Are businesses flexible enough for millennials?

Companies today manage a workforce spanning three generations — the Baby Boomers, the Gen-Xers and the millennials. Fast forward a decade and by 2025, millennials will constitute 75 per cent of the global workforce. The imperative to keep pace with the aspirations and expectations of the millennials is evident or companies risk losing this group of talent.

Take, for example, the issue of work-life balance. Many millennials feel the pressure of managing work-life demands and this is not surprising as many are moving into management roles at the same time that they are becoming parents.

According to a global study this year by EY, which surveyed close to 9,700 full-time workers in companies of varying sizes, one-third of employees say that striking a work-life balance has become more difficult in the past five years.

A common observation of these employees was that the increase in salaries had not kept pace with the increase in expenses. With this perception, employees feel the pressure to take on greater responsibilities or put in longer hours at work to achieve a promotion for higher salary increases. Millennial managers reported a spike in working hours more so than the older generations. Among them, full-time working parents have seen their hours increase more than non-parents.

These global findings reflect to some extent the realities in Singapore. National University of Singapore sociologist Paulin Tay Straughan believes that work-life balance here remains an elusive target.

“In our competitive economic environment, many employees perceive that if they fail to prioritise work demands, someone else will step in and fill the gap. And there will be opportunity costs involved,” she told EY.

“Interestingly, as the proportion of singles increase, there is less of a level playing field in the office. In other words, not everyone needs shorter work hours. And those who stay will be rewarded.”

GROWING EMPHASIS ON FLEXIBILITY

The global EY study also revealed that the top five reasons full-time employees quit were minimal wage growth, lack of opportunities to advance, excessive overtime hours, a work environment that does not encourage teamwork and a boss that does not allow flexible work.

Beyond competitive pay and benefits, employees globally are also saying that being able to work flexibly and still be on track for promotion was important, as is the support of co-workers and bosses to work flexibly.

Millennials in particular are more likely to be part of a dual-income family than their baby boomer counterparts. They are highly committed to their careers as well as family, thus craving more flexible work arrangements or perks — like working from home or onsite, or subsidised childcare or paid parental leave — to better manage both aspects of their lives.

Clearly, there is no easy answer or one-size-fits-all solution in helping employers and employees deal with the expectations of millennials and work-life integration across generations.

In Singapore, there has been a shift towards more flexible work even though the pace and scale of change remain debatable. Employers here are cognisant of this growing impetus for workplace flexibility as part of talent management. A survey last year of 500 employers found that most of them were generally supportive of work-life initiatives.

However, gaps still exist between the expectations of employers and employees. For example, although most employers (55 per cent) said that physical presence in the office was not required as long as work objectives were met, most employees (75 per cent) believed their supervisors expected them to be present in the office during working hours.

The key to achieving work-life harmony begins with a conversation between the employer and employee. Both parties should be candid about their needs and be willing to consider each other’s priorities, said Ms Cynthia Cheong, head, Programme and Partnership Development, Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices.

Managing work-life balance is also a personal responsibility, added Prof Straughan, who pointed out that it could be achieved at the expense of slower promotions, smaller increments and lower bonuses.

What needs to change is for employers to appreciate the longer-term benefits to having employees who have good work-life equilibrium. Most small and medium enterprises may focus on short-term gains to stay profitable and therefore adopt human resource policies that dangle the carrot for overworking.

Leadership support is vital to drive the implementation of work-life initiatives. Organisations can begin by asking these questions: Are we looking at total compensation, benefits and rewards holistically to include work and life needs of employees? Are we actively working to prevent or eliminate stigmas commonly associated with flexibility? Do our organisation’s policies match implementation on the ground, and are we rewarding results or “punching the clock”?

As the debate continues on how organisations can embrace the opportunities to build a workforce of the future to support their growth strategies, it is clear that businesses need to better understand the expectations of millennials and their desire for flexible work to attract and retain talent.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dilys Boey is Advisory Partner at Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd. The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organisation or its member firms.