Millennials already are getting a reputation as the generation that changes jobs more frequently than any in recent memory. Maybe it’s because they want work/life balance as a given and so few employers think of that these days.

An interesting piece came out recently on what it costs companies to have high employee turn-over.

Millennials may eventually get more bargaining power in the workplace.

“The high turnover rate is expensive; employers have estimated that it costs between $15,000 to $25,000 to replace every young person who leaves the company. That cost is expected to rise as millennials begin to make up more and more of the labor force. According to the most recent forecasts, workers from the millennial generation will make up 36 percent of the American workforce by 2014 and 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025,” according to the piece that appeared on WallStCheatSheet.com Aug. 19.

Looking at a recent study of millennials and the jobs market, the piece went on to note that the study found “Half the companies surveyed reported that the average salary for a millennial is between $30,000 and $50,000, while 15 percent said that the average salary for their millennial employees is at least $50,000. These figures mean that employers have a financial incentive to keep millennial workers and employees have more leverage to negotiate for the schedules they want.”

It would be nice to see the negotiation pendulum swing back to workers sometime soon, it’s been on employers’ side ever since Ronald Reagan busted the air traffic controllers union in the 1980s and corporate America decided it could do the same to unions and then do what it liked to workers left to fend for their own raises, work schedules and days off (anyone getting more than two weeks vacation out there these days?).
John N. Frank