Well-Being
“To develop the next generation of leaders, every employer needs to be asking: What do our younger workers want from the workplace.”
- Gallup
According to the Gallup Organization, Gen Z and Millenials now make up 46% of the full-time workforce in the United States. A recent survey of what they are looking for from an employer revealed some pretty interesting things.
What young Millenials (b. 1988-2001) and older Millenials (b. 1980-1988) look for from their employer:
The organization cares about their well-being
The organization’s leadership is ethical
The organization’s leadership is open, transparent, and inclusive of all people
They also surveyed some of the older generations as well. What Gen X (b. 1965-1979) and Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964) look for in their employer:
The organization’s leadership is ethical
The organization cares about their well-being
The organization is financially stable
While their number 1 and 2 answers were flipped, it is pretty interesting that workers born from 1946-2001 all valued the same top two things from their employers; care and ethics. Other things I’ve read tell me that the reason they are so focused on those two things is that they are painfully absent from most workplaces. The difference in both group’s third responses makes sense given what we know about the different generations, but I was pretty surprised that the top two answers were the same (albeit in a different order).
So what are we to take from that? In a world where employees have never been more isolated and uncertain about the future, it is likely that the desire to work in a place that cares about their wellbeing, is highly ethical, and is open and transparent is going to continue to increase in importance.
So what is an employer to do? Gallup offers some clarification and some advice.
Well-being - most employers now have wellness programs, but physical wellness is not enough. Gallup defines that wellbeing is made up of five elements (physical, career, social, financial, and community). All those elements should probably be considered.
Ethical - employees expect the people they work for to be actively identifying and solving for ethical blind spots. They also expect the people they work for to care about the lives of people outside the company walls. Do the right things inside our company and regarding the world around us.
Transparent Leaders - most millennials have entered the workplace since the 2008 financial collapse. They’ve seen a lot of fraud and deceit. They’ve been given mixed messages on how good or bad the economy is at any given time. They operate with more of a trust-but-verify approach to management and leadership. WE need to err toward more disclosure than we typically have given.
Inclusion - this sort of goes without explaining. Younger generations of workers are highly sensitive to social justice and issues of inclusion.
While we hear a lot of challenging comments regarding the younger generation of workers, they will soon represent over half the workforce. We all need to get accustomed to the changing demographics and needs of the majority of our employees!
Consider
How do you define the “good old days” regarding the type of employees you had?
Are you ready to admit that we will never see those “good old days” again?
Regarding the needs illustrated by the Gallup survey, what do you need to change in order to better adapt to the new workforce?