Increasing Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in the Millennial Workforce

Members of the Millennial Generation have higher rates of turnover compared to other generations. This can represent significant costs to organizations, and therefore is important to minimize. Job satisfaction has been shown to increase motivation and productivity as well as decrease turnover, and can be maximized by adjusting economic factors, fostering interpersonal relationships, and adjusting activities, tasks, and work conditions to the personality of the worker. All three types of organizational commitment (affective, normative, and continuance) also decrease turnover rates. Both job satisfaction and organizational commitment depend on a worker’s personality, needs, and expectations, which are influenced by the generation they were born into. Implementing mentoring programs and making specific changes in job design and work environment according to Millennials’ needs and expectations could increase Millennial satisfaction and commitment. INCREASING JOB SATISFACTION 4 Increasing Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in the Millennial Workforce For the next ten years or more, the workforce will be dominated by three generations: the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennial Generation (Mencl & Lester, 2014). The Millennial generation is the newest generation to the workforce, and they possess different preferences, expectations, and needs from the previous generations (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011). The Millennials are said to have higher turnover rates than the generation before them (Khalid, Nor, Ismail, & Razali, 2013), and high turnover rates can deprive an organization of valuable talent, which can decrease an organization’s ability to achieve its goals (Heneman, Judge, & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2014). Thus, organizations must search for ways to mitigate higher turnover rates among Millennials in order to maintain maximum effectiveness. Because Millennial turnover threatens to increase business costs considerably due to loss of invested time and training, organizations must consider that affecting Millennials’ job attitudes may result in decreased turnover. An employee’s overall job attitude is made up of two factors: job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and these can both have a considerable effect in decreasing employee turnover (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015). When organizations do not consider the differences in Millennials’ personalities from other generations, Millennials’ job satisfaction can decrease, which can increase their desire to change jobs. Job satisfaction is also important for organizations to cultivate in their employees, as it can affect employees’ mental health and productivity at work (Campione, 2015). Additionally, if organizations do not consider how to foster organizational commitment, whether by creating an emotional attachment to the company, the feeling of owing the company loyalty, and/or creating what employees view to be the best work environment for their needs, negative work behaviors, such as absenteeism, can result and can end in turnover (Lambert, Griffin, Hogan, & Kelley, 2015). Thus, it is INCREASING JOB SATISFACTION 5 important for employers to explore the ways in which generational differences impact both job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and apply this knowledge to implement organizational changes that help cater to the personalities, needs, and expectations of the Millennial generation in order to not only decrease turnover, but maximize their potential in the company as well. The Multigenerational Workplace Today’s workforce is composed of multiple generations of workers, and the phenomenon of generations must be understood in order to effectively manage human resources. According to Lyons and Kuron (2014), a generation is “a group of individuals born within the same historical and socio-cultural context, who experience the same formative experiences and develop unifying commonalities as a result” (p. 160). The personalities, needs, and expectations of a generation can all be influenced by similar childhood experiences of historical events and trends. While members of all generations can experience the same historical events and trends occurring at a point in time, they will each have different responses to the same events due to their various positions in the human life cycle, and these experiences will affect the way each age group expresses themselves. Understanding the differences between generations is important for organizations to consider, as research suggests that personality can create a disposition toward or away from job satisfaction (George, 1992), and researchers have seen links between personality traits and generational trends (Lyons & Kuron, 2014). Generational Differences in the Workplace The set of experiences that each generation shares can cause members of that generation to form similar expectations about the workplace, and employees in that generation can experience negative reactions to their work if their expectations are not met (Lyons & Kuron, INCREASING JOB SATISFACTION 6 2014). According to Kapoor and Solomon (2011), “Generational differences impact communication styles, technology needs, professional development preferences, workplace expectations, compensation and benefits needs, [and] desired leadership styles. In essence, generational differences impact every aspect of the workplace” (p. 308). The same values, management styles, and job designs do not always have the same level of success across the generational spectrum, and so it is important for organizations to understand and accommodate each generation’s expectations about work in order to prevent unnecessary negative reactions and broken psychological contracts. Different generations often bring conflicting expectations and attitudes to the workplace, particularly concerning authority and styles of communication (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011). This could create workplace conflict, as differences in communication styles and expectations can cause misunderstandings, miscommunication, and division among generations. Generational conflict can “reduce profitability, present hiring challenges, increase turnover rates, and decrease morale” as well as reduce the productivity of collaboration (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011, p. 313). It is important for employers to know what each generation has a predisposition to expect not only of their work, but of their fellow employees. Characteristics of Today’s Working Generations Two generations embody the majority of today’s workforce apart from the Millennial Generation, and they both bring different thought processes and personalities to the workplace. The oldest are the Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. Baby Boomers were raised “in an environment where authority and hierarchies were respected,” and are said to characteristically live to work and sacrifice personal life to achieve professional success (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011, p. 309). Additionally, Baby Boomers desire a work environment that values INCREASING JOB SATISFACTION 7 them and recognizes them for their achievements and abilities (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011). They are not usually technologically savvy, but are driven, competitive, and loyal workers, and plan on staying in their organizations for the long term (Bennett, Pitt, & Price, 2012; Kapoor & Solomon, 2011; Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman, & Lance, 2010). Generation X is the next generation currently in the workforce, with birth dates from 1965 to 1980. Unlike Baby Boomers, Gen Xers “learned from seeing their parents laid off that abiding by company rules does not guarantee a job,” and tend to “view employment as a contract, where loyalty is irrelevant” making them more likely to work to live, as opposed to the live to work mindset of the Boomers (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011, p. 310, 312). Gen Xers are also known to be independent, value work/life balance, and be more prone to job hopping (Twenge et al, 2010). Compared to Baby Boomers, Gen Xers are skeptical of authority, more comfortable with change, and more technologically savvy (Zopiatis, Krambia-Kapardis, & Varnavas, 2012). Each generation possesses similarities and differences to each other, but Millennials’ values and preferences differ from previous generations in many ways, and these differences are changing trends regarding how the workplace should be designed in order to improve employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The Millennial Generation The Millennial Generation, also known as Generation Y, the Nexters, or Generation Me (Becton, Walker, & Jones-Farmer, 2014; Twenge et al, 2010), has been following the Baby Boomers and Generation X into the workforce increasingly since around 2000 (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011). The birth years of the Millennial Generation are debated, but many researchers believe Millennials were born between the years 1980-1995, 1980-2000, or 1978-1999 (Marcinkus, 2012; Ng, Schweitzer, & Lyons, 2010; Young & Hinesly, 2012). Unlike previous INCREASING JOB SATISFACTION 8 generations, Millennials are the first generation to have never known life without technology. They are currently the most diverse generation in the workforce, indicating that they are more open to diversity and change than the older generations. Because Millennials saw their parents get divorced and be subject to layoffs without respect to their loyalty to their company, they value “making a life” over “making a living” (Ng et al, 2010, p. 282). Millennials are said to value meaningful work, desire continuous learning experiences at work, place a high priority on family life, and work harder than Generation X (Becton, Walker, & Jones-Farmer, 2014). Millennials are believed to desire good pay and benefits; however, Ng et al (2010) asserted that this may be an effect of Millennials' desire for frequent feedback and entitlement. Additionally, Millennials are characteristically impatient about seeking promotions while putting forth minimal effort to earn