WEBVTT 00:00:05.640 --> 00:00:06.140 Hi. 00:00:06.140 --> 00:00:09.960 I'm Meryam Bukhari, a student in the 2016 class of the MIT Sloan 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:11.040 MBA program. 00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:13.960 I'm 26 years old and a millennial. 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:15.040 What do young workers-- 00:00:15.040 --> 00:00:18.410 millennials-- today want from their jobs and careers? 00:00:18.410 --> 00:00:21.300 And how do they want to establish and maintain 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:23.200 a balance between work and life? 00:00:23.200 --> 00:00:25.810 These questions are important to lots of people-- 00:00:25.810 --> 00:00:29.410 employers wanting to recruit and keep young talented workers, 00:00:29.410 --> 00:00:32.940 millennials like me who are about to enter the workforce, 00:00:32.940 --> 00:00:36.930 and hordes of consultants giving us and business leaders 00:00:36.930 --> 00:00:39.850 advice about the changing workforce. 00:00:39.850 --> 00:00:41.840 So let's start with what our parents told us 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:43.100 when we were growing up. 00:00:43.100 --> 00:00:46.050 My parents, like I would guess many of your parents 00:00:46.050 --> 00:00:49.120 if you're a millennial, said that if I worked hard in school 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:52.030 and got a good education, I would do well in life, 00:00:52.030 --> 00:00:55.420 even better financially and socially than they did. 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:58.150 But today, many of us are worried 00:00:58.150 --> 00:00:59.980 that our generation, the millennials, 00:00:59.980 --> 00:01:02.750 might not achieve that goal. 00:01:02.750 --> 00:01:05.620 And if we ask young people today if that's 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:07.420 what they really want out of their careers, 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:09.530 we get different answers. 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:13.220 For example, the people who took this course last year 00:01:13.220 --> 00:01:15.500 said that their top probability was addressing 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.850 big, important problems at work, while also having 00:01:18.850 --> 00:01:20.680 a sensible work-life balance. 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:23.610 Doing well financially was also important. 00:01:23.610 --> 00:01:27.210 But these data, like other surveys of young professionals, 00:01:27.210 --> 00:01:30.200 show that it's not at the top of the list. 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:30.710 Hi. 00:01:30.710 --> 00:01:32.200 My name is Eileen Rivera. 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:34.420 And I'm a third year student at Wellesley College. 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:37.160 I'm also a millennial about to enter the workforce. 00:01:37.160 --> 00:01:40.200 And as you saw, there is no one single most important 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:41.030 aspiration. 00:01:41.030 --> 00:01:43.750 This extended quote from a young woman in the class 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:46.610 illustrates how she sees these different aspiration fitting 00:01:46.610 --> 00:01:47.110 together. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:51.640 "My dream includes a job where I do 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:54.850 important work, something that gives back to the community. 00:01:54.850 --> 00:01:57.620 I dream of having a work-life balance that melds together. 00:01:57.620 --> 00:02:00.060 I hope that I'm able to utilize technology 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:02.920 to make work more accessible and eventually have the option 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:04.570 to do work from home. 00:02:04.570 --> 00:02:07.160 I do hope to be able to find a company that has a retirement 00:02:07.160 --> 00:02:09.070 plan where the company contributes 00:02:09.070 --> 00:02:10.560 some percentage to the plan. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:13.580 In some regards, I hope to have some of the same benefits 00:02:13.580 --> 00:02:14.770 that my parents had-- 00:02:14.770 --> 00:02:18.070 health insurance, retirement plans, et cetera. 00:02:18.070 --> 00:02:20.910 Most importantly, I want to have passion for my work. 00:02:20.910 --> 00:02:22.490 I want my work to help people. 00:02:22.490 --> 00:02:24.750 And I hope to make a decent living, 00:02:24.750 --> 00:02:27.690 while making the generations before me proud." 00:02:27.690 --> 00:02:30.700 All this suggests that even though our generation shares 00:02:30.700 --> 00:02:33.010 many of the same concerns of prior generations, 00:02:33.010 --> 00:02:36.110 we care more about having an impact and work-life balance 00:02:36.110 --> 00:02:36.930 and money. 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.100 Our generation of workers also looks 00:02:39.100 --> 00:02:41.310 very different than workforces of the past, 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:43.820 both in America and around the world. 00:02:43.820 --> 00:02:46.630 Almost half of Americans today are people of color. 00:02:46.630 --> 00:02:49.200 And many millennials here and around the world 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:52.310 are children of immigrants or immigrants themselves. 00:02:52.310 --> 00:02:55.545 We will all be working together, learning from each other, 00:02:55.545 --> 00:02:57.420 and some of us will be starting families that 00:02:57.420 --> 00:02:58.910 blend our diverse backgrounds. 00:02:58.910 --> 00:03:01.850 So we will want our workplaces to embrace who we are 00:03:01.850 --> 00:03:03.710 and where we come from. 00:03:03.710 --> 00:03:06.020 But many millennials are also having a hard time 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:06.920 getting started. 00:03:06.920 --> 00:03:09.210 In the US, the majority of millennials 00:03:09.210 --> 00:03:12.560 say we are not earning enough money to live like we want to. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:14.800 More than a third of millennials report 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.760 that we depend on our families for financial support. 00:03:17.760 --> 00:03:21.180 So many of us have to start out in debt from student loans 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:23.420 and can't find full-time or career-building jobs 00:03:23.420 --> 00:03:26.090 in the fields we studied in school. 00:03:26.090 --> 00:03:28.770 How does all this affect how and where we work? 00:03:28.770 --> 00:03:32.680 Well, for one thing, we move around from job to job a lot. 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:35.370 A recent survey said people between age 22 00:03:35.370 --> 00:03:39.170 and 32 change jobs between one and four times in the last five 00:03:39.170 --> 00:03:39.850 years. 00:03:39.850 --> 00:03:44.200 And 66% expect to change jobs again in the next few years. 00:03:44.200 --> 00:03:46.110 Many of us are also sending a clear message 00:03:46.110 --> 00:03:49.480 that we want more opportunities, not just for ourselves, 00:03:49.480 --> 00:03:52.570 but for everyone regardless of race or the income bracket 00:03:52.570 --> 00:03:53.870 in which they were raised. 00:03:53.870 --> 00:03:56.990 That's why some are protesting against low wages of fast food 00:03:56.990 --> 00:04:00.660 companies, racial injustices, and income inequality 00:04:00.660 --> 00:04:02.410 as seen by the Occupy Wall Street Movement 00:04:02.410 --> 00:04:05.607 in 2011 and by protests of women and men 00:04:05.607 --> 00:04:07.190 who are forced to work in unacceptable 00:04:07.190 --> 00:04:11.297 conditions in garment factories in global supply chains. 00:04:11.297 --> 00:04:13.130 What does this mean for the next generations 00:04:13.130 --> 00:04:14.710 of managers and leaders? 00:04:14.710 --> 00:04:17.350 Sloan School MBAs who studied data from last year's class, 00:04:17.350 --> 00:04:19.350 concluded that as managers of the future, 00:04:19.350 --> 00:04:23.150 they will need to listen to their employees, 00:04:23.150 --> 00:04:25.320 engage them in solving problems that really matter 00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:27.450 to the organization and to society, 00:04:27.450 --> 00:04:30.350 and be flexible in how, when, and where 00:04:30.350 --> 00:04:33.280 people work so they can be productive and attend 00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:35.120 to personal and family affairs. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:37.662 Those are the messages sent by last year's class. 00:04:37.662 --> 00:04:39.120 Let's see how this year's class can 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:40.494 bring our voices into the process 00:04:40.494 --> 00:04:42.679 of shaping the future of work.