Managing tomorrow’s people – global and Irish survey reveals what the millennial generation want from work

The perception that the new generation of workers, the ‘millennials’, are disloyal and will reject traditional work practices is a myth, according to a new global report ‘Millennials at work – perspectives of a new generation’ published by PricewaterhouseCoopers today.

The findings show that - while global opportunities and robust corporate responsibility are critically important to the millennials - they expect to be predominantly office-based, work regular office hours and have a small number of future employers. The research therefore suggests that some companies should re-assess their efforts to attract and retain younger workers to ensure they are channelling their investment effectively, particularly in the light of current cost pressures. The importance of this is reinforced by findings from the 12th annual PwC CEO Survey, to be published later this month, which show 61% of CEOs say they have challenges recruiting and integrating younger employees.

The ‘Millennials at work’ research is part of PwC’s ongoing ‘Managing tomorrow’s people’ international research series and is based on survey responses from over 4,200 graduates including Ireland. Individuals in 44 countries, including Ireland, were asked to respond anonymously about their expectations of work and careers.

Key findings from the research which includes Ireland are:

  • The research shows that in Ireland the most highly valued employee benefits are flexible working hours and greater holiday allowances followed in third place by training and development. This is in contrast to the global finding where training and development came out on top, valued three times higher than cash benefits. However, almost all respondents globally and in Ireland agreed that working with strong coaches and mentors is an important part of their development;
  • Millennials expect job mobility and want the opportunity to experience overseas assignments – For example, globally 80% of survey participants (Ireland: 88%) would like to work abroad and 70% (Ireland: 26%) expect to use languages other than their first language during their career;
  • Corporate responsibility is critical to attracting and keeping the new generation of workers. For example, globally 88% (Ireland: 75%) of millennials said they will choose employers who have corporate social responsibility (CSR) values that reflect their own while 86% (Ireland: 88%) would consider leaving an employer if CSR values no longer matched their expectations;
  • Millennials do not expect to reject traditional working practices. The majority (100% for Ireland) expect some element of office based work and only 3% expect to work mainly at home/other locations. Most expect to be working mainly regular office hours (global: 66%; Ireland: 43%) with only 18% (Ireland: 2%) expecting mainly flexible hours;
  • The notion of portfolio careers is not a reality for this group. For example, 75% of global participants (Ireland: 81%) believe they will have between two and five employers in a lifetime;
  • Only 7% (Ireland: 3.2%) of the sample said that time off to do community/charity work would be one of the top three benefits they would value over the next five years;
  • Just over half of the sample globally and in Ireland believes they will personally fund their retirement with only 5% (Ireland 0%) saying their retirement would be funded by the Government/State and 17% by their employer (Ireland:12%);
  • Almost half of global and Irish millennials envisage a 2020 world where China, India and Russia will have more economic influence than the US and Europe. Over a third (Ireland: 31%) believe that companies will be more influencial than governments by 2020;
  • 61% of CEOs said they have difficulty attracting and integrating younger workers.

Mark Carter, Partner, PwC Ireland HR Services, commented:

"With the global economic downturn presenting organisations with serious immediate challenges, businesses need to work even harder to balance short-term pressures with long-term objectives. This means acting now to manage the demographic changes that will impact their ability to compete effectively.

“Eventually, in many parts of the world, fewer younger people will be working to support a significantly larger older population, making people supply a critical factor for business success and potentially changing the power dynamic between employer and employees.”

Global mobility and working practices
Respondents were very open to overseas assignments, with Indian graduates showing the greatest appetite for working overseas (93%). 88% of Irish graduates said they wanted to work overseas with the preferred destinations beign predominantly the US and Australia. Graduates from the Netherlands showed the least interest in working abroad (62%). An overwhelming majority (80%) of all respondents want to work internationally.

Nearly three quarters (70%) of respondents expect to use another language at work. While only 38% cited English as their first language, 83% expect to use English at work. French and Spanish follow with 19% and 14%, respectively. This compares to Ireland where only a quarter (25.5%) expect to use another language at work.

Henk van Cappelle, PwC’s European HR Services leader, continued:

“Globalisation and opportunities in emerging markets mean mobile workers are an increasingly valuable asset to organisations. The millennials’ desire to work overseas and use other languages could mean greater movement between countries at more junior employee levels, which would decrease some of the cost burden associated with incentivising senior executives to work abroad.”

Mark Carter commented:

"Irish employers cite expansion into new markets to make up for the lack of domestic opportunities as one of the biggest business opportunities, as well as challenges, which they now face. The clear willingness of Irish graduates to work abroad should be capitalised on by more Irish employers seeking to exploit new markets in the coming years."

Interestingly, while international travel is high on the agenda, home working and flexible hours are not. Just 3% of respondents expect to work mainly at home and only 18% expect to work mainly outside regular office hours. In Ireland, one in three respondents expect to work mainly in an office and 43% expect to work mainly regular office hours. Three-quarters of global respondents believe they will have between two and five employers in their lifetime (Ireland: 81%). These findings appear to debunk the image of the millennial characterised by lack of loyalty and avoidance of traditional working practices.

Technology and information sharing
The research confirms that millennials view technology as key to socialising and networking, with 85% as members of a social networking site such as Facebook. Irish graduates are equally active in this regard (83%). Furthermore, half of Irish participants said they had 2 active email accounts.

Van Cappelle added:

“The millennials’ adeptness with technology brings benefits in terms of knowledge sharing, and savvy companies are already taking advantage of this by replicating Facebook-style sites in-house. But companies need to manage the reputational risks associated with this open and instant style of communication.”

Over a third (40%) of respondents globally are comfortable about giving employers greater access to their personal information in the interests of personal and business security. In Ireland the figure is somewhat lower, with only 16% of the millennial respondents feeling comfortable about giving access to such information, while almost a quarter of respondents are undecided about this issue. Additionally, two-thirds of millennials (56% for Ireland) would embrace the provision of personal services - such as housing, food and regular health appointments - by their employer. This raises interesting questions about whether the lines between work and home will blur in future.

CSR expectations
Tomorrow’s workers expect their employers to behave responsibly, with 88% stating they will seek employers with corporate social responsibility (CSR) values that reflect their own. This compares with 75% for Irish graduates.

Additionally, 86% would consider leaving an employer who’s CSR values no longer reflected theirs – Ireland (88%), Argentina (94%), the US and Brazil (both 92%) are home to the most idealistic graduates in that respect. Indian respondents were least likely to leave (66%). An employer’s policy on climate change is seen as important or very important by the majority of graduates (globally 58% and 51% for Ireland).

Reward and personal development
Training and development is the most highly valued benefit for global millennials in the first five years of their career – with three times as many choosing such opportunities over cash bonuses. Almost all respondents (globally: 98%; Ireland: 100%) stated that working with strong coaches and mentors is important to personal development.

In Ireland however, the most important benefits were flexible working hours followed by greater holiday allowances with training and development ranking only in third place.

Mark Carter said:

“Most businesses only provide coaches and mentors to senior employees, but providing this kind of one-to-one development to new graduates could help ease the sometimes bumpy transition from university to the workplace, while breeding goodwill and engagement at a relatively low cost. Instead of reacting to cost pressures by cutting training budgets, organisations should ask if they are spending where it will be most appreciated and bring the greatest benefit to long-term business health.”

Despite their CSR expectations, only 7% cited time off for charity or community work as a top three benefit (Ireland: 3.2%).

Henk van Cappelle commented:

“The millennials want many of the same things from work as the generations before them so companies do not need to tear up their people strategies to manage the new generation of workers. What is new is younger people’s ability to mobilise more quickly into another job if their expectations and ideals are not met. To manage this difference, companies need to think creatively about reward strategies, using metrics and benchmarking to segment their workforce in a similar way to how many companies segment their customer base.”

Carter concluded:

“We think CEOs are struggling with millennials because they need more information about what drives them, and because they need to adapt their traditional approaches to attracting and integrating employees. This means focusing on the things that millennials really want, such as training and development. Articulating an attractive employer brand and clearly stating corporate responsibility values will also be critical.

“The millennials’ expectations bring opportunities as well as challenges - those organisations that adapt fastest will be best placed to succeed in good times and bad.”

Analysis of the ‘Millennials at work’ research will inform the PwC ‘Real options for business’ report due to be published later in 2009.

Notes to editor

For further information, materials or to download the full ‘Millennials at work – perspectives of a new generation’ report, please visit www.pwc.com/managingpeople2020

Millennials refer to individuals who entered the workforce after 1 July 2000.

‘Millennials at work – perspectives of a new generation’ is based on 4,271 survey respondents in 44 countries. The research was conducted in September 2008. The majority of respondents were new graduates who were due to start work for PwC.

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