Millennials Believe Business Can Do More
Josh Bersin
Global Industry Analyst, I study all aspects of HR, business leadership, corporate L&D, recruiting, and HR technology. ✨
Deloitte just published the results of a massive survey of millennials (8,000 people in their 20s and early 30s from 124 countries) and the results are inspiring. This cohort of people is now taking over leadership positions in business and government around the world and their values, expectations, and beliefs are important to all of us.
A few key findings:
Millennials believe business can do more.
While most Millennials (74 percent) believe business is having a positive impact on society by generating jobs (48 percent) and increasing prosperity (71 percent), they think business can do much more to address society’s challenges in the areas of most concern: resource scarcity (68 percent), climate change (65 percent) and income equality (64 percent). Additionally, 50 percent of Millennials surveyed want to work for a business with ethical practices.
Government is not doing enough.
Millennials say government has the greatest potential to address society’s biggest issues but are overwhelmingly failing to do so. Almost half feel governments are having a negative impact on areas identified as among the top challenges: unemployment (47 percent), resource scarcity (43 percent), and income inequality (56 percent).
Organizations must foster innovative thinking.
Millennials want to work for organisations that support innovation. In fact, 78 percent of Millennials are influenced by how innovative a company is when deciding if they want to work there, but most say their current employer does not greatly encourage them to think creatively. They believe the biggest barriers to innovation are management attitude (63 percent), operational structures and procedures (61 percent), and employee skills, attitudes, and (lack of) diversity (39 percent).
The research also found that nearly 70% of millenials want to start their own business, demonstrating how important innovation and creativity has become. These are people who want to make a change and they want to join organizations that let them drive change. They are not old-fashioned "organization climbers."
Organizations must nurture emerging leaders. Millenials are ready to lead.
Over one in four Millennials are ‘asking for a chance’ to show their leadership skills. Additionally, 75 percent believe their organizations could do more to develop future leaders. Our research shows that programs to build leadership among millenials are one of the weakest areas within corporate HR today.
Millennials are eager to make a difference.
Millennials believe the success of a business should be measured in terms of more than just its financial performance, with a focus on improving society among the most important things it should seek to achieve. Millennials are also charitable and keen to participate in ‘public life’: 63 percent of Millennials donate to charities, 43 percent actively volunteer or are a member of a community organisation, and 52 percent have signed petitions.
Bottom Line: Pay Attention
We all need to pay attention to these findings. This group of young people look at business in a new way: they expect our businesses to innovate, drive value in many ways, and deliver value to society in many ways. The results are inspiring in every possible way.
(Click here to view the findings in more detail.)
Josh Bersin writes and researches corporate talent, learning, leadership, and HR best-practices around the world. He is Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and founder of Bersin by Deloitte. You can follow Josh here or on twitter josh_bersin or at www.bersin.com .
Other Recent Articles by Josh Bersin:
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president at young liberians volunteer interfaith international org
10yi am interesting to do business with i am liberia monrovia west africa
VP, Senior Human Resources Business Partner
10yIt is imperative that company's start to invest more time and training dollars in developing future leaders. Millenial's are an emerging power in the workforce and with that comes the introduction of new ideas, untapped markets, the bridging of the diversity gap, and the ability to see a company's future earning potential based on today's demand. A younger demographic in the world is coming of age, and businesses need to invest in these individuals to ensure the company's success continues, or in some cases improves.
Sr. Solutions Architect
10yIncome equality is the key....why bother doing a survey? Just read Marx and Engels. It looks like the millenials are not very capable to function on their own. Hhence the nanny approach.
Timshel
10y"Organizations must nurture emerging leaders. Millenials are ready to lead." This is it. Not to get into too much detail, but seeing freinds' talents not be nurtured at their companies is one of the top reasons they leave and/or are unhappy at their jobs.
Liberty Hill Precision Firearms
10ySounds like the same flowery language that we saw a decade ago and even before that. These "Millennials" that believe business can do more and government can do more are the same kids that expect mommy and daddy to be a constant ATM machine. Sure they think that a medium sized or large corporation can do more because right now they are not the hook for that risk or decision. They are not responsible for P&L yet. And when they are will they have the same attitude when they make a mistake and just say "oh well mom and dad or in this case the shareholder and the employees will just pay for my mistakes." That is what I see and fear. Sure they all thing anything is possible that is great - but that must be followed up with reason and logic and understanding all consequences. As for believing government can do more - we have seen generation after generation since the greatest generation think that government holds the answer to all and should be wielded like a tool but the reality is that tool is very dangerous and quickly becomes unmanageable. Just my 2 cents.