Youngest Generations Succumb To Pressure

Employee disengagement is one of the reasons why companies fail to achieve their growth aspirations. However, underneath it, lies a much greater problem: “Half of Millennials, 75% of Gen Zers Have Left a Job for Mental Health Reasons”. The youngsters in the workforce largely succumb to pressure from peers.

A friend on Linkedin pointed me to a video by filmmaker David Hoffman, a baby boomer with 274.000 subscribers on Youtube. In it, David expresses his concerns for Millennials in particular with such compassion that I wanted to share it with you. Despite the fact that David mentioned that ‘75% of Millennials have left a job for mental reasons’, which is in fact Gen Z (even more alarming), his concerns are very real and the numbers should speak to us all.

Underneath the video, you’ll find some links to research in the US that support these startling numbers.

Supportive Research

Research MSP/SAP revealed that ‘half of Millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left a job for mental health reasons‘.

From CNBC: “The Mind Share Partners, SAP, and Qualtrics study also shows that the younger generations suffer more from mental illnesses. Younger people dealt with a mental illness at about three times the rate of the general population. The findings are corroborated by another recent study, which shows that while the amount of serious psychological distress increased across most age groups, the largest increase between 2008 and 2017 was among adults ages 18–25, at 71%. For adults ages 20–21, the figure was 78%.

Research by Gallup (2016) revealed that ‘71% of Millennials are disengaged in their jobs‘:

It’s a sad fact but the majority of employees are not engaged and haven’t been for a long time. In 2016, only 29% of Millennials in the United States were engaged. Many are starting to realize and to pioneer the use of mobile technology as a way to communicate with and engage with a disparate workforce that is not beholden to desktop computers, but carries an Apple or Android mobile device with them 24/7. The study showed that companies in the highest quartile of employee engagement are 17% more productive, suffer 70% fewer safety incidents, experience 41% less absenteeism, have 10% better customer ratings, and are 21% more profitable compared with business units in the bottom quartile.

Research by Pew Research Center revealed that ‘1 in 5 American children ages 3 through 17 have a diagnosable mental, emotional or behavioral disorder in a given year‘:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 in 5 American children ages 3 through 17 — about 15 million — have a diagnosable mental, emotional or behavioral disorder in a given year. Only 20 percent of these children are ever diagnosed and receive treatment; 80 percent — about 12 million — aren’t receiving treatment. Recent research indicates that serious depression is worsening in teens, especially girls, and the suicide rate among girls reached a 40-year high in 2015, according to a CDC report released in August.

All very disturbing numbers that should be carefully considered by HR and management when supervising these youngsters in the corporate workforce.