Millennials’ Desire for Altruistic Work

Having overtaken boomers, they're now Minnesota's largest group of workers

Millennials have overtaken baby boomers as Minnesota’s largest group of workers.

As of the summer of 2017, most millennials have either entered the workforce or will be entering soon. (Although definitions vary, in this research, millennials are individuals born between 1982 and 1997. Generation X are individuals born between 1963 and 1981. Baby boomers were born between 1942 and 1962.) While millennials enter the workforce or continue to advance their careers, many employers are questioning their work values. Despite being characterized as lazy, entitled, disloyal, and high maintenance, millennials have received less criticism and some defense in the last couple of years. Millennials are beginning to be recognized for their positive work values, specifically for their desire to change other’s lives through their work.

The legitimacy of this stereotype, however, is brought into question as many other stereotypes about millennials in the workplace lack evidence or have been disproven. For example, despite popular belief, millennials are not job hopping any faster than other generations. The PEW Research Centerfound that the job tenure of millennials is no less than Generation X. In fact, millennials had a higher share of their population with 13 or more months of tenure (63.4 percent) in 2016 than Generation X (59.9 percent) did in 2000. Millennials and Generation X both had about 22 percent of their populations employed for five or more years in 2016 and 2000, respectively.  

The altruistic, or unselfish, work stereotype about millennials is also questioned by researchers. Twenge et al. (2010) find that only about 44 percent of millennials want a job that provides an opportunity to directly help others. A higher percentage of millennials instead value things like an opportunity for promotion (56 percent) and interesting work material (82 percent). Hansen and Leuty (2011) do not find any statistically significant differences in the importance of altruistic work across generations. The desire for altruistic work appears to be similar to that of previous generations.

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