Millennials Are Now Less Likely To Leave Their Employers

As the global economies were badly affected by the pandemic, many Millennials and Gen Z have re-evaluated their opinions on issues such as job security, mental health, economic outlook, and social/political situations in Malaysia.

According to a survey conducted by Deloitte in early 2020, there are fewer Malaysian Millennials who expect to leave their current employers within two years (from 38% in 2019 to 23% in 2020). This is significantly lower than the global average of 31%.

Though, the pandemic did not affect their stance on staying for the long-term. In both 2019 and 2020, 34% of the Malaysian Millennials think they expected to stay with their employers beyond five years. This is on par with the global average of 35%.

According to the survey, 60% of Malaysian Millennials felt fairly secure in their current jobs and 13% felt very secure in their jobs even with the economic impact of the pandemic.

The research also states that the majority of Malaysian Millennials believe Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) will augment their current job and allow them to focus on value-added work (53%). While 20% expected IR 4.0 to replace all or part of their job responsibilities, while 16% felt it won’t have an impact on their jobs at all. The other 10% were still unsure of IR 4.0's impact.

Fewer Malaysian Millennials expect to leave their current employers within two years.

As IR 4.0 shapes the working environment, many Malaysian Millennials believe that they have enough skills and knowledge. About 60% say that they “have some, but not all” the skills and knowledge needed and 24% felt they have all the required knowledge. Only 12% felt they “have few if any skills” and 4% don’t know if they have the skills needed.

When it comes to mental health, the survey found that 39% of Malaysian Millennials have taken time off work in the past year due to anxiety or stress. However, of those who have taken time off work, only 44% told their employers that their absence was due to anxiety or stress (47% men, 39% women).

This, along with the fact that only 49% of Malaysian Millennials felt that stress is a legitimate reason to take time off work, implies that more open conversations about mental health are required.

Malaysian Millennials’ top stressors were around:

their longer-term financial future (57%),
the welfare of their family (54%),
their job/career prospects (50%),
their day-to-day finances (49%), and
their physical/medical health (38%).

The survey also showed that in 2020, 46% of Malaysian Millennials (43% men, 50% women) felt anxious or stressed all or most of the time. More Malaysian Millennials felt they would be less happy as compared to their parents’ generation (44% felt they would be less happy, while 29% felt they would be happier).

When it comes to their view of business after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, fewer Malaysian Millennials felt business, in general, had a very/fairly positive impact on the wider society in which they operate (79% in 2019, compared to 56% in 2020).

Other important findings from Deloitte’s study include:

Compared to 2019, fewer Malaysian Millennials felt the economic and social/political situations in their countries will improve over the next 12 months (40% in 2019, 26% in 2020).
“A positive or negative impact of products/services on the environment” was the number one reason Malaysian Millennials have started (47%) and stopped (42%) a relationship with a business.
Leaders of NGOs and not-for-profit organisations, traditional media/journalists, and business leaders are the most well regarded by Malaysian Millennials. More than 50% said that those groups of people and organisations are having a positive influence on the world, and more than 40% viewed them as a trusted source of reliable/accurate information.
The majority of Malaysian Millennials ‘strongly agree’ or ‘tend to agree’ that the world is becoming more divided/polarised economically (86%), politically (90%), and socially (86%).
More Malaysian Millennials felt people in society are becoming more civil (57%) than less civil (34%) to one another.
90% of Malaysian Millennials felt that climate change is happening and is primarily caused by human activity.
About half (53%) felt “we have already hit the point of no return and it is too late to repair the damage” caused to the environment.
Malaysian Millennials are most concerned about crime/personal safety (33%), political instability/wars/conflicts between countries (27%), and climate change/protecting the environment (21%).
38% of Malaysian Millennials agreed that their financial situations over the next 12 months will improve.
73% of Malaysian Millennials admitted that they often worry or get stressed about their general financial situations.
31% of Malaysian Millennials felt they couldn’t cope financially if they suddenly received a large bill or had to fund a major expense.
33% of Malaysian Millennials have missed paying or haven’t been able to pay a bill/fixed payment in the last six months.

Source: Human Resources Online

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