In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at a survey showing that Millennials might not be prioritizing workplace satisfaction over financial security, as has been suggested previously. Today we will review the details of that study.
The survey finds that:
- D.C.-area Millennials place a higher priority on financial security than other work/life benefits. When asked to rank financial security against other “traditional” aspects of work/life balance, Millennials chose financial security (33%) as their top priority above other factors like hours worked (19%), schedule flexibility (19%), and ability to work from home (6%). Also, when given the choice between more money or more free time, Millennials were more likely to choose money over free time. More than 8 in 10 Millennials said they would rather work more hours and make more money.
- The importance of work/life balance is decreasing across the workforce. When asked to identify aspects of their job that are important to overall job success, the number of Washington, D.C., area respondents that ranked work/life balance as “very important” decreased from 2014 to 2016—from 70% to 51% for Millennials, and from 63% to 55% of non-Millennials. This seems to indicate that organizations have responded to employee concerns about work/life balance—it’s not that employees care less about this issue.
- Non-Millennials in the nation’s capital are less satisfied with work/life balance. The survey finds that number of non-Millennials who are dissatisfied with their work/life balance is more than double that of Millennials. Some 14% of non-Millennials disagree that they have a good work/life balance, compared to 6% of Millennials.
The Eagle Hill survey was conducted by Survey Sampling International (SSI) in May 2016 and included 1,990 full-time professionals in multiple industries across the United States and 250 in the Washington, D.C., metro area. The employee satisfaction survey polled respondents on work/life balance, career success, and overall satisfaction with their current job and employer.