Dear silvers,
While you might bristle at the pejorative “OK Boomer”, just remember that millennials have long bore the brunt of your ire even before the baby boomer-bashing phrase ever emerged from the primordial ooze of the Internet.
Millennials, defined by the Pew Research Centre as anyone born between 1981 to 1996, have been vilified and villainised for killing everything from cereal and country clubs to fabric softener and diamonds.
The flavour of reproach nowadays, though, has shifted to citing millennials for the death of job loyalty. As management consulting firm Gallup describes, we’re the “checked out” at work generation – hard to please and harder still to keep happy at our desks.
It’s not an entirely unfounded characterisation. A 2016 report summarising insights from the company’s substantial panel dataset of 95,000 households in the US (coupled with an even larger daily sampling pool) said that around 55% of millennials weren’t emotionally or behaviourally connected to their job or company, substantially higher than any other generation.
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Quiet quitting and disengaged at work
In other words, more than half of us have probably been quiet quitting, as described by the Gen Zs (those born after 1996 and before 2010) who’ve entered the workforce and fallen into a similar slump across the world.
A 2023 survey by job portal Indeed found that more than half of Gen Z respondents in Singapore were planning, or had already, quiet quit at their jobs, meaning that they only completed their tasks without going the extra mile.
In a country that prides itself on its human capital, these are concerning metrics – especially since Gen Zs and millennials, have, since 2023, made up around 50% of Singapore’s residential workforce.
Not quiet quitting but shifting priorities
However, these metrics are also inevitable, given that attitudes toward work, career and employment have shifted substantially across the generations.
"With families a lot smaller now and a higher level of affluence, we have more resources and time to focus on personal fulfilment and well-being."
"They don't feel the need to go beyond the scope they're given, and they want clear boundaries."
"So perhaps it is accurate to say that a larger proportion of the younger generation is not as hungry compared to the older generation. It also existed in the older generation, but it wasn't as prevalent."
Indeed, work-life balance and by extension, flexibility in job arrangements, have become top priorities for younger workers, nearing – or even topping – pay packages in terms of importance.
Professional services firm Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey saw work-life balance not only the top priority when choosing an employer, but also the most admired trait among people of those generations.
This was echoed by a 2024 survey among 1,000 Singapore employees by market researcher IPSOS, where flexible working opportunities (40%) was ranked as the next most important pull factor for a new job behind pay and benefits (65%).
"I value the flexibility to do my work – it's how I can be more productive, which is a win-win for the company and me."
How a company communicates and implements HR policies like remote working is also important to millennials.
Recognising this shift, Jason of Dementia Singapore says that his organisation – where millennials or Gen Zs account for close to 60% of its staff – now operates on a full flexi-work arrangement, meaning that employees “come to the office only when required”.
Purpose and meaning also a driver for engagement
Besides looking for flexibility in the way they work, younger employees often toil in service of realising some purpose or meaning outside of just salary.
The same Deloitte report showed 89% of Gen Zs and a whopping 97% of millennials in Singapore believed that purpose was key to their satisfaction at work, significantly outstripping the global average.
In addition, with younger workers’ increased use of social media, they often are aware of – and therefore yearn for – work and workplaces that are willing to grapple with “social movements” of the day.
The same Deloitte report showed 89% of Gen Zs and a whopping 97% of millennials in Singapore believed that purpose was key to their satisfaction at work, significantly outstripping the global average.
Lim Yan Chen, a 28-year-old shipping executive who works in the CEO’s office, enjoys first and foremost “the rare opportunity to work intimately with high-achieving people and to see how they think”.
However, he also values the chance to drive change in a carbon-intensive industry.
"I love hiking in nature and knowing that my company is trying to reduce its emissions – and that I can help with that – is very gratifying."
Strategies she’s used to keep her younger workers engaged – aside from all-important salary increments – include job rotations for “lateral learning and exposure”, empowerment by bringing these workers into creative brainstorming sessions, as well as project assignments based “not only on strengths, but importantly, interests too”.
However, the itch to create meaningful impact at the workplace can also lead to impatience. A Gen Z employee currently working at a manpower-related statutory board (who asked to remain anonymous for this article) says that many the younger workers joining the public sector are often eager to make change.
"But when they aren't able to push for any meaningful change because their superiors don't want to rock the boat, they become disillusioned."
These desires, while often attributed to younger workers, aren’t unique to millennials and Gen Zs – though they are uniquely willing to voice it out.
Maybe it'd be better not to point fingers
In any case, this intergenerational derision at the workplace goes both ways. Interviewees from across the generations describe their own difficulties working with older workers.
As a millennial myself, I’ve heard – and experienced – my fair share of friction working with older superiors.
"His answer to everything is, 'You’re too young, you wouldn't know'."
Ageism, after all, goes both ways. It’d be better to treat people as individuals rather than painting entire generations with broad strokes – lest the same thing happen to you.
"In any sample size and age group, there will be drivers and there will be slackers."
