Four surprising facts about Millennials at work
December 9, 2015 by Staff
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KPMG and the Boston College Center for Work and Family surveyed 1,100 young’ns (including employees at three global insurance companies) to find out more about how Millennials navigate their careers. Here are four surprising results.
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1. Job-hopping isn’t that common.
Nearly 60 percent of respondents say they plan on staying in their roles for some time. The most common reasons for leaving would be to make more money, move forward in their careers, work in a field they’re more interested in and pursue better work-life balance.
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2. They’re not entirely blinded by tech.
“Young adults continue to commonly make use of personal connections when they are searching for jobs,” the report says. “In spite of living in a virtual age, the old adage that there are three important things that matter in job search – networking, networking, and networking – seems to hold true.”
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3. They’re not all eco-warriors and social justice champions.
When selecting an employer, Millennials look for career advancement opportunities, salary, benefits, job security and work-life balance. Rated, on average, as least important of 16 factors is work that contributes to society.
The study’s authors admit it may be difficult for young adults to find meaningful work at the start of their careers, the results “raise some questions regarding the conventional wisdom that Millennials are ‘the most socially conscious generation since the 1960s,’ at least with regard to our specific sample.”
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4. The apron strings have been cut.
Of 15 factors to measure career success, survey respondents ranked meeting their parents’ expectations as dead last. Thirty-six percent said parental expectations were not important at all.
“While much has been written about “helicopter parents” and the undue influence they have on Millennials, it seemed clear from our survey results that parental influence is not of great importance to the participants’ view of success.”
This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.