Dive Brief:
- Millennials and Gen Zers defy myths of being job-hoppers and social media fanatics, a Zapier survey released Jan. 27 found. The Harris Poll of 1,038 respondents showed instead that most workers in both generations want to stay with their current employer for some time and are spending their off-hours responding to work-related communication.
- Millennials and Gen Zers plan to stay in their jobs 10 years and six years, respectively, the survey found. Both generations hold leadership roles, with 62% of millennials and 49% or Gen Zers saying they have direct reports.
- Most Gen Zers (65%) and millennials (73%) said their job is a major component of their personal identity.
Dive Insight:
While this study appears to debunk millennials' reputation of being chronic job-hoppers, other pieces of research have given credit to the label. In a June 2019 study by Akumina, an employee experience platform, 75% of millennials said that making a job switch helped advance their careers. The report also revealed that 40% of respondents said they had held four or more jobs since graduating either high school or college. Nearly two thirds said they thought working in a role for one to two years is reasonable.
Many millennials and Gen Zers in the Zapier study said they check their communication tools "constantly" outside of work. This practice may lead to burnout, which the World Health Organization has officially recognized as an "occupational phenomenon" resulting from an overload of stress. Respondents to the Zapier study appeared to speak to this — many expressed a desire to be more open about mental health in the workplace.
