Millennials and Gen Zs are sometimes mocked for their youthful idealism, including the creation of well-meaning buzzwords such as safe space and trigger warning. However, this idealism could serve businesses in good stead. For instance, it could help boost their retention of millennial talent, according to a new report from Deloitte, the professional services network.
The report was based on a survey of 10,455 of millennials across 36 countries and of 1,844 Gen Z respondents in Australia, Canada, China, India, the UK and the US. Just to clarify, the first group consisted of people born between 1983 and 1994 while the latter group was born between 1995 and 1999.
Looking at the millennials, the report revealed that 43% intend to quit their job within just two years, an increase of 5% from the previous year. Moreover, only 28% would stick to a gig beyond the five year mark. Interestingly, it seems as if this propensity for job-hopping is bigger among Gen Z workers as only 61% would leave their job in two years and only 12% would stay beyond five years.
When looking for reasons why young people were prone to swap jobs so often, the researchers noticed that it could be because of their youthful idealism. While making money is important for any company, being too focused on profit could prevent businesses from retaining talent. On average, 51% of millennials thought their employers prioritised profit but this jumped to 57% of those that were more prone to jump ship.
This highlights a wider trend where 75% of millennials believe companies focus on their own agenda instead of benefiting wider society, with 62% citing that businesses have no ambition beyond making money.
Commenting on the findings Punit Renjen, CEO of Deloitte Global, said: “These cohorts feel business leaders have placed too high a premium on their companies’ agendas without considering their contributions to society at large. Businesses need to identify ways in which they can positively impact the communities they work in and focus on issues like diversity, inclusion and flexibility if they want to earn the trust and loyalty of millennial and Gen Z workers.”
If businesses are to retain their young and upcoming workers a different emphasis on what their core values are is certainly needed to attract new and young employees. 
