers I arrived at. To the best of my recollection, I’ve had about 30 jobs spanning five careers: acting, editing, writing, public relations and communications management.
But here’s the strange part: A few months ago, I found myself in a conference room in Seattle, being applauded by my colleagues for my 10th — yes, 10th — anniversary at my current job.
So why have I, a Gen-Xer, expected to change jobs like I changed hairstyles in the ’80s, stayed with one company for a full quarter of my life?
Loyalty? Yes — I get to do work that makes the world a better place, with smart, funny, good people. Security? Yes — a mortgage and a child were two things I didn’t have back in my theater days. But mostly it’s because I finally found something I love to do as much as I loved acting — and, believe me, if that hadn’t been the case, I’d have moved on long ago.
So what’s the parting line here — the profound, John Hughes–esque revelation delivered by a Brat Packer walking into the sunset? Don’t judge a woman by what the preceding generation thinks her generation will do.
This is as true for me as it is for my several millennial colleagues.
Are millennials and Gen-Xers loyal? Yes. But we’ve struck a delicate balance between loyalty to employer and loyalty to self. I wonder what the next generation will do?