By Frances Mao
(Australian Associated Press)
Nearly half of all young Australian workers plan on quitting their jobs in the next two years.
And four out of five millennials say they won’t stay on beyond five years – with Australians more antsy than their global counterparts.
The findings from the latest annual global Deloitte Millennial Survey show millennials to have little employer loyalty because of a lack of leadership opportunities and workplace flexibility.
Sixty nine per cent of the Australian millennials wanting to leave their employer in the next two years were unhappy with how their leadership skills were being developed.
Any sense of workplace loyalty was steeped in opportunities for progress up the corporate ladder, workplace flexibility and importantly, a sense of purpose beyond profit.
“The millennials we interviewed globally place great importance on working for an organisation with innovative leaders who offer meaningful work,” Deloitte Australia chief operating officer David Hill said.
In other words, millennials want to be on fire for their jobs, and actively engaged in the future of the organisation.
Mr Hill said that good employers listened to and valued the ideas and energy of their younger staff, and that a failure to do so would likely see their millennial workers straying.
For those who do want to stay, it’s the strong sense of corporate purpose and leadership opportunities which keep them on.
Born after 1982, millennials are in their 20s and early 30s and make up a significant proportion of young professionals.
By 2025, they will account for 75 per cent of the global workforce.
Perhaps most worryingly for employers, the survey of 7,700 young professionals worldwide, found that their values around what they wanted from a job wouldn’t change with time.
