MILLENNIALS WHY ALL THE FUSS? DETERMINING IF MILLENNIALS ARE DIFFERENT FROM OTHER GENERATIONS VIA ANALYTICS

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1 MILLENNIALS WHY ALL THE FUSS? DETERMINING IF MILLENNIALS ARE DIFFERENT FROM OTHER GENERATIONS VIA ANALYTICS OVERVIEW Ok, I m going to come right out and say it I m a millennial... I think. Depending on who you ask and where they set the cutoff, sometimes I m in and sometimes I m out. But for the purposes of this discussion, I ll go with the 1982 cut and I ll be a millennial. However, according to my boss, You re not really a millennial. Why does he say that? Because I must not fit the stereotype that is portrayed on blogs and articles across industries. When I look around at my fellow millennials, I think, who of them does? Sure, we all know those people who we would characterize as entitled, tech-savvy, narcissists but I know people like that of every generation. I had to figure out why there s so much hype. So, like any good scientist, I needed facts and data not blogger opinions, not consultant papers to back up something to sell real research, facts, and data. By: Hannah Spell, Ph.D., Director of Research and Analytics To start, I ve done my own firsthand research with our SMD clients. I ve conducted roughly five studies in the past six months to deter-

2 mine if the millennial population differs from the rest of the employee base. In every single one I ve delivered the same results. Millennials aren t statistically different from other generations in terms of what they experience and what they want out of work. In particular, I examined if there were differences in what drove engagement for millennials versus other generations, key factors related to voluntary turnover, and differences in new hire expectations. None of these studies revealed any real differences between the millennials and all others. Specifics follow. SMD S FIRSTHAND RESEARCH Engagement Drivers In an analysis of the drivers of engagement by generations (baby boomers, Generation Xers, and millennials), I found the following: The top five statistically significant drivers of Engagement were the same across all three generations. The top two drivers for each generation were the same and in the same order of strength of relationship (largest beta weights). Those were Senior Management and Mission. The remaining three drivers were the same for each generation, but with a slightly different priority order when examining size of beta weights from largest to smallest. One notable difference was that in this specific sample, management was the least important factor in millennials level of engagement among these five factors. Baby Boomers Generations X Millennials Senior Leadership Senior Leadership Senior Leadership Mission Mission Mission Management Management Teamwork Teamwork Occupational Safety Occupational Safety Occupational Safety Teamwork Management Turnover Drivers In another series of analyses, I examined the key factor in whether an employee left the organization after taking the employee survey. I found the same top key driver of turnover regardless of generation, meaning although the key driver differed by client, the key driver was the same for all generations in that organization. For example, for one client the top driver of voluntary turnover across all three generations was Work Life Balance. In another case, the top driver of voluntary turnover across all three generations was Accountability. Finally, in the third analysis the key driver was Job Fit. The point here is not to figure out what drives turnover in a general sense that differs by client, organization, and the content of what is measured on the survey. The takeaway is that for each organization I examined, the work experiences that were key factors in employees decisions whether to remain with the organization were the same no matter which generation they belonged. Again, similar to the results for engagement drivers, it is important to note that when you look further down into the secondary drivers you can begin to uncover some nuances between groups, but the top priorities are the same. The question to then ask is whether it is worth the time and expense of digging into slight differences for one segment of the employee population.

3 New Hire Experiences Finally, I ve recently examined whether new hires differ in their initial experiences based on their generational cohort. Here, I looked to see whether millennials scored significantly differently than their older generational counterpoints. I found that although there were slight differences in some scores, they were not large enough to be significant with the exception of the Onboarding category. It seems that new hires largely had the same expectations and evaluations of their initial tenure in the organization. New Hire Category Boomers & Gen Xers Millennials Difference Onboarding Management Engagement Mission Teamwork Compensation EXTERNAL RESEARCH In addition to the firsthand research we ve conducted at SMD, I also wanted to see what the scientific community was publishing on the topic. From an academic perspective, the issue seems to be that research methods aren t truly examining generational differences. Research is simply looking at differences in age groups at one point in time. 1 Fair enough. We almost always see studies on generational differences that just split the data by age group and compare differences in the metric of choice. In the above SMD research, that s exactly what I did in all our studies examined differences between age groups. In effect, these are age studies, not generational. While the difference between an age comparison versus a generational study is an important point from an academic research perspective, I do not believe it is critical in an applied setting. As HR or organizational leaders, we are more concerned with differences between generations right now, as they currently function not comparing them to each other at the same age (e.g., when they were all 25). Why? Because what we are really getting at when we ask about millennial differences in a practical sense is if we need to treat them differently when we hire, manage, develop, and work to retain them. Similar Wants & Needs On the whole, most workers want good management, opportunities for advancement, and to feel a connection to their work. These aren t new phenomena. The work experiences that drive employee satisfaction (old school engagement ) have not changed since before the baby boomers. 2 Perhaps the differences lie in how they express and achieve these goals. Millennials use social media (but so do other generations). In fact, the age group with the largest percentage of LinkedIn users is over Additionally, one study showed that baby boomers spent more hours a week consuming online content than Generation X or millennials. 4 Millennials have smart phones -- so does my grandma. Some say millennials expect and provide near-term responses to text and correspondence. Why are we complaining about that again? I love a prompt response! Oh yeah because I m a millennial. In short, many of the new experiences we see in millennials are not isolated to this younger generation, but rather are cultural changes that may start with the age group most likely to jump in and embrace the change, but these cultural changes are rapidly becoming a part of everyone s daily lives, regardless of generation.

4 New Entrants to the Workforce In all seriousness, the concerns with millennials are not totally invalid. They just need to be considered for what they are; these are concerns or factors that are more associated with young adults entering the workforce, regardless of their generation. We saw almost the exact same conversation around Generation X 10 years ago. They were called slackers, cynics, and job-hoppers, much like we hear about millennials. However, once they got their footing in the working world we found that they were less slacker and more innovator, creating their own career paths and bucking their stereotype. A study published by TIME magazine in 1997 purported that: forecasters, salesmen and pundits many the middle-age parents of perplexing offspring are acknowledging that their first X rays of the new generation were distorted. The baby boomers of the media and marketing world were desperate to explain a generation they didn t understand, so they reduced Xers to a cartoon. 5 I think we are seeing the same thing happen with millennials. Every time a new generation starts entering the workforce, the more tenured generations have to explain away what they don t understand. Unfortunately, the first inclination is usually to complain that they are not measuring up and don t have as much to offer as those who came before them. When you consider young adults versus more experienced, older adults, of course they will have a lot to learn and will likely see the world a little differently than their more mature counterparts. But the world for them is different and their views and perspectives may just provide a breath of fresh air if we just give them a little benefit of the doubt. They ll figure it out just in time to start complaining about the next generation to come along.

5 1. Gentile, B., Wegman (Wood), L. A., Twenge, J. M., Hoffman, B. J., & Campbell, W. K. (2015). The problem of generational change. In C. E. Lance & R. J. Vandenburg (Eds.), More Statistical and Methodological Myths and Urban Legends. Routledge, New York. 2. Wegman, L. A., Hoffman, B. J., Carter, N., Twenge, J., & Guenole, N. (In press). Placing Work Characteristics in Context: A Cross-temporal Meta-analysis of Changes in Work Characteristics Since Journal of Management. 3. Who Uses LinkedIN? Accessed on August 24, The Generational Content Gap: How Different Generations Consume Content Online [Infographic]. Accessed on November 22, Hornblower, M. Great Expectations of So-Called Slackers. TIME. June 9th, SMD is the only firm in the survey and analytics industry to offer results-based pricing. By utilizing our expertise in data integration, surveys, and the most advanced analytics, all delivered through our patented reporting and action planning platform, we ve maintained a remarkable track record of improving business outcomes (e.g., voluntary turnover reduction) for our customers. Learn more at and contact us at info@smdhr.com Eastfield Road, Suite , Huntersville, NC info@smdhr.com