Yes, but not for long is the millennial tagline. They keep quitting but the reason is not gumball machines or the ping-pong table.
Highlights
- Professional life or personal, millennials have a problem committing to a place, person or project for too long.
- Millennials are increasingly job hopping than the previous generations but that doesn’t make them guilty.
- Millennials are also being strategic when it comes to love, saying no to traditional marriage in record numbers.
Do you remember the time when YouTube was an unconventional career option? Like it was a crazy concept that someone would choose making content over the internet as a career option. Around the same time, boomers were complaining that millennials are spoilt for choices and cannot ‘settle’ for anything. Everyone brushed it off as boomers being boomers, but was there some truth to it? Can millennials not commit to anything? Why do millennials have so many commitment issues?
Well, yes. It’s official. Millennials cannot commit!
It’s so bad that millennials are known as the ‘job-hopper’ generation. The term is quite self-explanatory. Forbes actually went on to write an article for employers on how to retain millennials as employees.
Watch: For Millennials, No Job Will Ever Be Good Enough
Millennial Commitment Issues: Hypothesis and Evidence
Data says that 21 percent of millennials changed jobs within the past year. This is more than three times the number of non-millennials who hopped jobs. Most millennials don’t plan on staying on their jobs for more than a year. They are always looking for new opportunities. Gallup found that 60 percent of millennials say they are open to a different job opportunity.
It’s not you, it’s me
Most millennials don’t feel engaged or attached to their jobs. They just see their jobs as a source of income or a step on the ladder to success. But millennial commitment issues in professional lives are not all their fault. Research suggests that it is the employers to blame. Companies are failing to engage them in their workplaces. Many millennials might not be willing to leave or change jobs but their jobs might not be compelling enough for them to stay. This also hurts companies in other ways as disengaged employers lead to a lack of passion in work.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Another reason might be that millennials have understood that workplaces need them as much as they need the work. They consider themselves equal to their companies rather than displaying servile traits like previous generations. Hence, they care little about job security and long-term benefits. This was also the generation that was wrecked by the financial crisis. Hence, the trust in the financial system and corporate promises runs low among millennials.
Sorry, no Rings
The fall in popularity of marriage came about with millennials reaching adulthood. One of the reasons behind this was the fear of commitment within millennials. It will be wrong to just blame them as fickle-minded. There are layers of reason here.
Millennials had boomers as their parents. Most of them grew up in a strict household and only got to experience romantic relationships on their own terms after hitting adulthood. So, here we have college students looking for love with no reference for it and soon to be hit by online dating. The splurge of online dating created a real rift for millennials. They could now choose their next partner within clicks than putting up with someone who’s presence becomes upsetting in their life. The high acceptance of casual relationships and the popularity of hookup culture really made it easier to be on the move than stay.
The ones who made it into a serious relationship couldn’t dare to move further. The older millennials didn’t have the financial stability to afford marriage or even a house. So, it just made more sense not to tie the knot.
Also, now, women in workplaces were very common. Women were out there earning, making their career and refusing to settle down as their mothers did. Most of the factors behind millennials’ commitment issues have got to do with the time period. But we Gen Z have got to thank them for bringing over the change for us. Or maybe it’s more of a mess now?
