“Millennials change their jobs as often as they change their pants,” quips the cynic. Although it’s a bit hyperbolic, it’s true. According to studies, millennials switch jobs more frequently than any other generation.
Six in 10 millennials are open to new job opportunities.
Over half of millennials (ages 18-34) have already held 2–3 jobs during their career.
Unfortunately, this job-hopping generation poses serious challenges for companies. First, the exorbitant costs of high employee turnover. Second, the increasing difficulty for a company to play/execute a long-game strategy when employees are playing musical chairs.
And these issues aren’t becoming easier. In fact, it’s becoming harder because companies are increasingly reliant on millennials. Currently, millennials make up half of the US workforce, and they will be 75% of the workforce in 2030. With such a monopoly on the job market, the success of your company relies on your ability to attract, hire, and maintain these employees.
So how do businesses successfully attract, hire, and keep their millennial employees?
What Millennial Workers Want
Many companies see millennial job-hopping as symptomatic of a larger generational flaw: entitlement, impatience, ennui, etc. Don’t go down this rabbit hole. Even if this young generation is flawed, focusing and lamenting those flaws won’t help your company.
Instead of asking “what’s wrong with millennials?” companies need to ask themselves: “what do millennial workers want?” Millennials are different from the employees you’ve grown accustomed to working with in the past. And because they’re different, millennials value, want, and need different things. Or, as the Yahoo News article says, “Millennial Workplace Expectations Are Changing.”
Why Millennials Quit Their Jobs
Look at why millennials quit their jobs. This video and infographic, a collaboration between Jive and the New York Post, illustrate the common reasons these workers leave a job.
These are the deal breakers for millennials.
Convincing Millennials to “Settle Down”
To get millennials to quit playing workplace Tinder and commit to your company is simple.
Know your audience. Know what they want, need, and value. Then give it to them. What do millennials workers want? Jive Communications surveyed 2,000 millennials (18–34- year-old American adult office workers) to find out what they value in a company.
What’s your company’s sick/personal day policy? Is your technology up to date (by millennial standards)? If not, you need to focus on giving this new generation of workers what they value. Because if you don’t focus on what millennial workers want, you can bet they’ll find someone who will.
