Generation Y: How to Retain Them - Part IV of VIII
This is the fourth in an eight part series of blog articles. To read the series from the beginning, start at Part I or download our free best practices white paper.
Work-Life Balancing Act
Sharon Jayson, in an article for USA Today, wrote that employers need to make changes in order to accommodate their Gen Y employees. According to Jayson, the average Millennial employee expects to leave his first full-time job in under three years.
Lack of work-life balance accounts for a large part of the job hopping. Millennials want work that is team oriented, challenging, and interesting. They also want work that allows them to maintain an active social life. Some of the forerunners of change are Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Deloitte & Touche, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). All three of these organizations have made significant changes in their policies and procedures to accommodate their Millennial employees. Close to 25 percent of Enterprise’s management team both domestically and overseas are mid-20s or younger, according to Jayson.
Because they understand the Gen Y need for flexibility and life outside of work, PwC encourages its client service teams to discuss everyone's work/life commitments at the beginning of each engagement. In addition, the Firm promotes flexibility through a variety of programs, including flexible work arrangements, "Flexible Fridays," where staff can take some partial or full Fridays off each summer after working their standard hours, and by encouraging the use of the Firm's generous vacation and time off policies and programs.
Deloitte & Touche has this to say about work-life balance on their site:
Our work/life and flexibility programs have earned the organization recognition as one of the best places to work. Cutting edge programs help our people to effectively manage their personal lives while finding fulfillment in their careers.
Career services director McClenahan says that this desire for work-life balance is nothing new. “They all want to have some balance between their jobs and their private lives.” He added that students pursuing careers in law, medicine, or accounting must accept that these career fields demand long hours.
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