Tech, Media & Entertainment and Telecom (TMT) most desirable industry to build skills
Economic confidence improving overall: driven by North America/Mexico, China, India, UK, Spain and Netherlands.
Business should focus on people and purpose, not just products and profits in the 21st century according to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s fourth annual Millennial Survey. This and other findings from the survey suggest businesses, particularly in developed markets, will need to make significant changes to attract and retain the future workforce.
Deloitte Global surveyed tomorrow’s leaders, from 29 countries including India, on effective leadership, how business operates and impacts society. Millennials overwhelmingly believe (75 percent) businesses are focused on their own agenda rather than helping to improve society.
“The message is clear: when looking at their career goals, today’s Millennials are just as interested in how a business develops its people and how it contributes to society as they are in its products and profits,” said Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte Global. “These findings should be viewed as a wake-up call to the business community, particularly in developed markets, that they need to change the way they engage Millennial talent or risk being left behind.”
“Managing Millennials is one of the trending issues globally and organisations are relooking their HR strategies to include inspirational practices to create best connectivity with this segment. In India, in order to take advantage of the huge demographic dividend, increased focus on nurturing talent and skill development is required,” said Deloitte in India spokesperson.
A gap exists between what Indian Millennials would prioritize if they led their organizations and where they believe their senior leadership teams are currently focused. Millennials would place far greater emphasis on making a positive contribution to society, employee well-being and employee growth & development’. Conversely, compared to what they would personally prioritize, Indian Millennials perceive their leaders to be too heavily focused on meeting short-term financial goals, their own personal income / rewards and improving efficiency / productivity.
More than half (53 percent) of the Millennials aspire to become the leader or most senior executive within their current organization, with a clear ambition gap between Millennials in emerging markets and developed markets. Sixty-five percent of emerging-market based Millennials said they would like to achieve this goal, compared to only 38 percent in developed markets. In India, 80 percent aspire to become the leader, while 81 percent aspire to reach a senior executive position. While 58 percent of Indians surveyed feel their current organization is making full use of their skills, the global figure compares to only 28 percent.
The overall image of business is positive in all regions. India is among the top 5 countries where Millennials (90 percent Indians against global average of 73 percent) feel that businesses have positive impact on the wider society in which they operate. Additionally, the survey found large global businesses have less appeal for Millennials in developed markets (35 percent) compared to emerging markets (51 percent). Developed-market based Millennials are also less inclined (11 percent) than Millennials in emerging markets (22 percent) to start their own business.
Other notable findings from the survey include:
· Millennials want to work for organizations with purpose. Indian Millennials (83 percent) are more likely than the global average (61 percent) or elsewhere in emerging economies (66 percent) to consider company purpose when choosing who to work for. Among Millennials who are relatively high users of social networking tools (the “super-connected Millennials”), there appears to be even greater focus on business purpose; 77 percent of this group report their company’s purpose was part of the reason they chose to work there, compared to just 46 percent of those who are the “least connected.”
· Technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) most attractive employers. TMT ranked most desirable sector and the one to provide the most valuable skills according to Millennials. Men (24 percent) were nearly twice as likely as women (13 percent) to rank TMT as the number one sector to work in. Even in India, TMT was the most desirable sector (64 percent), followed by professional services and public sector (53 percent each). A large, well-established global business is the type of organization that appeals to 44% of all respondents – 51% (emerging markets), 35% (developed markets).
· Confidence Gap? Millennial men more likely to pursue leadership. Millennial men were somewhat more likely to say they would like to secure the ‘top job’ within their organization than women (59 percent vs. 47 percent). Women were also less likely to rank their leadership skills at graduation as strong; 27 percent of men vs. 21 percent of women rated this skill as strong. However, when asked what they would emphasize as leaders women were more likely to say employee growth and development (34 percent compared to 30 percent), an area that many Millennials felt was lacking within their current organizations.
· Organizations and colleges must do more to nurture emerging leaders. While overall Millennials did not feel their organizations make full use of their skills (only 28 percent say their organization makes full use of their skills), this figure falls significantly among Millennials in developed markets to just 23 percent. In addition, it falls below 20 percent in Japan (9 percent), Turkey (15 percent), South Korea (17 percent) and Chile (19 percent). When asked to estimate the contributions that skills gained in higher education made to achievement of their organization’s goals, Millennials’ average figure is 37 percent.
· The changing characteristics of leadership. Today’s Millennials place less value on visible (19 percent), well-networked (17 percent), and technically-skilled (17 percent) leaders. Instead, they define true leaders as strategic thinkers (39 percent), inspirational (37 percent), personable (34 percent) and visionary (31 percent).
“Millennials want more from business than might have been the case 50, 20, or even 10 years ago,” said Salzberg. “They are sending a very strong signal to the world’s leaders that when doing business, they should do so with purpose. The pursuit of this different and better way of operating in the 21st century begins by redefining leadership.”
About the Deloitte Millennial Survey
The research findings are based on a study conducted by Deloitte in conjunction with Millward Brown, a UK limited company, of more than 7,800 Millennials representing 29 countries around the globe. Screening questions at the recruitment stage ensured that all respondents were Millennials –were born after 1982, have obtained a college or university degree, are employed fulltime, and predominantly work in large (100+ employees), private-sector organizations.
