Employers are aghast at the job-hopping nature of young employees -- something that has been part of our culture since the mass layoffs and destruction of pensions in the 80s.
For some reason, the rabid newscycle has decided this is not the modern start to a career, but rather a Millenial Problem. Headlines like "Companies across the board are struggling to retain Gen Y workers" and "How to Attract, Retain, and Develop Millenial Employees" abound.
What could those crazy kids want? What is it that makes them so hard to please? "Helping Bosses Decode Millenials" cites standard perks such as a flexible schedule, working fewer hours, Fridays off. You know, the things everybody wants, and that employees are rewarded with once they have demonstrated their commitment and responsibility. Nobody gets a flexible schedule and a short work week right off the bat, because if you give the new hires that, half of them stop working entirely.
There's also some nonsense in that Decoding article about Millenials preferring "stories over numbers" and wanting their work to be meaningful, but eh, that is invariably what young people want from their employment.
But here's the cognitive-dissonance (remember that word? newscycle has long forgotten it) inducing part: Millenials are the most under-employed generation currently in the workforce. That means that, guess what? There's always another Millenial.
So who cares if they stay? If your Young Person employee feels they are under-appreciated, and that they could do better in another company, let them move on! Hire somebody leaner, more desperate to prove themselves. Somebody willing to put the time in to demonstrate their commitment and sense of responsibility.
Face it, there's a lot of exploitation of workers going on, especially in the tech industry. There's a lot of refusing to pay people what they're worth, a lot of mandatory office time for work that only requires a laptop and an internet connection, a lot of hiring only clones of the company's founders (young, white, male, with a CS degreee).
Let's fix all of that, instead of worrying about how to motivate a twenty-year-old with an over-inflated sense of self-importance.
