Millennials express little loyalty to employers

By Kim Jae-won

Millennials expressed little loyalty to their employers, with two-thirds expected to leave their workplace in five years, a survey from a global consulting firm showed Friday.

Millennials refers to a demographic group born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

Deloitte said it surveyed 7,700 Millennials born after 1982 in 29 countries. It found that 66 percent hoped to have moved on by the end of 2020. The participants have a college or university degree, are employed full time and predominantly work in private-sector organizations with more than 100 employees.

“This remarkable absence of loyalty represents a serious challenge to any business employing a large number of Millennials, especially those in those markets ― like the United States ― where Millennials now represent the largest segment of the workforce,” Deloitte said in a report.

It said Millennials have little loyalty to employers because they feel underutilized, believing they are not being developed as leaders.

“Of great significance in the current survey results is the finding that 71 percent of those likely to leave in the next two years are unhappy with how their leadership skills are being developed ― fully 17 points higher than among those intending to stay beyond 2020,” according to the report.

But Millennials expressed positive views of business in the survey. Their opinions on business motivation and ethics showed they remain upbeat about business’ potential to contribute to society. Almost nine in 10 believe that “the success of a business should be measured in terms of more than just its financial performance.”

But market watchers said the survey failed to reflect the tough realty Millennials face in the labor market. Government data showed Korea’s youth unemployment rate for those between 15 and 29 reached a record high of 9.2 percent in 2015, up from 9 percent a year ago. It is far higher than the average unemployment rate, which reached 3.6 percent last year, up from 3.5 percent in 2014.

Observers said the real unemployment rate for youth is far higher than official data, considering the government regards part-timers to be employed. Statistics Korea said a part-timer who works more than one hour a week is included in the group of the employed.