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The perception that the new generation of workers, the ‘millennials’ who entered the workforce after July 1, 2000, are disloyal and will reject traditional work practices is a myth, according to a new global report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The ‘Millennials at work’ research is part of PwC’s ‘Managing tomorrow’s people’ series and is based on survey conducted in September of over 4,200 graduates in 44 countries, including 22 from Cyprus, who were due to start work for PwC.
The findings show that millennials expect to be predominantly office-based, work regular office hours and have a small number of future employers.
In contrast, the 12th annual PwC CEO Survey to be published next year will show 61% of CEOs say they have challenges recruiting and integrating younger employees.
Millennials said they were open to overseas assignments, with Indian graduates showing the greatest appetite for working overseas (93%). In all, 80% want to work internationally. While only 38% cited English as their first language, 83% expect to use English at work. French and Spanish follow.
Millennials view technology as key to socialising and networking, with 85% as members of a social networking site such as Facebook.
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.
Additionally, 86% would consider leaving an employer whose CSR values no longer reflected theirs – Argentina (94%), the US and Brazil (both 92%) are home to the most idealistic graduates. An employer’s policy on climate change is seen as important by the majority of graduates globally (58%).
Training and development is the most highly valued benefit for millennials in the first five years of their career, with a third of respondents electing this as their first choice benefit (aside from salary). This is three times higher than the proportion that chose cash bonuses.
Despite their CSR expectations, only 7% cited time off for charity or community work as a top three benefit. Over half of the sample (57%) believes they would personally fund their retirement, with only 5% stating the government/ state would fulfil this role and 17% nominating their employer.
