Global Gen Y survey highlights national differences

Never has a generation of humans been so much talked about as Generation Y. As this millennial army marches into the world’s workplaces and takes the reins of power (or at least control) for the first time, there has been a lot of agonising about how to manage a whole generation of people who are the first to have been nurtured in a digital world. Now a new report from Deloitte into the attitudes of millennials from around the world has confirmed that this is a complex generation of individuals with many universal ideals but with regional characteristics too. 

This is the second year that Deloitte has commissioned The Millennial Survey to consider the views of this generation on business and innovation and the impact both have on society. Thousands of people were interviewed across the developed world. Most have a clear focus on what they consider an organisation’s goals should be.  Over three quarters (78 per cent) believe that innovation is essential for business growth and 87%  believe the success of a business  should be measured by more  than just financial performance.Most consider that the main non-financial measure of business performance is “employee satisfaction and retention”.

Yet, while 62 per cent overall considered themselves to innovative, there were large regional differences ranging from ranging from India (81%) to South Africa 78% and why down to Japan at just 24%.

There were also wide regional variations in what Millennials consider the most important challenges facing their society. More Brazilian respondents feared “resource scarcity” than any other issue. In the US the major concern was “inflation”. In France, Spain and the UK it was “unemployment”, in Germany “social unrest”. Perhaps surprisingly the only two countries who feared climate change more than any other issue were Canada and Australia.