When two of my Millennial cousins graduated from high school, they both decided to become police officers. A year or so into the program, both quit. One is now an accountant, the other is a gym teacher. My Millennial brother completed his accounting degree, but went back to school and is now an English teacher. I border between Millennial and Generation X (I’m an old Millennial and a young Xer), but when I was their age, I wanted to quit halfway through my psychology degree and become a journalist. But as much as Millennial naysayers love to crow about it, quitting isn’t a plague of the young. Research we recently conducted at Queendom indicates that in terms of likelihood of turnover, our study revealed no differences between groups. Essentially, Millennials are no more likely than other cohorts to quit their job. However, they do differ, at least to some degree, as to why they would quit a job.

Here are the results of our study:

What’s important to take note of here is that of the 14 reasons why employees would quit their job, at least half are a result of circumstances that can be (and should be) controlled by management. For example, bullying, harassment, and office politics are issues that should fall under the “no-tolerance policy”. Micromanaging tendencies can be avoided by promoting managers based on more than just their technical knowledge – they must also have the emotional intelligence and personality to lead. I think I’ve written enough blogs touting the benefits of EQ, and this is coming from a former skeptic who scoffed at the touchy feely benefits of emotions.

The point is, when it comes to turnover, it’s not an external issue; it’s not a simple matter of selfish, money hungry employees. If a company’s turnover rate is high, it’s time to take a serious look at not just the hiring process, but also morale, employee compensation, employee motivation, and stress levels company wide. (I just finished watching Victorian Slums on PBS, so I’m in a very “power to the people” mindset!)

Insightfully yours,

Queen D