Millennials Are Not Job Hoppers

The other day I read a statement from Gallup that said Millennials are job hoppers. I do believe this generation of people has been changing jobs more frequently than my generation did, the Baby Boomers, but I struggle with statements made from a surface level.

Having been around recruiting and employee retention for a few decades I have found that people in the entry level generation and the exiting level generation are really not that much different. Different things drive them and motivate them, but employee retention basically boils down to a few simple things.

Gallop themselves stated that most people leave a job because of their immediate boss or the management structure that affects them, not for money or other reasons. In my career I have witnessed that people treated like they matter, allowed to use their strengths to help the organization and feel trusted and appreciated rarely can be recruited away.

Before we accept this generalization on the behavior of this generation, maybe management should look in the mirror. A question I believe we all need to answer is why people would want to become long term employees in our organizations. I suspect if the pollsters look beyond the surface they would find people changing jobs because they did not feel part of a team and were not allowed to use their strengths to become the best they could be.

Employee retention is a hot topic, but how many companies actually invest in senior staff that is solely focused on what they call their “greatest resource”; their employees. We have staff for our other major resources; facilities, finance, inventory, etc. However, I have not seen many leadership positions solely focus on recruiting, hiring and retaining the type of people than can make the organization great.

Like it or not, Millennials and generations to follow will be running our businesses 20 years from now. Let’s learn how to motivate and retain them so we can build the great teams we need for the future of our economy and not blame them for our lack of leadership.